Milestones of an Effective Gospel Discussion

Brother Tom Bear of Stones Cry Out Ministries in Dearborn, MI has written a brief primer on gospel discussions. By no means an exhaustive rubric of how to witness properly but a helpful tool that will steer you along an effective, biblical path. Tom also has many useful tools, studies, and books available at his website. He is a dear brother and I urge you to visit his page if you have a desire to become equipped at effectively sharing your faith.

Milestones of a Gospel Discussion

You can begin a gospel conversation talking about perhaps anything imaginable. The conversation is dynamic so it will have a tendency to go in various directions. Lack of time might prevent you from fully presenting the gospel during the conversation. But if you achieve the following basic milestones, you will most likely end up presenting the entire gospel so that the unbeliever comprehends it at least with his mind. I recommend that you let these milestones guide you through every gospel conversation.

Milestone  1:  Get the unbeliever to tell you what he believes is “the way to heaven.”[1]

This milestone can take place near the beginning of a conversation and it serves as THE foundation for the rest of the conversation.

Milestone 2:  Get the unbeliever to either wonder or actually say out loud, “Well, what hope is there for anyone?….you seem to be saying that everyone is doomed to go to hell forever.”

Achieving this milestone may take up to an hour or two in some cases. The only way to achieve this milestone is to talk about God’s absolute righteousness and man’s absolute sinfulness. It requires patience to do this properly. If you gloss over this without the unbeliever coming to this conclusion in his mind, he will not properly see the connection to the cross. Jesus’ death will remain unimportant to him. So keep talking about sin, righteousness and judgment until he begins to wonder,  “What hope is there for anyone?”

Milestone 3: Help him see how Jesus made it possible for him to be reconciled to God through His substitutionary death on the cross.

Milestone 4: Help him count the cost of becoming a disciple of Jesus.

Explain what happens when God regenerates a person. Tell him how He did this for you.

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[1] If the person does not believe there is a God, you can still get him to tell you what he thinks “Christians” believe is the way to heaven.