Simon Manchester on Sharing the Gospel in Conversations About Religious Liberty

This video is a must. Simon Manchester provides practical, well-reasoned, effective ways to discuss issues relating to religious liberty with non-Christians. His focus is on engaging in respectful conversations where the other person has the opportunity to put their view forward and be heard and where you have the opportunity to do the same. He stresses the need to be kind and gracious as we exercise the religious freedoms that we currently enjoy.

In this video, Simon demonstrates how to use questions that encourage the other person to look at the issues and enable a discussion focusing more deeply on the issue. Often his questions give alternative views and include his view. He advocates using examples to explain a point that are not directly related to the issue to enable this discussion. (To do this well, we need to have thought through the issues - earlier parts of this module will help!) He provides examples of how to turn a conversation to Jesus, while recognising that there are situations where this may be more difficult.

He reminds us of how to engage in a gospel conversation using the acronym ACTION:

A ASK God to give you a good opportunity

C CARRY something – a booklet or card

T TALK naturally about God – showing he is part of your life and your thinking

I INTRODUCE something that will clarify something about the gospel. E.g. DO which describes all other religions and DONE which describes Christianity.

O OFFER TO PRAY

N NEXT STEP – how will you take things further?

Finally he gives us the best advice ever. As the hymn says, we are to trust and obey and be happy in Jesus. Concentrate on where you stand with Jesus and be grateful and joyful and ask the Lord to enable you to be useful.

Martyn Iles on Religious Liberty

Often we are told by society today that our religious views are not welcome in the “secular” public space and particularly in influencing government policy. Sometimes Christians choose to remain quiet rather than speak God’s truth into the public square. During the first 24 minutes of this video Martyn Iles uses scripture to demonstrate that we have a role in the public square, especially as the moral compass is being inverted – what is evil is considered good and what is good is considered evil.

Martyn outlines a number of cases which have been referred to the HRLA (Human Rights Law Alliance – connected to Australian Christian Lobby) where Christians have been “punished” for doing what is right because they have contravened the “new inverted morality”. The case studies cover many different areas and include situations where opponents have engaged in a fishing expedition to expose an individual’s religious beliefs, where they are contrary to current legislation but consistent with scripture. To date, the HRLA has had over 70 cases referred to it.

He also guards against the belief that persecution is good for our faith and outlines the devastating consequences for our neighbours when laws are passed that are contrary to God’s good plan. He uses examples of abortion and transgenderism.

Finally he encourages us to be salt and light – to believe the blessings offered to us in the Bible and to trust God in all that we do as we live moral and righteous lives, irrespective of the consequences. He encourages us to guard against being compromised by our society in our character and in our faith and to let people see the truth of who we are.

If you desire to have fruitful conversations about the gospel and lower the emotional temperature, then Akos Balogh provides a practical approach to achieve that. Balogh provides a step-by-step approach, with examples, to help you develop an effective approach for engaging in conversations that will set your heart racing as your friend, on the surface, appears to be diametrically opposed to your view. This is a must-read for every Christian who takes seriously to great commission to speak about the gospel to their friends.

The “great untruth” discussed in this article is called “motive attribution asymmetry” whereby some people assume their beliefs are based on love while their opponents beliefs are built on hate. This untruth has significant consequences for western democracies whereby public and political discourse is inhibited and our communities are polarized, potentially eroding the stability of civil society.

Balogh demonstrates how living the Christian life well, recognising that we are all created in the image of God and that we all deserve God’s condemnation, provides us with a value set that will counteract our desire to operate in the same way. As we show compassion and respect toward those opposing us, they’re more likely to be respectful, and open to what we’ve got to say and may influence others for good.

The Big Mistake Secular People Make About Religious Discrimination

In this article Balogh identifies the mistaken belief that Christian schools are engaging in discrimination when they employe Christian teachers. He explains the error in secular thinking.

We are called as Christians to speak the truth in love. But what does this mean? How do we put it into practice. In this article Michael Jensen explains what gentleness means from a Christian perspective and how using gentleness

He demonstrates how our mighty God is gentle in his dealings with us. He explains that gentleness is when the stronger restrain their strength for the sake of the weaker. We ought to be marked by a courageous humility, grounded in the knowledge that we are deeply loved by our heavenly Father.

Jensen also explains that to be gentle does not hold off on the truth and that gentleness is our communications for sharing Christ.

The Evangelistic Conversation

Dave Jensen provides concise, practical steps to effective evangelism. In summary:

1. Prepare a strategy

2. Nudge the conversation to spiritual questions / values / faith

3. Ask a question directly related to the gospel

4. Listen

5. Ask permission to share the gospel

6. Ask a question to engage in discussion about the gospel

7. Explain sin and repentance

8. Ask if they would like to pray

9. Give them something gospel-related to read

Four Steps to Turning Conversations to Christ

Becky Pippert shows how to shift a general conversation to a deeper conversation using a hierarchy of questions. These are:

1. General interest questions

2. Specific interest questions

3. Issue questions

4. God questions.

Being a Good Listener

This short video shows how being a good listener builds rapport and pleasure. It identifies four skills:

1. Encouraging people to elaborate or dig deeper by being curious and asking relevant questions

2. Urging clarification

3. Not moralising - showing sympathy and acceptance.

4. Separating disagreement from criticism

This article provides some helpful hints and thought-provoking questions to start a conversation. The author includes a description of what you might include about the Gospel.