My problem–I was a hunter. A hunter with a reaping mentality. But I became free to enjoy evangelism when I shifted from hunting to fishing. Most Christians dislike hunting, so they rarely evangelize. I rewrote these pages after reading in two publications that even most Christian workers do not evangelize! They do other ministries. It confirmed my own observation. Most do not share their faith–because they do not know how!

A major hurdle is initiating conversations. We feel uncomfortable invading the privacy of unsuspecting targets and surprising them with unwanted religious information. So if hunting is the only approach we know, we will not do it often.

But fishing evangelism is different. It is selective. It draws out the seekers from a mixed group of people and focuses on them instead of giving the gospel to non-believers indiscriminately. Seekers are people who have become hungry for God through their own deep need and through observing the character and conduct of Christians and hearing their casual references to God. Seekers nibble at this bait. They ask questions. So you begin your evangelistic conversations by answering the questions of people who want to know about God!

Fishing is ideal for Christians who see the same non-believers daily–in the workplace or on campus. It is ideal for tentmakers who witness discreetly as they support themselves in hostile countries, and for all of us who try to win our own compatriots and the internationals around us.

I will consider six subjects: 

I. Fishing out seekers–explanation, examples, benefits, contexts, components of bait, and work and witness issues. 

II. Answering questions–attitudes, readiness, kinds of questions. 

III. Drawing seekers to Christ–focusing their attention on God, tuning them in to God, using information and people resources. 

IV. Encouraging commitment and caring for new believers. 

V. Noting kinds of seekers. 

VI. Getting started.

I. Fishing out seekers

I stumbled onto this 2000-year-old fishing concept during my tentmaking years in Brazil, and then found that some other Christians had discovered it, too–from the Bible! This is how Paul and Peter teach us to evangelize!

I was earning my living as head of a secular international school in Sao Paulo. A teacher came into my office and said, "Weren’t you lucky to find that money you lost?" I almost agreed. But instead, without interrupting my work, I turned my head toward her, and said, "Oh, it wasn’t luck–I prayed like mad and God helped me to find it!" Then I changed the subject. She left, surprised at my answer. But because I did not push the matter she returned and asked, "You don’t really think God cares about a little problem like this, do you?" I told her about a prayer God answered the previous week–and I changed the subject, leaving her free.

I wanted to explain the gospel to her from the start, but she might then have avoided me, fearing I was trying to convert her. She asked more questions on successive days–because she felt she had the initiative. I let her set the pace for our conversations as she was ready–and to set the agenda. Her questions showed me what answers she was ready for. It struck me that I should always act and speak in a way that would cause people to ask the questions I longed to answer! I should fish out seekers from among the indifferent or resistant people around me.

Fishing can help Christians share the good news more often, more joyfully and more fruitfully. But let us examine both approaches.

1. Explanation and examples

Christians who fish focus on a godly lifestyle where they work or study–a place where non-believers can scrutinize their lives. They learn to insert fitting comments about God casually and naturally into secular conversations. This verbal and non-verbal bait causes spiritually hungry people to ask questions. The Christians then answer the seekers’ initial questions, win their friendship and gradually lead them to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christians who hunt are more aggressive than those who fish, but they proceed in the dark. Their hit-or-miss approach may lead them to a seeker, but more likely to a non-believer who is indifferent or antagonistic. So hunters often recite a one-size-fits-all sermonette to everyone because they know little about these strangers. If their small speech is memorized it also lacks the authenticity of spontaneity. Many hunters also use a model of evangelism adapted from selling. Their message is one-sided, psychologically packaged to elicit a positive response. They present their sales pitch without relating to the person. They are intent on finishing the little sermon so they can ask for a decision. They call for the deepest and most profound realignment of people’s lives while ignoring the reality of their personalities and circumstances.

Hunters do get people to make decisions. But many who sign cards do not understand enough to be born again. The slant of some stereotyped presentations leads listeners to think, "What can I lose? It probably can’t hurt." But it leaves many people mistaken or confused about their spiritual state. Several victims told me they just signed to get rid of the Christian. Others responded with anger. Some were disillusioned–the decision had changed nothing–Christianity was a hoax.

The hunting Christian tries to reap a harvest without first planting and watering! A few people in the U.S. may be ready for a decision because others have sowed and watered, but this is rarely true here or in other cultures.

When Jesus sent out the Twelve he instructed them to speak only to the Jews, because he saw that they were like fields white for harvest. (Mt. 9:37, 38, Jn. 4:35-38.) He sent the Twelve to reap. Although the Gentile towns scattered throughout Galilee were needier, they were not ready for reaping and the Twelve were not at all ready for cross-cultural ministry. Only the Jews had had enough chance to see Jesus.

As Paul evangelized the Roman Empire, he had to begin near zero in each Gentile city, sowing and watering. He was doing pioneer church planting. He had to present God’s Word and demonstrate it before he could reap converts and form house fellowships. He always started by fishing out seekers in the synagogues–Jews, and Gentile God-fearers–people who knew something about God from the Old Testament.

For us today to indiscriminately accost strangers with the gospel may be harmful to them, but in hostile countries it can be dangerous also for us. It can lead to job loss, arrest or expulsion, sometimes on twenty-four hours notice.

Although most Christians feel uncomfortable and even afraid to intrude into people’s lives and to impose religious conversations on reluctant listeners, most books on evangelism only tell us about better ways to hunt.

Yet even Jesus fished. He did and said things to incite questions. In Jn. 4 he surprised an immoral Samaritan woman by asking for a drink of water–something no other Jewish man would have done! He saw past her promiscuity to her deep spiritual need and led her to ask the right questions. . . But in John 3 Jesus’ miracles were bait. They brought Nicodemus on a night visit. Then Jesus’ puzzling statements about birth elicited the right questions from this Jewish theologian. Jesus fished!

Jesus referred to evangelism in general as fishing for people (Mt. 4:19), so the term fishing evangelism is redundant. But it is a helpful reminder that we should fish out the seekers from the ponds of people around us – our family circle, neighborhood, workplace, campus, club, etc. We can call it workplace evangelism, or neighborhood or campus evangelism, because it is ideal for those portions of this planet’s great sea of people which God has assigned to each of us–those people with whom we associate most often. Above all, it is tentmaker evangelism–ideal for professional people employed in hostile environments where hunting can have disastrous consequences. It is ideal for all intercultural sharing of the gospel.

So switching from a hunting to a fishing model is one secret of effective evangelism anywhere. It frees messenger and seeker. Your bait induces outsiders to ask the crucial questions.

But bait varies in each situation. On a layover in a Texas airport I could have talked to 100 travelers in the boarding area. But which one should I choose? What should I say to people I did not know? I broke the ice with a friendly "hello" to everyone nearby as I sat down. This freed one woman to ask me what work I do. An evasive answer would have ended the conversation. Instead I said, "I assist caring Christians to obtain salaried positions abroad, so they can tell hurting people around them how Jesus Christ can help."

The woman grabbed both my hands and said, "I’m so glad you are here – I am a hurting person!" Her husband had just died. I was sorry when my plane was called, and then realized we were on the same flight. She was assigned to seat 12A and I to 12B! God had planned our encounter! On takeoff she made the sign of the cross three times–so I knew she was Catholic and that she was afraid to fly. After significant conversation I gave her a Gospel of John. (Pocket-sized Gospels and evangelistic booklets can continue your conversations, and your address inside may lead to correspondence.)

On another flight I chatted with a businessman about current events. An attendant brought our meals and I said softly what I felt, all in one breath: "I am hungry –t his looks good – Thank you God for good things to eat! Now as you were saying. . ." By returning immediately to our subject I was leaving him free. I had not closed my eyes. He did not bat an eyelash. I decided he had not heard my little one-sentence grace. After the meal we both returned to our reading. A half hour later he put aside his book and began a barrage of questions about God. He had needed time to decide if he wanted to talk and then, what to ask. He chose when to speak. If I had pressed a conversation after my prayer, he might have been defensive.

So bait can be any casual thing you do or say that discreetly announces, "I know about God and I am willing to talk." In the workplace there may be no response for several days. But when your colleague or client or patient or student faces a crisis, he or she will know where to come for help.

This happened to me one Monday soon after my arrival in Sao Paulo to head up an international elementary school. The principal of the adjacent secondary school came to say that one of his teachers had drowned in a storm at sea during the weekend. The high school teachers were preparing a memorial service for the student body and parents. (I agreed that the elementary school should participate.) The Glee Club was learning a hymn. But no high school teacher was willing to say the prayer. He said, "They suggested you would know how to do that." Now what made my new acquaintances think that I could pray? Had someone noticed me briefly bow my head in the teachers’ lunchroom?

So in my short prayer at the service I asked God to comfort the bereaved family and friends. Then I added confidently, "Thank you, Lord, that we can know about life after death!" My little prayer brought teachers and students from both schools into my office for days, to ask questions. It was also how I fished out several Christian high school students and started a Bible club in my apartment to help them win their friends. In this way I multiplied my own ministry in both schools!

This event also speeded up my ministry. It could have taken awhile for most people in the elementary school to find out about my faith, and months before I would have enough contact with the high school. But God used the service to quickly inform everyone in both schools, and many upper class Brazilian parents. Yet I was not imposing religious conversations on anyone–I was answering their questions!

This chain of events occurred because I had quietly put out bait at work where I was being watched. If I had been hunting, most people around me would already have become defensive. Fishing had proved advantageous.

2. The benefits of fishing

Note just 14 benefits of the fishing approach to evangelism.

