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In God's providence, a friend shared a pamphlet with me and I really enjoyed it.
Several years ago, RBC published a pamphlet titled How Can I Share My Faith Without An Argument? It is a very good piece of literature written by a man named Bill Fay, who shares an incredible testimony at the beginning of the piece. One of the main reasons it really resonated with me is that Bill begins with the premise that we don't "win" souls for Christ. We are commanded to share, and the Holy Spirit is responsible for all of the work. That means I don't have to convince, or push, or engage unwilling participants (the very premise that recent opponents of the traditional gospel build their case on). Amen.
Secondly, Bill delivers an approach using questions and a very simple technique which are all non-threatening and reliant on Scripture speaking to the individual rather than you convincing the individual of anything.
That being said, I still feel uncomfortable using language like "invite Jesus into your heart", and "all you have to do is accept" (John 6:44 and 6:63,65). In order to satisfy my own conscience therefore, I found I could slightly tweak some wording and substitute the last verse, and come to the same conclusion.
I have provided the link to the original PDF of RBC's literature below, as well as my proposed amended material immediately following. You may be an excellent evangelist and this resource may not be useful to you, but I have found that the recent Rob Bell and N.T. Wright discussions have been a catalyst to get rid of any negative, selfish aspect of my own approach to sharing the Gospel. If you find yourself in a similar boat, please give these materials a good look and hopefully they may encourage you and equip you with another tool to prepare for "the good works the Lord has prepared for you in advance" (Ephesians 2:10). God Bless.
Bill Fay's How Can I Share My Faith Without An Argument?
http://web001.rbc.org/pdf/discovery-series/how-can-i-share-my-faith-without-an-argument.pdf
Tony's Amendment:
I cannot win anyone to Christ. I can only share.
Do you have any spiritual beliefs?
What do you believe about Jesus?
Do you believe in Heaven and Hell?
If you were to die right now, where would you go?
If anything you believed was wrong, would you want to know?
Romans 3:23
What does it say to you?
Is there anyone excluded?
Romans 6:23
What does it say to you?
"Notice I circled the word "sin". It reminds me that it doesn't need to be a plurality of sins. For one single sin, God will justly sentence me to Hell.
Notice I also underlined the Word "in". That reminds me that salvation isn't in a religion of any type but only in the person of Jesus, meaning I have to somehow have something to do with Him personally, not philosophically."
John 3:3
"The smartest teacher in Israel came up to Jesus in this story and basically asked Jesus to lay it all out on the line, 'What was He ultimately all about?' Jesus says it comes down to being "born again". This man, Nicodemus, is completely unprepared for this. He sarcastically asks Jesus, "How can I go back inside my mothers womb?" Jesus says He is talking about a spiritual rebirth. He then goes on to tell the man that spiritual rebirth can only come to a man one way. (He says He has to wash the person in the Word and baptize with the Spirit; then shows how the Old Testament pointed to this truth all along, but let's skip all the dialogue and see where He sums it up in a single sentence.)
John 14:6
What does it say to you?
Is there any other way?
Romans 10:9-11
What does it say?
"Does it include murderers, child abusers, prostitutes, etc.?
Now look at this check. (I use a real personal check here, already inserted into this page of my Bible and made out for a million dollars) You just finished reading Romans 6:23 a few verses back where it said that the payment for sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal Life in Jesus."
"If I tell you that this is a free gift for you, what are you going to do?" (take it) (Focus on the simplicity of the act, not the resistable or irresistable nature of "accepting" it) "It's that simple."
1 John 1:9
What does it say?
Is there any exception to the promise?
Are you a sinner?
Is there forgiveness available for your sins?
Are you willing to surrender your life to Christ?
Are you ready to respond to God's call?
Success is acting out my faith, sharing the gospel, and trusting God for the results.
With you for His glory
