5 Stages of an Evangelistic Conversation

Memory Verse: Mark 16:15-16

For many people, the most difficult part of sharing the gospel with someone is starting a conversation. If you are a Christian, you probably know enough about the gospel to lead someone to Christ. Therefore, it is not the gospel that is hard to explain, but it is starting a conversation that gives most Christians trouble. Let’s go back to the basics and make evangelism easy. Basically, an evangelistic conversation is made up of 5 stages. These stages are 1) Positive Contact, 2) Common Ground, 3) The Shift, 4) Gospel Presentation, 5) Questions and Answers. In this article, we will direct our attention to these stages and see how they work together.

Stage 1: Positive Contact

When attempting to share the gospel with someone, you should try to begin with a “positive contact.” I’m sure you have heard the popular business line, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This is not only true when interviewing for a job, but is also true of evangelism. A positive first contact may be the difference between someone listening to the gospel and turning a deaf ear. Today, our society is becoming increasingly self-centered. People are generally unfriendly. Few people give a wave of thanks when another person stops the car to allow them to cross the street. Rarely does one person make an effort to help another person in need. Simply put, people are usually more concerned about themselves than about others. Therefore, a positive first contact is as easy as committing a simple act of friendliness. “How is your day going?,” “Has the store been busy today?,” and “Do you have any weekend plans?” are simple examples of how you might make a positive contact.

A good first impression will accomplish a number of things in preparation for a gospel witness. A positive contact will get the other person’s attention. Lost people can quickly recognize the difference between someone who is indifferent and someone who is generous and outgoing. Your attitude toward lost people will leave a lasting impression which may be an encouragement to consider what you have to say about Christ. In addition, if you make a habit of handing out gospel tracts as you go about your day, the way you treat people will make an impact on whether or not lost people read your material. Logically, a lost person is much more likely to read a tract given by a nice person than one given by someone with an unfriendly disposition. Remember, evangelism is a privilege! We must earn opportunities to be heard.

Stage 2: Common Ground

After making a positive contact, the second stage in an evangelistic conversation is finding common ground. Finding common ground means finding what you have in common with another person. You may not realize it, but all people have things in common with each other. We all have a hometown, a daily routine, and family or friends. It is on common ground that people relate to one another. In an evangelistic conversation, finding common ground is important as you prepare for the 3rd stage, The Shift.

This can be done simply by asking the other person a question or two about himself. These questions sould be simple and down-to-earth. Showing genuine interest in the life of another person is a great way to reveal the love of Christ. Also, establishing common ground is necessary to build a healthy relationship through which you may share the gospel. However, always remember that the goal of evangelism is not to build relationships, but to share the gospel. Our objective should be to take the first reasonable opportunity to share Christ with others. Many people make a mistake by thinking that they have to build an in-depth long-term relationship with someone before sharing the gospel. This is not true. In fact, some people spend so much time building relationships that when the time comes to share the gospel, they fear damaging the relationship and fail to proclaim the good news. We must make it the goal of our lives to share the gospel with everyone as soon as possible. You never know when an evangelistic opportunity could be the last chance someone has to hear the gospel and be saved. You can begin a relationship with someone by asking him about his family, where he lives, where he went to school, or how long he has lived in the area. It only takes a moment to establish this common ground.

Stage 3: The Shift

So far, we have discussed how to make a positive first impression and how to build a basic relationship with a lost person. Now we turn our attention to Stage 3, The Shift. In every witnessing encounter, there comes a time when friendliness becomes evangelism. This happens when you shift from the natural to the spiritual. The “natural” consists of common ground conversation topics we discussed earlier. The “spiritual” consists of spiritual conversation topics that lead to the gospel. In order for a conversation to be evangelistic, you must learn to shift from the natural to the spiritual. This stage in a conversation probably makes you nervous. That is good! It should make you a bit nervous. The Shift is important. Without the shift, you are nothing more than a friendly person. However, you do not need to fear this part of evangelism. If you have done some preliminary work to make a good first impression and establish common ground, the shift from natural to spiritual will be fairly easy. There are many ways to shift a conversation from small talk to spiritual talk. We just need to keep our eyes open for opportunities. Though the possibilities are endless, let’s discuss a few examples.

If someone is wearing a cross, there is an excellent opportunity to begin talking about spiritual things. Perhaps you could draw attention to the cross, ask what it means to the person, and then explain what it means to you. That’s it! In one brief moment, you will have shifted from something natural like an article of jewelry to something spiritual, the cross of Christ. Another opportunity to shift a conversation toward the gospel is by bringing up current events. Today, virtually everyone knows about events such as the war in Iraq, the lives and deaths of famous people, global warming, release of The Davinci Code movie, etc…There are many ways to shift from the natural to the spiritual. For instance, you might shift the conversation from a discussion about the war to a discussion about what happens when someone dies fighting for his country. What awaits a soldier after death? As you can see, the logical conclusion is a discussion about eternity.