1) Fishing evangelism is enjoyable! You look at the people around you and think, like Jesus, "If you only knew what I have to give you, you would be begging me!" (Jn. 4:10) When people ask, you enjoy telling them the gospel because they want to know, and you want to tell them!

Their first questions are often indirect, but Marta came straight to the point. I had just come to Lima to teach in a secular school and I met this Peruvian teacher at the school board’s reception for us newcomers. After a bit of small talk, she asked, "Would you teach me the Bible?" I was surprised! I did not know what I had said to make her ask. But when I learned that her pilot husband had just been killed in a crash, I knew how this hurting young widow had become so open to Jesus Christ. After a few studies at my house she invited him into her life. What joy that gave us both!

Then she brought her three sons to learn about God–sons whom this doting mother had named Miguel, Rafael and Gabriel! I soon learned they were not angels–just three normally naughty teenagers whom God loved. A year later Marta died in a car crash. I was so glad God had led me to her in time!

2) Fishing evangelism is easy since anyone can put out bait–a godly lifestyle and occasional appropriate words about God. Bait is little. You need not elaborate a sermon. You learn to drop tiny spiritual bombshells in the most casual, natural way! Speak with confidence–as if every thinking person would agree. But do not be dogmatic, arrogant or preachy. Fishing is easy because you put out bait in tiny bites.

3) Fishing evangelism is kind–never rude, not imposing on someone who might become defensive, embarrassed or angry. A graduate student at U.C. Berkeley saw me with my Bible in a campus coffee shop and thought I might help with her research paper on the Protestant Reformation. I wanted to tell Daphne so much! But she assured me she had no personal interest in religion. I soon suspected that was not true. But she was prickly! So I let her questions guide me. I answered each one briefly, adding bits of bait to keep more questions coming. It became a long, substantial conversation that let me say most of what I had longed to tell her. Then I gave her the names of two pastor friends in a fine church just off campus. She said goodbye and left. But then she returned and said, "Thank you for not being pushy." This showed me why she had been so sensitive to any initiative on my part. She had been the victim of hunters! Hunting can make people very difficult to win. Good evangelism is always kind.

4) Fishing evangelism is patient, allowing seekers to pace the conversations with their questions as they are ready. We can turn people off or confuse them by saying too much too soon and using terms they do not yet know. Speak briefly and then think, "The next move is up to you." Seekers need time to process what we tell them and time for the Holy Spirit to work on them.

That was true of Joao Olavo, a medical student in Curitiba, Brazil, who had been attending an investigative Bible study in my apartment for a couple of months. Late one evening he asked me, "What does the death of Jesus 2000 years ago have to do with me today?" I thought to myself, "Dear Joao Olavo, where have you been these last three weeks?" As I began to explain it again, tears filled his eyes and a smile filled his face. He grasped the meaning for the first time. A bad experience that week had shown this very intelligent, self-sufficient, self-righteous young man that he desperately needed God. It can take time for people to understand spiritual truths even after hearing them several times.

So we must be patient with seekers because the Holy Spirit is patient with them and we must not run ahead of him. We can let the seekers’ partial responses encourage our faith and we can rejoice over each small step they take toward God. I put small t’s after their names in my prayer notebook for a small "Thank you, Lord," and then a big T when they make their commitment. A whole row of t’s tells me God is working, so I can be patient.

5) Fishing evangelism is respectful of individuals. You treat people as persons, not objects. You customize your approach for each one. When you get a nibble, determine what kind of seeker your bait has drawn. Listen to what that person says, making sure you understand. As I started university fellowships in Brazil, I spoke differently to Catholic philosophy student Ramon, to Marxist economics professor Maria Eugenia, and to my maid, Benta, who panicked at rainbows, fearing they could make her pregnant! Individuals are as unique as their fingerprints.

6) Fishing evangelism shows you what to say. It puts you right on target, with little hit-or-miss. You will not be giving a lot of answers to questions no one is asking. Seekers’ questions reveal their spiritual history, the gospel truths they already understand, their misconceptions, their felt needs, and obstacles that might hinder their turning to the Lord. Listen to them. Build on what God’s Spirit is doing with them. Do not fear their questions. (See Section II.)

7) Fishing evangelism shows you what to pray. None of your effort or expertise can bring anyone to the Lord unless you pray. Hunters can only offer general prayers. Fishers can be specific. You ask God to change Lucho’s concept of him as a severe Judge, and the idea that he may get by if he balances his sins with good deeds. You pray that he will do well on his math exam, and won’t be distracted by the soccer game or his girlfriend, and that Friday’s study on the rich young ruler in Luke 18 will touch his heart. Our prayers free the Holy Spirit to do what he is longing to do for us.

8) Fishing evangelism is wise and discreet. It is not indiscriminate, but selective. You let your light shine for everyone, because it can turn indifferent and hostile people into seekers. You answer their questions, too. But you focus on those whose questions show they are seeking. You take them aside to talk without arousing the opposition of the spiritually hostile people around them. (Evangelism is so risky in non-Christian countries that I will return to this subject later.)

9) Fishing evangelism is versatile. If you do not get a nibble, wait for an appropriate moment and try another kind of bait! There is a right kind of bait for every kind of fish. Many Christians should cultivate broader interests in order to have more in common with non-believers. At least we should be able to ask intelligent questions about current events, business, sports, literature, art, music, TV, etc.

Scripture is versatile, containing a variety of salvation metaphors to help people respond to the Lord–terms like finding him, believing in him, inviting him in, being born again, submitting to him, making a commitment to him. As alienated from God, they can be reconciled to him. As guilty and condemned they can come to the Judge for acquittal. As disobedient children they can beg forgiveness from the loving Father. As lost sheep they can let themselves be found by the seeking Shepherd. As broken people they can be made whole by the Great Physician. As slaves to sin they can let the Redeemer buy them out of the slave market and set them free. As rebels they can change sides and make an unconditional surrender to the King of Kings! Use the metaphors and Bible passages best suited to the seeker’s questions.

In a crowded but quiet hotel elevator in Manila, a well-dressed Filipino man saw my Bible and asked me if I was one of those people who believe Jesus is the Good Shepherd. I said, "Yes–are you one, too?" He said, "No. My brother is. But I value my freedom too much to give it up." So I asked, using his metaphor, "Which lamb has the most freedom–the one near the shepherd’s rod and staff, or the one in the dark alone with the lions and bears?" He said, "You have just put a whole new perspective on the subject!" (A captive elevator audience listened.) I had no time to explain how Jesus can make us truly free (Jn. 8:32). I did not have with me the booklet, Becoming Free. I pray his brother has won him.

10) Fishing evangelism is rightly motivated by a biblical definition. It is not headhunting, chalking up numbers or filling a quota. Evangelism is not even winning people to the Lord, although that is a desired result. Evangelism is joyfully, reverently, tactfully "declaring the glory of God" as we know him from Scripture and personal experience. It is storytelling! It is the purpose for which the church exists (1 Peter 2:9, Psalm 96:3)

A bad definition kept me limping along for years. I feared starting a conversation that would not result in a decision–I could not risk another failure. But this biblical definition freed me to sow and water. God was pleased whenever I spoke of him. Because I was no longer uptight, seekers came to me. Even if I see no response in a listener, I rejoice–God can make my words bear fruit in coming days or weeks–for other Christians to reap.

11) Fishing evangelism is biblical. It is not another gimmick. Both Paul and Peter describe evangelism as answering the questions of seekers.

Listen to Paul in Col. 4:5, 6: "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of each opportunity. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know how you ought to answer every one." A godly, non-judgmental, attractive lifestyle and tactful, thirst-inducing comments elicit the questions we long to answer.

Listen to Peter in 1 Peter 3:14-16: "Have no fear of them (persecutors), nor be troubled. But in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. (His presence gives courage and wisdom and power!) Always be ready to make a defense (an answer) to any one who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear (lifestyle)." According to Peter, what most attracted non-believers? The Christians’ hope! They puzzled over what secret gave the Christians joy and peace and confidence even as they suffered physical persecution, property confiscation and economic discrimination.

In our hectic, anxiety-filled world today, non-believers wonder what hope gives Christians peace and patience in the daily grind of work and the frustrations of life, and peace in spite of future uncertainties.

But fishing evangelism cannot work if no one asks questions. Three reasons they do not ask: a) Too little contact. The Christians ignore non-believers, eating meals and spending free time with each other. b) Seekers see nothing different in the believers’ behavior–they gripe like all the rest. c) Seekers admire the Christians’ conduct but do not relate it to God because they rarely mention him. Christians must put out bait, in a context they share with outsiders–the neighborhood, workplace, campus or club. This is biblical evangelism.

12) Fishing evangelism leads to evangelistic Bible studies. After a few questions, even if you could answer, say, "I’m not an authority on this subject–I’m still learning about my faith. (You are non-threatening.) But would you like to see what Jesus said?" Pull out a New Testament or Gospel and do a one-on-one study of a few relevant verses. Ask questions and let the seeker find answers in the text. These will raise new questions. Agree when to meet for a longer passage. This kind of study usually grows into weekly encounters with several seekers. (Say investigative Bible study–IBS, because an outsider could be offended or put on guard if you say evangelistic.)

IBS’s are not a new idea. Remember Philip, the social services administrator who fled Saul’s persecution and evangelized in Samaria and the Gaza Strip. He hitchhiked south along the international highway and hooked a ride in the luxurious chariot of a foreign dignitary, who turned out to be the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia! Philip knew he was a seeker because he was reading aloud from an Isaiah scroll! He got the man to ask him to explain Isaiah 53, then led him in an IBS of this wonderful passage. He helped him to trust in Jesus and then baptized him by a roadside pool!

