How do you go from “Hi, how are you?” to talking about Jesus?
(‘You had me at “hello”‘ isn’t usually how people’s faith story starts!)
I love how Jesus has a natural way of going from ordinary conversation to deep spiritual things.
He asks a woman at a well for a drink. In a few minutes, he’s talking to her about spiritual thirst, worship, and her life story.
Here’s a very simple way to do the same starting with “How are you?” by going three questions deep.
The conversation:
One question deep:
You: “Hey, how are you doing?”
Them: “Yeah good, thanks”
Two questions deep:
You: “Good? That’s great. What makes you say good?”
Them: “Well I finally had someone put an offer on my house.”
Three questions deep:
You: “How much does this move matter to you?”
Deep enough to pray:
You: “Wow, thanks for sharing that. Look, I’m a Christian, I’d love to pray for you for that. Could I pray for you now / later?”
Tips:
Make sure you avoid jargon and “Christianese” words. Be normal, not intense. You don’t need to pray long.
This person might not go away with a head full of new knowledge, but they will leave thinking that this Christian was thoughtful, cared, prayed for them. That might help them be more open to exploring faith.
If you feel bold, why not take it even further:
“I believe sometimes I cross paths with people and pray for them at pivotal moments in their life. Look, I don’t know if anything will happen. But say in the next you see something happen in your life that confirms something I’ve just prayed for, I’d want you to just remember it was God of Jesus. Alright. Nice to meet you.”
Three more things:
- For British people “How are you?” also means “Hello”. That’s why more questions are needed to go deeper. For many other cultures, “How are you?” is already on the third level. I found that out in Ukraine. “How are you?” required I sit and listen to the answer for one hour!
- This ‘script’ (whatever you want to call it) assumes you’ve just met the person, like on a train or bus stop. You could say “You know I’m a Christian…” to a friend.
- You might ask be wondering where the gospel is in this conversation. You can reference the gospel when you pray!
- “Father, thank you that John is made by you.”
- “You always welcome us back to you and desire relationship with us.”
- “Please show your love to Jane, but also help her to see your love shown on the cross.”
Taking it even further:
Want to know how to do this over the long term with friends?
Sam Chan says we can learn he own to go from coffee conversations to dinner conversations to gospel conversations.
Take 18 minutes to listen here: https://citybibleforum.org/episode/evangelism-skeptical-world-3-coffee-dinner-gospel
