Tell the Truth...

What are the essentials one must understand to become a follower of Christ?  Is Jesus death on the cross enough?  The resurrection?  What about sin?  Sacrifice? Salvation?  What about relationship?  Repentance? Restitution?  What knowledge is required for one to truly commit their life to Christ?  

When teams come to join us in our work we focus on things that will aid us in our church planting efforts.  In a recent post I mentioned how we usually visit the same houses four or five times to share stories from the Bible with them that address cultural issues that we think it is imperative for them to understand to make an informed decision to follow Christ... or to reject Him.  The demon possessed pigs is one story that we use because of the belief in witchcraft, demons, etc... in their culture.  We also tell the story of the Rich Young Ruler to help them understand the ultimate worth of following Christ, far superior to anything else this world has to offer.  Each of us have to make the choice. 

A few years ago I read the book, Tell the Truth, by Will Metzger that discusses issues regarding evangelism.  Just as we must take time to explain what it means to be a Christian in the context in which we live, so to must Americans help those in their context understand what it means to choose to follow Christ.  Here is a quote from the book that struck me:  

Francis Schaeffer was once asked the question, “What would you do if you met a really modern man on a train and you just had an hour to talk to him about the gospel?” He replied, “I’ve said over and over, I would spend 45-50 minutes on the negative, to really show him his dilemma – that he is morally dead – then I’d take 10-15 minutes to preach the Gospel. I believe that much of our evangelistic and personal work today is not clear simply because we are too anxious to get to the answer without having a man realize the real cause of his sickness, which is true moral guilt (and not just psychological guilt feelings) in the presence of God.”

Metzger has some solid insights into what evangelism should look like and what it shouldn’t look like.  I don’t agree with 100% of what he says in the book, but it is well worth the time and effort to read it.  The book is not one of those you sit down and read in one sitting... or two.  It’s one of those books that deserves, really requires, some time processing what you just read.  

As I read and processed this book I began to consider my own evangelistic efforts.  Was I driving a little too fast down the Romans Road?  If so, why?  Was I afraid of questions?  Rejection?  I’m not saying that the Romans Road is a bad thing, I still use the verses in my evangelistic efforts, but I don’t use them exclusively nor do I use them in a hurry.  My  “Gospel presentations” are now more “Gospel conversations” and I take a little longer to travel down the Romans Road.  

If you are interested, I would encourage you to read the book.  (As a disclaimer, I don’t receive any compensation in any way for recommending this book).  You can buy the paperback or Kindle edition through Amazon at  http://www.amazon.com/Tell-Truth-Communicated-Truthfully-Lovingly/dp/0830837833/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433500679&sr=8-1&keywords=tell+the+truth