I have seen more people find God through IBS’s than any other means. It is a patient way to provide the background seekers need to make an intelligent decision. Each one discovers truth as he or she is ready for it. You study gospel narratives. Stories have always been the main conduit for truth, especially in non-Western cultures. Stories link mind, heart and emotions in a way that abstract teaching and linear arguments do not. In the Bible, the gospel stories are the main evangelistic literature. John 20:31 says, "These things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. . . and that you might have life in his name."

Most important, the stories are about Jesus, who is always the shortcut in evangelism. You watch him in action, listen to his words and to the testimony of his friends and enemies. As you stress his humanity–he is tired, hungry, thirsty, sleepy, lonely or sad–his deity stands out in sharp contrast. Ask questions that help participants interact vicariously with him through the characters in the story.

IBS discussions are quite different from the usual Bible study. The majority of the participants should be non-believers. They share more honestly and spontaneously when there is no psychological pressure from a Christian majority. But emphasize the ground rules–to answer the questions from the text–to discover what the passage means, not to exchange religious opinions. This avoids arguments and makes sure the participants will not leave with wrong conclusions. (But note the opinions they present and discuss them privately between studies.)

IBS’s enable you to rejoice as seekers take small steps toward God. Their comments and questions show when you should ask for commitment. It produces converts who are lay evangelists, because the new Christians can immediately win others, as they were won–leading an IBS with a question guide on the gospel stories! In Spain, Marisa had not yet made a verbal commitment herself when she took a page of questions to lead that week’s study with her non-believing father and sister! See GO Paper: Investigative Bible Studies.

13) Fishing evangelism facilitates follow-up, because it quickly leads to an IBS, which not only helps seekers find God, but provides the matrix in which the converts are taught and nurtured. The IBS turns into a DBS–a discipleship Bible study. You also begin new IBS’s, with the converts inviting their friends and leading them to God.

14) Fishing evangelism facilitates church planting, because it quickly leads to an IBS which soon turns into a DBS–and that soon becomes a house church! A larger congregation can be formed if tentmakers bring two or three DBS groups together. But in Muslim countries they may have to wait until the converts learn to trust each other, since they fear infiltration by spies (phony converts) seeking to report them to authorities.

The above 14 benefits of fishing can be experienced in different situations.

3. Fishing contexts

Fishing evangelism is useful in our travel, our nuclear and extended families, our neighborhoods, our places of work or study and in our social activities. We will consider first where Paul evangelized, then our contemporary workplaces or campuses, and then hostile environments.

1) Paul’s contexts for evangelism.

Intellectual Paul, who supported himself by making animal skin tents, integrated work and witness in the workshop. There he probably saw some fellow laborers, customers, suppliers, and artisan guild members with shops on the same narrow street. He may have worked for an employer or hired his own employees, managed a workshop or trained apprentices. In the streets of Corinth he talked to drunks, thieves, idlers and other bums–and won many to the Lord! (1 Cor. 6:9-11) Conversations would have spilled over into his residence–maybe above or behind the workshop, especially when he lived with Priscilla and Aquila. He talked to people in the market squares and was invited to lecture to the philosophers in the Aeropagus council in Athens and to the Asiarchs in Ephesus (Acts 17,18). But he always taught first in synagogues to fish out seekers, until Jewish hostility forced him to move meetings to a convert’s home–like that of Jason in Corinth. In Philippi there was no synagogue so he looked for worshipping Jews along the riverbanks, and found the Gentile God-fearer, Lydia. (Acts 16) In Ephesus Paul taught during the long noontime siesta hours in a borrowed lecture hall and evenings in large local households. (Acts 19:8, 9, 20:20.) He evangelized on board ship and on long journeys on foot (Acts 27, 28, 19:1ff). He witnessed in several jails (Acts 16) and won converts under Nero’s very nose–in his palace prison! (Phil. 1:12-15, 4:21,22.) He turned his arrests and trials into evangelistic outreach! (Acts 21-26.)

Although theologically educated, he served as a working man, not clergy–because it gained him credibility with the skeptical, suspicious Gentiles. He was erudite and upper class but he identified with artisans. He modeled and taught fishing evangelism in all these contexts. (Col.4:5, 6).

2) Today’s workplace and campus.

What makes fishing evangelism so necessary where we work or study is that we see the same people over and over. We must not turn them off by saying too much at the beginning.

Maria Celia learned this in her first year of medical school in Curitiba, Brazil. When she came to share my apartment, she said, "Don’t expect me to evangelize. Last year I talked about God so much that when I walked down the hall everyone disappeared into classrooms!" She was right. More talk would be counterproductive. I said, "Let’s not talk to them about God unless they ask." I knew they would ask if we used the right bait in a context of caring about them as whole people–not just religious souls.)

Students came to our little apartment mainly from the Catholic medical faculty next door and the federal medical school a block away. Once we had 60 people! Sometimes groups studied all night for exams, with human hearts and lungs on the table exuding formaldehyde! We provided coffee, Brazilian mate tea and cookies. Students dropped by almost any time of day, and some asked about God. When they started working on cadavers Orlandina had trouble sleeping, so she asked me what happens when we die. As we sat down to study 1 Cor. 15 others came in, and she called them to join us. We had these spontaneous Bible studies almost any hour of the day, and a scheduled study each Saturday. We ended these studies in an hour, but discussion continued for another hour or two. When we divided into three groups, some came three times a week! Maria Celia became popular and wisely used her evangelistic gift.

This discreet approach is even more important in antagonistic milieus.

3) Hostile environments. Fishing evangelism is ideal among that 80% of the world’s people that is off-limits to missionaries. China comprises about 22% of the world and India 20%. Muslim countries add another 20%. Even some fairly open countries no longer issue missionary visas. Yet all governments welcome expatriates with expertise they need. But fanatics can get you dismissed, arrested or expelled. Yet how could you face God if you did not tell the gospel to local people who had never had a chance to hear it?

Solution: You fish! You do selective evangelism, finding the spiritually hungry people in any group and taking them aside to talk. Genuine seekers are not likely to report you to authorities. Non-seekers may not even notice your subtle bait. But your godly lifestyle can turn even them into seekers.

Jesus evangelized in an extremely hostile situation, not unlike Muslim cultures today. Jewish society was characterized by the same fanatical monotheism of people who do not believe in a triune God. As opposition to Jesus grew, he used parables to fish out seekers. The crowds could react with curiosity, indifference, anger, sentimental approval, mockery or perplexity, but only those who stayed and asked, discovered the meaning of his stories (Mk. 4:12). He did not "cast pearls before swine" (Mt. 7:6). He did not speak precious truths to the hostile crowds who would trample and mock. They would discourage timid seekers. Jesus fished out hungry people and explained the life-giving, spiritual meaning of his stories to them in private.

A similar tactic would have helped Dick, a music teacher in Kuwait. He related warmly to the local people, and the Muslim men in his neighborhood invited him to join their evening chats outdoors or in their homes. It was an honor to be invited to a diwaniya and Dick courageously talked to the men about Jesus Christ. Once they even asked him to bring his Injil (N.T.) But soon they were fiercely arguing among themselves in Arabic. If a hesitant seeker was present, he was probably discouraged by the majority. Dick needed to fish out the seekers and talk with them elsewhere.

Engineers Roy and Carol, working in a sensitive Muslim country, became discouraged when she and the children fell ill with hepatitis and he injured his back. The Arab employers were never happy with his work–it is how they control employees. The two bosses lied to each other and Roy would get caught in the middle. The couple asked for thirty days vacation leave in the U.S. They wanted to reconsider if God expected them to stay in this hard place.

The bosses protested. If Roy left for a month the whole factory would fall apart! For the first time he saw how pleased they were with him. Just before the couple left, one boss came with a little suitcase, asking for books about Jesus! Roy thought he was entrapping him–to get him arrested. He would not have dared to bring a whole suitcase full of Christian books into this country! But Roy gave him an Arabic New Testament and a book about Jesus.

The boss proved to be sincere and the couple returned. The boss had been made hungry for the gospel, first by Christian radio, then by how Roy related to them at work and how the couple faced their multiple problems. Anyone can do right when all goes well. But suffering enhances our testimony.

However, even tentmakers who are discreet can be expelled. It had taken us only two weeks to get Tom a civil engineering job in Saudi Arabia. He was helping a small fellowship of mainly Asian Christians. He returned to his job after a four-week break outside the country, and found the whole group being expelled, because of the exuberance of a few new believers. In a week or two Tom was also ordered to leave. But in a short time all had jobs elsewhere in Muslim countries and their ministries continued.

Tentmakers should not flaunt their religious activity before authorities. But if arrested, they should see God’s hand in it, since no one can touch them without God’s permission! Jesus said his followers should expect arrests so they could witness to authorities. (Mt. 10:16-20). The first tentmaker ever has assured us that God "makes all things work together for good for those who love him, and for their families!" (Rom. 8:23-28)

So Christians must be in a context where they can be regularly observed by the same outsiders, and they must put out bait that will draw seekers.

4. Components of bait

Note first what is not bait. Bumper stickers and Christian motto shirts are not witnessing, but advertising. These turn off most non-believers. But as I traveled in Asia, my tiny cross or fish lapel pins fished out a surprising number of seekers. But effective bait where we live, work or study must contain these four characteristics.