The great preacher D.L. Moody is considered one of history’s greatest evangelists. Shortly after becoming a Christian, Moody committed to never let 24 hours pass without sharing his faith with at least one person. Speaking of Moody, his good friend R.A. Torrey wrote this:

“Another night, Mr. Moody got home and had gone to bed before it occurred to him that he had not spoken to a soul that day about accepting Christ. “Well,” he said to himself, “it is no good getting up now; there will be nobody on the street at this hour of the night.” But he got up, dressed and went to the front door. It was pouring rain. “Oh,” he said, “there will be no one out in this pouring rain. Just then he heard the patter of a man’s feet as he came down the street, holding an umbrella over his head. Then Mr. Moody darted out and rushed up to the man and said: “May I share the shelter of your umbrella?” “Certainly,” the man replied. Then Mr. Moody said: “Have you any shelter in the time of storm?” and preached Jesus to him. Oh, men and women, if we were as full of zeal for the salvation of souls as that, how long would it be before the whole country would be shaken by the power of a mighty, God-sent revival?¹

Another great way to shift a conversation from the natural to the spiritual is by asking someone a simple spiritual question. A great question to ask is “So, do you go to church around here?” Most people, even if they don’t attend, know they should be involved in a local church. Asking this question will usually open the door to ask another spiritual question like, “what kind of spiritual beliefs do you have?,” “what do you think awaits us after death?,” “what do you think it takes to gain eternal life?,” “what do you believe about God?,” etc…Before you know it, you are enjoying an interesting conversation about the Savior.

Finally, there may be instances when you don’t have much time and need to cut right to the gospel. For a long time, I thought this was impossible without offending someone or turning them off. However, I believe this was a lie from Satan intended to hinder my efforts to be evangelistic. You may be hindered by this same fear. If so, there is no need.

Have you heard the phrase, “it is not what you say, but how you say it”? This is very true! Let’s say you want to ask someone flat out, “if you were to die today, are you 100% sure you would have eternal life in heaven?” You might hesitate to ask this question because it seems a bit awkward and crazy. Well, you are right. To come right out and ask a question like this would be awkward. However, this does not mean you cannot ask someone about his eternal destiny. Instead, it means you need to prepare the person saying something like, “I know this may sound crazy, but I want to ask you a serious question. If you were to die today, are you 100% sure you would have eternal life in heaven?” You see, by showing the person that you know such a question is rarely asked, it does not seem crazy at all. If you prepare someone for a strange question, they will be very likely to consider your question and continue the conversation. All lost people care about eternity at some level and will appreciate the fact that you are willing to be honest and open about spiritual things.

Stage 4: A Gospel Presentation

The fourth stage in an evangelistic conversation is a clear gospel presentation. This stage is the most important of all. Romans 1:16 explains that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of salvation for those who believe. Remember, if your conversation does not reach this stage you have done nothing evangelistic. Since this stage is so important, let’s take a moment to consider what a clear gospel message includes.

Basically, the gospel message can be broken into four parts; God’s Desire, Man’s Problem, God’s Solution, Man’s Response. Since before time, God’s desire has been to have a personal relationship with mankind. Being a compassionate and personal Being, God created man to live in joyful fellowship with Him. Man’s problem is Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God by willfully breaking His commands. This rebellion, known as sin, has been passed down to all people, leaving us at odds with our just Creator. As a result, each person is in danger of being punished for his sin. Knowing that we are incapable of finding our way back, God decided to provide a solution to our terrible predicament. In the greatest act of love ever shown, the God of this universe sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life, die a costly death, and miraculously rise from the dead. All of this was done to accomplish what mankind could not. To this day, God is offering to the world the free gift of eternal life. This gift is received by those who respond to God’s offer by placing their faith in Jesus Christ alone. Through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, peace with God can be found. After someone comes to Christ, his life begins to change as he is conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

See, the gospel is a very message. Often, we become nervous when thinking about sharing the message of Christ with others, but we need not be nervous. If you are a Christian, you know enough to lead someone to saving faith in Jesus. However, it never hurts to review the message in hopes of sharing it more clearly in the future. To learn more about how to clearly share the gospel with a lost person, read through the other articles provided here.

Stage 5: Questions and Answers

The 5th and final stage of an evangelistic conversation concerns questions and answers. As you clearly share the gospel with others they will usually respond with questions about the Bible, the world, and salvation. Throughout God’s word, we are encouraged to be ready for these questions. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Since most people know very little about the gospel, they will ask questions about God, Christ, sin, forgiveness, judgment, creation, heaven, hell, other religions, etc…Though, we may not have all the answer, it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to be prepared with clear, concise, and helpful answers. In theological circles, the act of answering questions about the gospel is called “apologetics.” Basically, apologetics involves giving a defense for what you believe. A few examples of questions that could come up are, “If God created the world, who created God?,” “If salvation is only found in Jesus, what happens to someone who never hears about Jesus?,” “If God is all-good, does evil exist in the world?,” “How do you know the Bible is true?,” and “Don’t all religions lead to heaven?” Trying to answer these questions may seem like a daunting task. These are good reasons to know what we believe and how we know the Bible’s answers are true. Since our goal is equip Christians to share the gospel confidently, we must be ready to provide clear answers to these and other questions. If you run into any troubling questions as you witness, please let us know so we can help you and others be prepared with good answers.

Finally, always remember that if you don’t know how to respond to a question, the best answer is, “I don’t know, but I can try to find an answer.” Don’t ever make up an answer! If people find out that you just make up answers to hard questions, they will question whether you can be trusted. Lost people will appreciate your honesty when you admit that you do not have all the answers. Some of the most irritating people are those who act like they know everything when they really don’t. Even if you do know everything, remember that humility honors Christ while arrogance brings reproach to His name.

Well, now you know all you need to know in order to begin and end an evangelistic conversation. All that is left is for you to begin putting these principles into practice. We hope you will take time to read the other training material provided on the site. We know it will equip and inspire you greatly as you seek to take your city for Christ!

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1. Why God Used D.L. Moody by R.A. Torrey [↩]