1) Personal integrity. The first component is moral integrity. Our relationships with the opposite sex must be above reproach. Our lives must be characterized by honesty, truthfulness and transparency. In most cultures people ask personal questions, like how much money we earn, what rent we pay, the price of our car, why we are in their country. If you are single, they ask why. If married, they ask why you have no children, etc. It is good to have nothing to hide. Openness gains trust.

As tentmakers in sensitive countries we must be who we say we are, with no pretense. A math teacher who knows Jesus Christ must be just that. Christians who see themselves as regular missionaries with a job as a cover or a front, often develop a clandestine mentality which sooner or later destroys their credibility. Fear may lead them to evade questions, to speak half-truths or use code words. Each small deception requires others. Local people catch on quickly. The believer’s evasions and inconsistencies puzzle them and undermine trust. Their actions can result in the very detection they fear.

No passage of Scripture permits half-truths or other deceptions. The end does not justify the means. Truth and righteousness are major parts of our spiritual armor that we must consciously put on–daily, as we dress. (Eph. 6: 10ff.) In this cosmic war we dare not risk holes! An untruth gives Satan a foothold. He can turn us into perpetual liars by keeping us in hot water. The problem is not only that people will find us out, but Satan knows, and our lack of trust dishonors God!

Jesus said our evangelism would bring us before authorities. (How else would they ever hear the gospel?) He promised that the Holy Spirit would tell us what to say. Does the Spirit of Truth ever coach us to lie? Don’t short-circuit what God is trying to do when you are face to face with potentially dangerous authorities. It is how God turned the chief persecutor of the church, Saul of Tarsus, into Paul, the beloved apostle! (See GO Paper on Tentmaker Ethics.)

Tentmakers who genuinely earn their living in substantial positions for which they are qualified, have more freedom in almost every way to live out the gospel in the workplace and to answer the questions that invariably arise. Tentmaking is not regular missionary work, but a unique approach to spiritual ministry. To abstract Paul’s model of secular work but ignore his instructions for workplace evangelism is to forfeit most of the benefits of tentmaking.

The Christian professional must live out the Christian life under the unrelenting scrutiny of non-believers. Personal integrity is seen in small things. We all fail under stress so it matters how we deal with failure. We must be willing to apologize, to say we are still learning. We do not claim perfection, but we long to please God in all that we do.

Paul’s manual labor enabled him to model the Christian life for converts (2 Thess.3:8ff). They had never seen a Christian! It was not enough to tell them how to live holy lives. It was not enough to show godliness in church. Paul demonstrated holy living in the same seductive, idolatrous, immoral cesspool of Roman society in which the seekers lived and worked.

Paul lived out honesty, truth, holiness and love in the same atmosphere of persecution that tempted new believers to lie and compromise their faith. But he did not let fear short-circuit what God was doing in people around him.

Two thousand years after Paul, it is equally important for us to live out Christ in the world’s diverse marketplaces, to speak the truth, to refrain from bribery, to avoid illegal monetary exchange, to respect authority, to deal kindly with everyone, to be irreproachable in our relationships to the opposite sex–according to the Bible and local customs. Our integrity matters!

And so does our work. Note some of Paul’s most astonishing instructions!

2) Quality work. The second component of bait is honest work for our employer. Paul also taught and modeled a biblical work ethic in a society that had none. A contract with an employer was a contract with the Lord.

Slaves made up 90% of the population in Rome and the Italian peninsula and 70% in the provinces! The basic social unit of Greco-Roman society was the wealthy household. It consisted of the owner’s extended family, slaves who did house chores, slaves who did farm labor, and slaves who were artisans and managers who ran the family businesses. A household also had teachers, and often a doctor and a lawyer. Who were all these slaves? Some had been born to slave parents and were the master’s property. Some were picked up as abandoned babies. Some were freeborn people who fell into debt. The majority were foreign captives, taken in war or peace and sold in slave markets. These households were multicultural!

But in Eph. 6:5-8, Paul speaks not only to slaves but to wage earners–to free citizens, to ex-slaves, to small business proprietors, to day laborers. He says, "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ, not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with good will as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good any one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is slave or free." See also Col. 3:23-25.

Regardless of the Christian’s social status or the work done, Jesus was the real boss–rather than the person who gave the orders or authorized the paycheck. Quality work might even win the employer to the Lord, improving life for many! To win a householder could result in a new house church! The households became the main social unit of the church!

Paul gives us a new perspective on secular work. Jesus observes us and evaluates the quality of our work. We are to serve our human employers as though they were Jesus Christ! Even if they are cruel slave masters. If we do it consciously for Jesus Christ it is no longer secular work. Even a hard job, or a boring one, is transformed into sacred ministry and worship!

So architect Don served God, in the Arabian Gulf, not only by his evangel ism, but also by the Arab style houses he designed for Muslim extended families! Engineer Stan pleased God by providing water resources for rural southeast Asians. Tim did surgery in Turkey, and Norma played violin in Portugal’s national symphony orchestra. Brian managed a supermarket in Saudi Arabia. Keith taught high school math in Kenya. The Ponds taught children in Belarus. The 70-year old Johnsons taught English in China. But all had the same employer–Jesus Christ.

Work is part of our cultural mandate (Gen.1:28). It is one of the ways in which we reflect the image of God. It is how we care for the resources God has entrusted to us. It is how we "bless" our new host country. It is how we let God love people through us. That God "so loved the world" means he loves the rebels everywhere. He wants his followers to make life better for them. God told his exiled people in idolatrous, pagan Babylon, "Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, for in its welfare is your welfare." (Jer. 29:7) We must integrate our cultural mandate and our missionary mandate (Mt.28:18-20). Daily work done for God is spiritual ministry.

But the witness of our work can never take the place of the witness of our character and words. Both verbal and non-verbal testimony are as necessary in evangelism as both wings are to a superjet! All the tentmakers above also shared the good news on their jobs as well as in free time. Their quality work opened doors for verbal witness and gave credibility to their words.

3) Caring relationships. The third component of bait is how Christians relate to people in the workplace or on campus. They must be pleasant to all around them and give comfort, encouragement and practical help where they can. They may help a colleague at work, help a family move, take meals to the sick, do the shopping, babysit the children, prepare a fellow student for an exam, find him part-time work or a place to live. They may invite their neighbors or colleagues for meals.

Carlos Garcia, fourth year law student, came to our Bible study group in my apartment in Lima, Peru. The next Saturday was his birthday so I baked a cake. I should have guessed he would spend that day with his family. So the next Saturday I baked another cake for a late celebration. After he found the Lord and became a pastor he told his congregation that no one had ever baked him a birthday cake–and it had touched him that I had baked two! More recently this godly leader was elected Vice President of Peru.

For Paul’s converts, hospitality and generosity were part of life and witness. (Gal. 6:9, 10, 1 Tim. 3:2) He wrote in 1 Thess. 2:8: "We shared with you not only the gospel of God but our very own selves, because you had become very dear to us."

Americans are judged by foreigners to be friendly, but unavailable when needed. Most cultures make a big distinction between friends and acquaintances. People test your friendship by requesting favors, but they expect you to request favors, too. You cannot have many real friends at once. Find a few seekers and focus on them and their families.

When Bob and Betty taught English in China, the government did not want students to associate with foreign faculty outside the classroom. But this couple loved the students and knew how boring their lives were. So they found a way to invite a few at a time for meals in their pleasant apartment. They designed a course on how to be a guest in an American home. These students saw a Christian book or two on the coffee table and a Bible verse on the wall. On one visit, a young engineer said, "I want to know about God. Is there any kind of a book about him?"

In another city a young Chinese woman expressed surprise that her English teachers were volunteering their free time to provide sacrificial service to children in one of China’s desperate orphanages. (People abandon girl babies at these institutions almost daily.) She protested that orphans are the government’s job! But she became ashamed that it was foreigners, not her own people, who gave loving care to these abandoned little ones. She said, "Soon I begin to suspicion that these teachers are Christians. I ask, and they say to me ‘yes.’"

Christian groups can show caring on an even larger scale. An IFES-related student group in Peru painted the filthy restrooms on campus as a service to the student body! A few years ago in Communist Hungary the persecuted churches canceled a Sunday morning’s services so members could help clear away flood debris for their neighbors. Their labor became worship.

Whenever possible, our personal help to people should be reciprocal, not paternalistic. In Yemen, Clare, who is an engineer, stays home to care for her children and to befriend her Muslim neighbors. But the local women were not friendly until her first baby was born. Then they came to help this young mother whose own mother lived so far away. After that Clare could go to market with the women–her hair wholly covered, like theirs. She adjusted their sewing machines and they taught her to sew their long colorful gowns. Give-and-take allays suspicions that a one-sided relationship creates.

In every conversation we must play the role of either host or guest. Shy people are often guests–passive. We must learn to be hosts. Take the initiative to make others comfortable, instill confidence, free them to confide. Make yourself vulnerable by sharing personal experiences. Being the host takes your mind off yourself, reducing your shyness and freeing you to love others.

So we must live out the gospel in a non-judgmental, non-compromising, attractive way. We must maintain personal integrity even in the most difficult situations, with quality work and caring relationships–and watch for openings to talk about the Lord.

4) Verbal witness. This is the fourth component of bait. If you do not speak of God, an exemplary life may merely confuse people. So you must casually, naturally and confidently insert fitting comments about God into secular conversations. Do not overdo. Avoid being preachy. But watch for openings. Your informed, pleasant conversations on non-religious topics make your occasional religious comments acceptable.

Section II gives more help on verbal witness. But first, consider mission issues in integrating work and witness.

5. Work and witness issues

Quality work is basic to tentmaker witness everywhere, along with integrity, caring relationships and speaking. But the following problems are due to cultural factors or to an undervaluation of secular work in evangelical circles.

1) Social barriers that inhibit witness. It bothers Christian faculty in some countries that they may not socialize with their students without losing respect. Students will expect favors and good grades without effort. Usually tentmakers find ways to converse with them. But they have more freedom to evangelize colleagues, former students and students in other people’s classes.

In many countries, business people also may not associate freely with subordinates. But even in this situation, God helps you fish out the seekers.

2) Little appreciation for efficiency. Many countries have no work ethic and quality work may be resented. Your efficiency may mean fewer employees are needed. You do not want to jeopardize the job of a friend who needs to support his family. How do you reconcile biblical teaching on work and your responsibility to your employer, with problems you could cause coworkers?

Paul faced a similar dilemma. The Jews had a work ethic from the O.T., but the Gentiles had none. Paul made a big issue of work. He taught and modeled a biblical work ethic for his converts. Why? Many had been idlers and thieves, and even after their conversion Paul had to exhort them to quit stealing! (1 Cor. 6:9-11, Eph. 4:28). He said that idlers unwilling to work were not to eat. Without a biblical work ethic there could not be godly, respectable church members, nor well-supported families, nor indigenous, independent churches. Converts could not give to the needy, nor have any positive effect on their community. In many countries today a small Christian minority has great influence partly because of its work ethic.

In spite of initial disadvantage, in the long run the work ethic is better for everyone. But rather than compete with coworkers, earning their enmity and threatening their jobs, help them all to do better. Help your superior to raise the productivity of the whole department in a way that gets him the credit. Gain both the short- and long-term benefits of a biblical work ethic.

3) The myth of the Christian presence. Some expatriates who go to China are persuaded not to evangelize. If they just show what good people Christians are, it is said, the government will give permission to evangelize a few years from now. But it is doubtful that any country ever gained religious freedom this way. How can Christians refrain from giving the gospel to the Chinese around them who have never had a chance to hear it? They must do low key evangelism now, eliciting questions to answer.

4) Evangelizing elsewhere but not on the job. It is easy to understand why some tentmakers do not want to risk their jobs and work permits by evangelizing in the workplace. They wish to avoid the cost and hassle of moving their family to another country. But the people we see daily are our main responsibility before God. Biblical evangelism is a lifestyle, not an activity to switch on or off. The solution? Quit hunting. Fish! God provides a particular job so the tentmaker can witness specifically in that context. They must trust him to care for them and their families. No one dare touch them without his permission!

5) A supposed conflict of interest between job and ministry. Many tentmakers are told by their Christian superiors, "Do not put so much effort into your job because that is not what you are here for." This puts stress on the workers. The job is viewed as a necessary nuisance to permit residence in the restricted country. But it is wrong to use an employer for a visa unless one intends to give wholehearted service.

Tentmaking and regular missionary work are not just two different means of financial support, but two quite different mission strategies for different people in different situations.

Scripture gives us examples of both approaches. God called Peter to leave his two-family fishing business forever and to fish for men, as a regular missionary, on donor support. Years later Paul reports approvingly that Peter and his wife still traveled and ministered on church support. (Luke 5:1-11, John 21, 1 Cor. 9:5) Paul then gives a long list of arguments to establish his own right as an apostle to church support. But then in the same chapter Paul says three times that he has never made use of this right! Three times! (1 Cor. 9:12, 15, 18) He writes near the end of his third missionary journey, so all his journeys are included. God called him to a self-supporting, tentmaking ministry. His pioneer church planting among Gentile unreached peoples required a different strategy from the work of Peter, which was mainly among Jews.

Paul says the Christian’s job is important. He tells slaves and paid workers that they must serve their human employers with the same dedication that they would give to Jesus Christ! Col. 3:23-25: "Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ." See also Eph. 6:5,6. We dare not minimize tentmakers’ jobs, because they are an integral part of their spiritual ministry, and can produce more churches than any other approaches.

The incompatibility of job and ministry is exaggerated in mission circles for three reasons: a) A failure to heed Paul–his considerable teaching on work and witness, and his marketplace example. b) Leaders’ inexperience. Few mission leaders have done self-supporting ministry. Many have not held secular jobs! Even most tentmakers did little or no workplace evangelism in their previous jobs at home. c) The problem of hybrid ministries. All combinations of self-support and donor support are legitimate if they are honest. But people who depend mainly on donor support are not tentmakers, but regular missionaries, pretending self-support, using a minimal job as a front or a cover. Each finds "a secular identity" behind which to hide his or her true identity. But they tend to develop a clandestine mentality that can lead to deceitfulness and loss of credibility. It predisposes them to do the very things which can make them suspect.

Tentmaking is not regular missionary work. But it is full-time ministry, since work and witness are integrated on the job. In their free time tentmakers have additional ministries. A linguistics instructor translated the New Testament into the language of five million Muslims as he supported himself in the local university! Paul considered tentmaking better for pioneer church planting in hostile regions than the donor-support approach of Peter. (See GO Paper: Why did Paul Make Tents? A Biblical Basis for Tentmaking.)

6) The problem of an unethical employer. Deal with the situation with prayer and patience. Daniel’s bosses were no saints! Yet he won Nebuchadnezzar to the Lord ! But if an employer’s reputation compromises your testimony you must take the proper steps to resign. We know of no tentmakers who have had to do this.

7) The danger of jeopardizing the employer. All vocations have occupational hazards. Tentmaking in sensitive countries adds another–persecution. A Christian expatriate in Saudi Arabia may be willing to take risks for Jesus Christ, but what if he jeopardizes his employer? What if his firm loses its contract because of his indiscretion? a) The firm risks more by hiring non-believers who are immoral, or use drugs, or home-brew their own liquor. Most Christians share Muslims’ objection to alcohol and their other scruples. b) Tentmakers may not remain silent in any country. It is usually legitimate to answer the questions of local people, so fishing evangelism reduces the risks. c) They must trust that God brought them there to witness and he cares for them, their families and their employers.

But tentmakers must fish, not hunt! Bait is similar everywhere: personal integrity, quality work, caring relationships and fitting words about God.

But there is more to evangelism than fishing out the seekers. Fishing helps you to get started. It helps you over a major hurdle. Your lifestyle evangelism draws seekers into your friendship evangelism. As the relationship develops you can take more initiative in the conversations. But how do you proceed? How do you handle the seeker’s questions?

II Answering questions

1. Basic attitudes

Confidence and humility. Do not fear the questions! The key is to evangelize as a learner, not as an authority. It is less threatening to the seeker and it takes the pressure off of you. You never claimed to have all the answers. The Christian faith is not going to be hurt because you haven’t yet learned everything. After 2000 years no one is going to think up a question that no Christian can answer! But we must share our certainties, not our doubts. Be honest. Rather than bluff or answer poorly, say, "Let me have until tomorrow so I can give you a clear explanation." Then work on the answer.

2. Preparedness

1) How do you find the answers? Consult books like Josh McDowell’s Evidences that Demand a Verdict (CCC) or Cliff Knechtle’s Give me an Answer (IVP). (See Bibliography.) Do you have access to a church library? Talk with fellow Christians–a pastor or campus staff worker. Organize your data. Make a simple outline of your best arguments and related Scriptures. Find a relevant booklet to lend. We should not be unprepared twice for the same question.

2) How can you prepare beforehand? Both Peter and Paul tell us to be ready for the questions. I found the following helpful.

a) I started a question file in a shoe-box. On divider tabs I wrote the questions people asked or that I feared they might ask. Then I filed outlines of my best answers, with Bible verses. I kept adding scraps of paper with notes from books, magazines and sermons–as I found them.

b) I prepared inductive Bible study guides on several passages for IBS’s like: the woman at the well (Jn.4) the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mt. 15), blind Bartimaeus (Lk.18), the rich young ruler (Lk. 19), Zacchaeus (Lk. 19, the Roman centurion, the widow of Nain, Simon and the sinful woman (all in Luke 5). These simple stories have tremendous theological and evangelistic content. 7). I also did mini-studies on even shorter passages, like Jesus’ promise of freedom in John 8:31-36; Jesus at the door in Rev.3:20, 21 and on the cross in 1 Peter 2:18-25, etc. (See Bibliography and GO Paper on Inductive Bible Study: Preparing a Passage.)

c) I memorized evangelism Bible verses–and their addresses, so I could find and use them quickly. I started with salvation verses like John 1:12, 3:16-21, 5:24, 1 John 5:11, 12, Rev. 3:20,21. (The Navigators memory system and packet are helpful.)

These three steps should prepare you, as they did me, to answer questions with more confidence. You must depend on God’s Spirit to bring to remembrance what you should say in each case. But the Holy Spirit cannot retrieve data from your memory bank that you have never stored there!

3. The questions

People ask three main kinds of questions–all of them important. Understanding them can give balance and keep us from spinning our wheels. They relate to apologetics, personal testimony and gospel proclamation. Consider samples of each.

1) Apologetics–that is, defense of our faith. Peter’s Greek word for answer is apologia, reason, defense. It divides into two kinds of questions. a) Philosophical: If God is good how can he allow evil? How can he allow a hell? How can he let the innocent suffer? Is there absolute truth? Where do we get our feelings of right and wrong? Are human beings more than biochemical machines? What is death? Is incarnation a reality? b) Historical: How can we know that Jesus existed? Why not regard him merely as a great teacher? Why not regard him merely as an impersonal Christ principle or Christ consciousness? Why should we believe he is God in a unique sense? Why believe that he arose bodily from the grave, never to die again? Why believe that the Bible is true? Why is it more valid than the The Gospel of Thomas, The Unknown Life of Jesus or extra-sensory messages? Why believe that biblical, historical Christianity is uniquely different from and superior to all other religions?

It is permissible to argue, to give reasons, to persuade–as Paul did. But he said to do it gently and courteously (2 Tim. 2:23-26, Eph. 6:10ff). The non-believers are not the enemy, but victims of the enemy, blinded and held captive by him. It is possible to win all the arguments but to lose the seeker.

Some years ago, Paul Little pointed out in his book How to Give Away Your Faith (IVP) that only a few intellectual questions occurred repeatedly, even when you worked with students and professional people. Today, in our much more complex society, his observation is still true. Most people are not well informed nor interested in religious and philosophical issues. Most have little understanding of the Christian faith and have accepted popular objections with little thought. We can confidently undermine their shaky foundations.

But we hear more varied questions today than two decades ago, for two reasons. a) Our increasingly pluralistic society brings new questions from eastern religions. (See Section V.) b) We are undergoing a shift from modernity to post-modernity all over the world among urbanized people. This is a major shift from three centuries of culture dominated by science and rationalism–to a new anti-rational, metaphysical, neo-pagan era. People are less likely to ask, "Is it true?" and more likely to ask, "What does it do for me? How does it make me feel?" Post-modernity consists of a variety of cults, under the loose term New Age. They claim Jesus as an enlightened guru, but deny his deity, distorting all that we know of him. They use spurious books about Jesus and turn to the mystical, the magical, to channeling, to supposed contact with the dead and with spirit beings. Angels are popular. Many believe in reincarnation. For them the Bible is not more valid than any other writings or extra-sensory messages.

There is no need to panic. The devil is not very creative. Many of these false teachings are like those of the Docetists and Gnostics in the ancient Greek world–the same heresies the apostles confronted! Some New Agers today even use old Gnostic texts found in Egypt. So the tactics and the answers the apostles used are valid also for today. Just because non-believers’ first concern is not truth does not mean they have no interest in it, nor that we must discard this weapon. God’s absolute truth is our sword, which remains as powerful as ever! (Eph. 6:17, Heb. 4:12,13). This great cosmic war is still a war of ideas–between God’s absolute truth and human lies, which we must demolish with his Word (2 Cor. 1::3-5) How can we tell if we are speaking to a modern or a post-modern person? By their questions! (We will continue to deal with basic evangelism and discuss special kinds of seekers, like post-modern ones, in Section V.)

The Christian faith is on trial, but so is every belief system! Not a single one begins to have the vast amount of evidences that we have! Many will see that the overwhelming evidences for the New Testament make it more credible than exotic books with not a shred of evidence, or the extrasensory messages of strange gurus.

God’s truth makes sense of God’s world and everything in it. No religious system that rejects the existence of our Creator God can present an alternative view of the world that people can live with. If God is dead: a) Then there can be no supernatural. Yet in a recent jet crash everyone on board prayed. b) If there is no God, then human beings are only chemicals, elusive atoms–yet people know their loved ones are more than that. c) Without God, morality and sexual ethics are just a matter of taste, yet these same skeptics are rigid moralists concerning child abuse or racial prejudice. d) Without God, everything is meaningless. But people have to live their lives as God’s creatures in God’s rational world, so they constantly butt their heads on this objective reality.

Most important, no matter what people in any era or any culture say they believe, we know they have that same inner emptiness–that God-shaped vacuum which only God can fill–as the French mathematician-philosopher, Blaise Pascal, said in the mid-1600's.

We also have the Holy Spirit coaching us and reinforcing what we say!

We also have God’s Word which is self-authenticating and powerful. Defend the Bible as you would a lion–let it out of its cage! Get seekers into Bible study. They do not need to believe the Bible is true, but only that it is worth investigating. Do not raise the issue of credibility–assume they have that much confidence in it. Even Muslims consider it a holy book. It has the "ring of truth." It speaks to people’s hearts whether they believe it is from God or not, because it agrees with the reality they experience as God’s creatures in the world God designed. While their mouths argue against God’s Word, their hearts and consciences are saying "You know it’s true!"

If people want evidences for the truth of Scripture, begin with The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? by F. F. Bruce. Once they accept this verification of the New Testament, they must accept Jesus’ authentication of the Old Testament.

Some Christians consider all intellectual questions insincere. But many questions come from doubters wanting to believe. Paul made a distinction between unbelievers in the synagogues who rejected the gospel, and outsiders who had never heard it. (1 Cor. 14)

You can discover if a person’s questions are only excuses to reject the gospel. After a few answers, ask if they would be willing to receive Jesus if all their questions were resolved. If they say No, try to determine their real obstacle to faith. An immoral life? Fear of losing freedom? Fear of persecution? Fear of family opposition? (A Jewish convert can be disowned and a Muslim one put to death!)

But watch for people like Jean Louis, a student I met in France. He had never met an evangelical until he came by accident to a French GBU (IFES) leadership conference at Valbonne. His girlfriend, Armelle, a seeker, somehow heard about this student activity, and came, bringing him along. He asked me many questions between classes, until the last day, when he said he had no more questions and he was satisfied with all my answers.

So I asked, "Then are you ready to invite Jesus Christ into your life?" He said, "It is all so new to me–I need to think it over." So I said, "Yes. You must not make such an important commitment lightly. " I explained again how he could do it. Two weeks later he wrote that he and Armelle had both invited Jesus Christ and were being helped by the local GBU group.

If your evangelism is of the Holy Spirit, you can trust him to continue the convicting work he has begun in seekers’ hearts. Often we are one link in a chain of people God uses to win someone to himself. Your answer to a single question may be such a link.

2) Personal testimony. Another kind of question relates to your experience of God. How did you find God? How do you know he accepted you? How do you hear him speak? Could your experience be self-suggestion? What difference does Jesus Christ make in your life? On your job? In your marriage? In other relationships? Could your answers to prayers be mere coincidences? (Someone said, "When I pray much my life is full of coincidences and when I pray little, there aren’t any!")

Post-modern seekers and people from non-Christian religions may be more interested in evidences of God’s presence and power in us than in our apologetics. Both are needed. (See more below on spiritual power in evangelism.)

But talk about your spiritual experience in ordinary English. Avoid evangelical cliches, because most outsiders will not understand them or will think you quaint. Spiritual language or a shift to a religious voice or facial expression are bad habits some Christians learn in church, but they turn outsiders off. So be casual and be yourself.

Answer experience questions with honesty and humility–not how Christians should be, but how we are. We are God’s children, saved for eternity, but we are still sinners, constantly learning and growing and needing forgiveness.

I recall a dark stormy night in southern Brazil, when I finally boarded a little prop plane that was two hours late. The businessman next to me had asked what I was reading and I said it was a book on how God accepts us as we are and cares for us. But as the little plane lurched into the air for a very bumpy flight, I dug my fingernails into the armrests. I didn’t pray, "God, protect us," but rather, "Don’t let this man see that I am afraid because I just told him you protect us!" Christians should not be afraid, should they? But we are human, and the fear instinct is God’s gift for our protection. I had caught myself being phony! So I turned to the man and said, "I really believe God protects us, but on a rough flight I am still afraid." He said, "I’m afraid, too, because if this plane goes down I’ll go straight to hell. God could never accept such a wicked man as I have been."

My honest admission of fear gave me the chance to tell this man about God’s grace and forgiveness, as tears filled his eyes. On debarking, I gave him the little book I had been reading, because I knew God had intended it for him.

Seekers will sense phoniness and an attitude of superiority. Even when God’s Spirit has helped us grow spiritually and to pray effectively, we are still learners. It is wise to give out the good news "the way beggars tell other beggars where they have found bread." Bread is the gospel–the third kind of question people ask.

3) Gospel truths. Seekers cannot be born again through apologetics or personal testimony alone. They need the facts of the gospel. The minimum the seeker must understand fits a three-point outline, and a fourth for response. You would not usually explain these points in order, like a sermon. Rather, they are your mental checklist to evaluate how much the seeker knows and what still needs to be clarified. Remember four words: God, people, Jesus, and response.

The first word is GOD–Creator of everything, including ourselves. So we owe him all that we are and have. We should respond with worship, thanksgiving, love, trust, obedience, loyalty and willing service. Sin is the insult of withholding this response. If there were no Creator, there would be no sin. (Rom. 1:18-32)

But do not get sidetracked into a discussion of: Evolution or Creation? A bad question cannot have a good answer. What matters is a prior question: Does everything owe its existence to God or to blind fate or chance? If to God, then it becomes secondary how he chose to create–over a long period, in six literal days or in six seconds. The how is not essential to salvation and the Bible is silent on the subject. Genesis answers the far more important questions of who created, what he created and why he did it.

Do not argue about the existence of God unless seekers ask. Assume they believe in a supreme Being. In America 90% do. (See Section V for those who do not.) But what kind of God?

God is love. "He so loved the world that he gave his only Son." But love is not just a sentimental feeling. It seeks the beloved’s highest good. God’s love is limitless, unfathomable, undeserved and unconditional. "He does not love us because we are valuable, but we have infinite value because he has set his love upon us." (Thielicke)

God is holy. (Hab.1:13, Dt. 4:24) His love makes him hate everything that could harm us. His love keeps us away from the fire of his holiness until we allow him to enter by his Spirit and give us life. His Spirit cannot die. So we become eternal beings, able to be in God’s presence. He wants to reproduce his holy character in the diverse personalities of his children. His laws are valid for all time. They are not arbitrary. They are not to fence us in but to keep danger out. They are the Manufacturer’s instructions for how we can function best physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. Emphasize God’s holiness to the self-righteous and complacent, and his love to the guilt-ridden.

The second word is PEOPLE. They were created by God in his image, so they have worth, dignity and meaning. They were created for himself to find their purpose in fellowship with him (Col. 1:16). But they rebelled (Rom. 5:12, Is. 53:6). The result is separation from God–spiritual death. They are cut off from their only source of life–the living God. A sawed-off, toppled apple tree may look as green and fruit-laden as the upright one growing next to it. But it is only a matter of time before the toppled tree will reveal its deadness.

So human beings are not just spiritually needy, but spiritually dead, unless God makes them alive (John 5:24). Their deadness shows itself in active or passive rebellion against God. Sins are the symptoms of sin–the fatal disease of independence from God. Legally all people are already under God’s condemnation (Rom. 3:23, 6:23). There is no neutral place from which to make a decision. Even kind, moral people need conversion. The question is not Are they good or bad? but Are they dead or alive? Is God’s Spirit in them?

The third word is JESUS. He is both God and man. He is the second Person of the Trinity who was active throughout the Old Testament era, sometimes as "the Angel of the Lord." He became man as Jesus Christ, to restore the broken fellowship and give us new life. (Col. 1:19-20, John 5:24, 1 John 5:10, 11). He lived a sinless life as his friends and his enemies attested (1 Pet. 2:22). He died a voluntary death–he could have called 12,000 angels! (Mt. 26:53, 54) He chose the moment for his arrest and his crucifixion and the moment to give up his spirit to the Father. He died as our substitute, paying our penalty (Rom. 5:8). He was buried. Muslims claim that Jesus never died because at the last moment God provided someone else who just looked like him.We must insist that he died and was buried.)

Jesus arose bodily to live forever (1 Cor. 15:3,4)–a resurrection, not a mere resuscitation. His followers became convinced by the empty tomb and by his personal appearances during forty days. (See The Evidence for the Resurrection, J.N.D. Anderson.) That Jesus lives today we know from his Word, from history and from our constant personal and collective experience with him. (Rom. 5:1ff.)

The resurrection proved God was just in saving the O.T. saints on credit (and the N.T. saints prepaid. Rom. 3:25,26) It signified Jesus’ triumph over all his enemies, human and non-human! (Col. 2: 13-15). He sat down on the throne at the Father’s right hand and received all power and authority! Now he enters his followers by his Spirit, multiplying himself many times over, and goes into the world through them, to win rebels in every tribe and nation to himself. He will return to judge the world, to sentence many and to reward the faithful.

These three terms–God, people and Jesus, indicate the minimum to believe. But math student Jose Manoel in Portugal made a commitment the day he learned Jesus would return to earth! Two Vietnamese girls asked me about "the Christian heaven." The best Bud-dhism offers is total loss of identity in a nebulous Nirvana. I told them Jesus will reunite us forever with all our departed family members who loved God! Our new bodies will never be less than those we have now, but more, and our planet will never be less than it is now, but it will be transformed into much more. Even the plants and ani-mals groan, waiting for their transfor-mation when we are glorified! (Rom. 8:18-24)

Belligerent Bob at the University of Oregon responded to the kingship of Jesus Christ. He heard I was on cam-pus and asked me to debate him before a large roomful of fellow athletes. They came to ridicule. So I gave an overview of history as a cosmic war for control of the world, beginning with the devil’s coup in Eden. I told how Adam and Eve betrayed God’s world into the hands of his archenemy, how death entered the human race, how God then visited our enemy-occupied planet, in Jesus, to reconcile everything again to himself–to undo all the damage of the coup. (Eph. 1:9, 10, Col. 1:19, 20).

I told how Jesus’ death and resurrec-tion were the decisive battle in this cos-mic war–that Jesus triumphed over all his enemies, human and non-human (Col. 2:13-15). But it is useless to take enemy territory unless there are troops to occupy it. So till the King returns, we are commissioned to occupy every nation. But not by force. We lovingly persuade rebels to change sides–to turn against the imposter and pledge their allegiance to the only rightful King. He is patient because he loves the rebels, as he loved us while we were still his enemies. He is not willing any should perish (Rom. 5:8, 2 Pet. 3:9). He will save all that he can!

Instead of presenting his arguments, Bob said quietly to the men, "For the first time it all makes sense!" After many questions, I had to leave. I do not know what happened to them all, but rebel Bob surrendered to his new King a few days later.

The fourth word is RESPONSE. We must act upon what we believe. Con-version requires three steps: a) To believe the gospel facts about God, people and Jesus. b) To repent of our passive or active rebellion toward God and our resultant sins. c) To invite Jesus Christ into our innermost being, to be Lord of our lives, to manage us, our relationsips and activities. To deny him this would be an insult.

We respond with faith. But this word needs clarification–even Christians are influenced by popular misconceptions. So before proceeding, I want to deal with the question: What is faith?

4. What is faith?

Faith has no saving power in itself. People say faith can save (or heal) if you have enough of it–like a magic substance. Some years ago, my driving instructor said he believed God would accept him as long as he had faith–in something. I said, "Now Mr. Dixon, my faith could kill us both if I believe I can race through the busy intersection ahead." He said, "Slow down–I get your point!" Faith can bring death as well as life. It is good only if its object is worthy of our trust.

Faith has no value without action. Eternal life depends on how we act on the facts we believe. "Even the demons believe and they shudder!" (James 2: 17-24) We can believe the identity of a person at our front door, yet not ask him in, especially if he will stay forever and take charge! (Luke 6:46). But if we really believe that Jesus loves us more than we love ourselves, we will invite him in to take over. To ask seekers only for mental assent to a few facts and a signature, is to delude them, and to make them harder to win.

Faith is not against reason. People say if we can’t know, we must believe. But faith that is not based on facts is superstition! It is pretense. God asks us to believe what we cannot see, but not what is against reason. He made our minds and renews them and wants us to use them. He doesn’t manipulate our minds with proofs, but gives evi-dences so it is more logical to believe than disbelieve. Faith is a gift–created in us by gospel facts. (Rm.10: 17, Eph. 2:8-10).

It is logical to believe what God says because of who God is! Saving faith is trusting God–acting on God’s word.

So we must be prepared to answer seekers’ questions about apologetics, our personal experience and the gospel facts, under the key words: God, peo-ple, Jesus and response. We will consi-der response further in IV. But first, how do we bring seekers to that point?

III. Drawing seekers to God

The fishing approach we have de-scribed solves major obstacles in evan-gelism by helping us fish out hungry people and initiate conversations. But once we have begun a friendship with a seeker and we know where he or she is spiritually, we can take more initiative. We can ask our own questions to draw them to Jesus Christ.

The most important activity by far is the investigative Bible study. But consider four additional suggestions: Focusing them on God; tuning them in to God; using information resources and people resources.

1. Use a God-centered approach

Focus on who God is and what we owe him. The popular man-centered approach focuses on people’s felt needs–how to have a happy, fulfilled life. God’s love is emphasized but his holiness neglected. Gospel facts are selectively presented to attract buyers for quick sales. But the gospel is no Band-Aid for personal or social inade-quacies, no cheap insurance against problems, no guarantee of health or wealth. Paul scorned the evangelists who packaged the gospel to disguise its cost. He said, "For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ." (2 Cor. 2:17) To converts he wrote: "We told you beforehand that you would suffer." (1 Thess. 3:1-4)

Jesus turned down volunteers who came on false premises. They must put him first before family, possessions and personal safety. If not, they would nev-er endure. The dropout rate would da-mage Jesus’ movement. (Lk. 9:50ff, 14:25-35) His conditions for disciple-ship do not contradict grace–undeserv-ed merit. Salvation would be forever impossible except that God offers it to us freely. How could anyone presume to buy what it cost God his own Son to provide for us? God’s love is uncondi-tional, but our acceptance by God is not. No one has to receive God’s gift of salvation, but whoever does, must accept its obligations with its privi-leges. It is like marriage. Two people freely enter into the relationship, but both have rightful expectations of each other.

So we aim to please God by our love-motivated obedience (Jn. 14:21, 23, Lk. 6:46). Paul defines evangelism as bringing people "to the obedience of faith." We do not obey to gain life, but because we have it. We do not focus on a legal code. But in pleasing God we inadvertently fulfil his law (Rom. 1:5, 16:26). Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments as loving God wholly and loving people as ourselves (Mk. 12:29-31). (This verse has nothing to do with self-esteem, but with unself-ishness.)

To invite Jesus Christ is to put our lives under new management (Rev. 3: 20, 21). To eat together depicts a shar-ed life–confiding, seeking the other’s highest good, sharing common goals.

Although people’s felt needs matter, a God-centered approach begins with God as our Creator, to whom we owe all we are and have, and whom we have offended and insulted by our active or passive rejection. He owes us nothing.

Yet he has provided salvation for us at great cost to himself. He gives his Son. The Son gives his life. But many people have no chance to hear the good news. Paul completes what is lacking in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, by get-ting the word out–spreading the good news, or else Jesus’ death would have been in vain! (Col. 1:24) Paul cares about Jesus’ reputation in the world and for the salvation of people.

God-centered evangelism produces more disciples willing to endure hard-ship, than converts who only care what they can get out of God. Jesus’ clear command is for us to make disciples.

2. Help seekers tune in to God

This is helpful because many seekers in this post-modern period who dabble in cults and in the occult, look for spiritual reality and fulfilment but they value experience over beliefs. Here are four God-centered ways to bring them into direct contact with God.

1. Turn the tables–remind seekers God has the initiative. They think they do, so they postpone decision to some day. But no one can come to the Lord unless they have a chance to hear the good news (Rom. 10:17ff) and unless the Father "draws them" (John 6: 44, 65). Rev. 3:20 says Jesus stands at the door of each person’s life, gently knocking and calling. But he may not always do so. "Now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2) God has no obligation to save anyone. Let seekers begin to worry if God will receive them!

Two women students in Portugal told me, "We invited Jesus in, but as we expected, nothing happened." I said, "Rev. 3:21 shows that the person you have ignored for many years is the King of Glory! He never rejects a sincere invitation that is without reservation. If he sees that you ean this more than anything else in the world he will hear you." (John 6:37) A few days later they knew he had come into their lives.

2) Explain how seekers can recognize God’s overtures to them. Luke 19:1-10 shows that Zacchaeus, the wealthy, extortionist tax administrator in Jericho, had already repented and was busy cleaning up his act, before Jesus arrives in his city. When Jesus comes, Zacchaeus makes enormous effort just to get a glimpse of him, not expecting more. But Jesus comes to his house, and this seeker for Jesus learns that this Shepherd-King had come to Jericho seeking him! All seekers, when they are found, discover Jesus has been actively seeking and calling them.

How does Jesus gently knock on the door and call to seekers? When their thoughts turn to ultimate questions it is always God’s prompting. He also gives good gifts, hoping they will thank him and repent (Rom. 2:4, James 1:17). He allows suffering, hoping they will call for his help (Psa. 119:67, 71). He sends the good news via literature, TV, radio, even Internet! He sends his people. Since he indwells his messengers, these are his own personal visits to them–more important than visits from angels. (2 Cor. 3) None of these messages are accidental, but are special signs of God’s love!

Last week in southern California an auto mechanic named Mike realized that. My car battery died on Saturday and my repair shop was closed. I found another one–and Mike. We chatted. I said, No, I had never been to Hawaii, but I lived overseas for 21 years. He asked what I did there and I said, "Missionary work." He made no comment and I did not intend to reopen the conversation. But he came back full of questions. (He had needed a bit of time.) When I left he said, "I know God let your battery die today so you would come here to talk with me."

Have seekers ask themselves about daily events, "What may God be saying through this?" In Sao Paulo, a few days after a Zacchaeus study, a Jewish atheist student came to say he had an awed feeling as he played violin. Was it God? I said, "It could be. He loves you and wants your attention." People begin to suspect God speaking everywhere. Be-cause they are listening for God, he speaks to them!

3) Get seekers to converse with God over the texts of the Bible, to tune in to God through Bible reading. Encourage even atheists to read Mark or Luke, a few paragraphs a day, and to assume God is speaking through them. They must interact honestly with him. They may say: "I want You to know I cannot believe this verse. Why does this story make me uncomfortable? This story is beautiful–but is it true? What does this verse mean?"

God begins answering, often from the Bible–maybe a few verses down. This can be startling! He answers through circumstances, people or books. Invite the seekers to bring you their questions on what they do not understand.

Becky Pippert adds a step. She asks seekers to try to obey every instruction as soon as they can. Obeying predisposes them to more light. It is a good tactic–post-modern seekers are concerned about doing. An agnostic friend, whom Becky led to the Lord in my apartment later called these exercises her former "pagan Quiet Times!"

4) Show seekers how God answers prayer. This fourth way to tune seekers in to God works best if they mention problems. Ask if you may pray for them. Pray aloud briefly. Even skeptics are touched. God may give an un-mistakeable answer. Tell seekers that God may answer Yes or No or Wait awhile, but he always hears and cares. Seekers in this post-modern period, and especially adherents of non-Christian religions often show more interest in a demonstration of Jesus’ presence and power than in the truth claims of Christianity. Prayer shows God in action.

You can pray briefly for friends as you give thanks before a meal. I tell guests it is my custom and would they mind. Then I say, "Thank you Jesus for this food and for my new friends, Yusef and Sulema. Amen." Or "Help Gudrun prepare for her anatomy exam." The guests are often visibly moved. I pray also in restaurants if it will not embarrass my friends. (Muslims pray in pub-lic on prayer rugs five times a day!)

You can pray for God to heal some-one’s cold or headache, or reduce pain or give sleep. You will know that all healing is ultimately from God. But the healing may occur in a way that convinces the seeker God has intervened. You do not have to be a healer, nor use a healer’s methods. Simply pray. But it would be counterproductive to ask God to give instantaneous sight to a blind person. Pray what you can believe. Use prayer wisely in your evangelism.

In addition to these four tactics, we must use Christian materials.

3. Use information resources

Make sure each seeker has a modern language Bible, or N.T. with Psalms. In a hostile country start with a tiny pock-et gospel they can hide in a pocket or purse. Or a magazine format gospel with pictures. An excellent N.T. in easy English is Good News for Modern Man (TIV). Bilingual N.T.s–with English opposite the local language– are popular even with non-believers, as an English-learning aid.

My favorite book for seekers is John Stott’s Basic Christianity (125 pages), now in 50 languages, with translations in progress in 22 more! Evangelistic Bible study guides are available in quite a few languages. Look for attractive evangelistic booklets for various kinds of seekers. In other countries make sure the literature is culturally and spiritually appropriate. If you cannot read the language, ask someone you trust to evaluate the material you wish to give out. Ask missionaries, or the leaders of the Christian campus ministries in your new host country. Avoid tracts that look like cheap pro-paganda. (See Bibliography.)

People more readily read a book if it is small and you lend it. They know you will ask their opinion when they return it. You can give it to them then.

Many tentmakers use videos. English teachers find that even secular videos raise issues for evangelism. An English teacher in China used Fiddler on the Roof. Christian videos are available, too. The excellent Jesus Film (and video) is dubbed into 394 languages, with 200 more in progress! In a North African country, an enterprising Muslim discovered it could also be lucrative. He made illegal copies and sold them all over the city! He inadvertently did for the gospel what no tentmaker at that time dared to risk!

Thousands of sermons are available on audio-cassettes in English and in other languages. Gospel Recordings makes cassettes in tribal languages, especially for the illiterate.

Young people learn English through popular music cassettes. A tentmaker in a strict Muslim city could hardly believe his ears, when the music blaring from the public square loudspeakers gave way to "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!" It could be played only because it was part of a Whitney Houston album!

Discover when Christian radio and TV programs transmit in your new host country, and encourage people to tune in. Then discuss the content with them. TWR has announced that TV satellite transmissions have now begun in the Middle East from the new Christian Sat-07! Ninety percent of Middle Easterners have TV!

In sensitive countries tentmakers find seekers who have been made thirsty for the Lord by Christian radio. Then they see the gospel lived out by the tentmaker. So our Christian aerial forces and our ground troops work together in this cosmic war for human hearts.

The gospel is already being transmitted all over the world through the Internet! Even backward cultures leap directly into the 21st century, so learn how to make the best use of this new resource.

Just as important as using media resources is involving your Christian friends in your evangelism.

4. Use people resources

Introduce seekers to your Christian friends. Take them to larger group activities. Note four of the benefits:

1) The larger group more fully demonstrates the gospel. Francis Schaeffer said true Christian fellowship is our most compelling evidence for the truth of the gospel, because everyone longs for it and the devil cannot duplicate it. In John 13:34, 35, 17:18ff, Jesus prayed for unity and love among his future disciples, because it would guarantee their survival, and compel the belief of outsiders. An individual cannot demonstrate Christian interrelationships. To see Christians love one another (1 John), be patient and forgive one another (Col.3:9), help and comfort one another (1 Thess. 4:18), or trust one another (Rom. 12:10)–you must have a minimum of two together!

Larger group contact is important, because post-modern seekers yearn for community, because many come from dysfunctional families, where there is little understanding and security. But people from almost any background seek love and acceptance.

Take Marisa, in Barcelona. She finally agreed to come to a meeting in my apartment so Ana Maria would quit bugging her. But she was surprised that the GBU students seemed to love each other and seemed to care about her–a stranger. She had to find out why. It was the love she sensed that kept her coming to Bible studies until she understood the gospel and received Jesus Christ. She became our first IFES staff worker in Spain.

Rodolfo, from Madrid, was amazed at the mutual trust of Christian students. His first contact with them was a week-end camp on a Spanish beach. He said he could hardly believe his eyes when they left their books and clothes and even their handbags and wallets out in the open–unguarded! A group can demonstrate Christ in a way individuals cannot.

2) The larger group exposes seekers to more Christians. The Lord ex-presses his character through our diverse personalities. A seeker may ex-plain away one believer, but not a dozen! A seeker may relate more comfortably to someone other than you. I could not win my college friend, Lois, because I knew nothing about Catholicism, but my ex-Catholic friend, Marie, won her quickly.

In the larger group, Christian men can refer female seekers to women members and take over the evangelism of the men–while all remain friends. The spiritual and the emotional are easily confused. It can be devastating if a seeker and a believer of the opposite sex have different expectations for their friendship. Some seekers cannot sort out the spiritual from t