While out witnessing today I shared with my friends a new “segway” question that I’ve been using since one of the pastors I know had shared it with me. The question is:
Are you doing today what you were created to do?
Notice that the question does not mention God, but it does convey the presupposition that you are created not evolved. So, today at the mall we were talking with a gal at the Vonage booth. She was telling us that before she started the job, she did a bunch of research to determine the types of questions that she was likely to be asked. At that Craig, said, “I have a question for you: Are you doing today what you were created to do?”
At first she said yes. Then as he probed more, she realized that working at the Vonage booth was probably not why she was created in the first place. What followed was a wonderful conversation about creation, God, heaven and hell. She heard the Biblical Gospel and received a tract. We will try to follow-up with her next time we are there.
So as we were leaving the mall, we talked about how we should challenge each other in witnessing by suggesting various transitional questions and then seeing who can use them in a conversation.
So let’s start here. My challenge to you this week is to transition a conversation with this question:
Are you doing today what you were created to do?
Then post a comment here to share how it goes, the response you get and how you were able to share the Gospel with the person. Are you up for the challenge?
I would like to hear more of the details of what you told her in the Are you doing today what you were created to do? conversation.
In presented with the question if she was fulfilling the purpose she was created for, she immediately went to the career aspect of that. She started talking about how she was cutout for sales. At that point, in an attempt to transition the conversation more directly to the spiritual, I asked about the second part, by saying "so in my question, I asked if you were "created" for a purpose, do you feel you were created". She then answered that she did believe in creation rather than evolution and I asked about her thoughts on the creator. She said she believed in God as a creator. I then asked a series of questions about her concept of God, judgment, heaven, and hell. Her answers were not very specific but she did have a general belief in God, His judgment, heaven, and hell. She also mentioned she attended an LDS church (but she certainly did not seem to have a thorough understanding of the LDS belief system). This lead in to sharing the Gospel and pointing her to scripture as the only source for truth regarding the eternal purpose we were created for.
In general, the questions allows a transition to the spiritual in two ways, the first is to concentrate on the purpose part and when someone focuses on a temporal purpose you can
transition to a discussion on their believe of an eternal purpose. The second is to draw their attention to the fact that you mentioned a "creator" and get their opinion on the use of that term. The only drawback with the second approach is it can start the conversation off
with the evolution/creation rabbit trail, but you certainly are transitioned to the spiritual.
This is great. What are some of your other favorite transitional questions? May God continue to use your ministry to Glorify Jesus!!
Derek – I'll focus initially on some ways to transition the conversation without giving them anything:
Ask for directions. Ask if the person is familiar with the area and if they can give directions. If they say yes, as "how do you get to heaven from here"
Ask if they have "life assurance". After the answer, point out that you said "assurance" not "insurance" and then check their answer again. Point out that life insurance is for the survivors, but life assurance is for the dead man. John 3:36 is a wonderful verse to back this up.
Use current events especially when they involve death. Ask did you hear about "so and so who died, what do you think happens when a person dies?" Or when there is a catastrophe you can say, "did you hear about all the people that died in the earthquake? what do you think happened to them"
Ask what they will be doing in a year, five years, on hundred years. As you expand the time frame they will eventually say, "I'll be dead" and then you can ask "what do you think happens when you die?"
Finally – if you are in an environment (read – not a mall) where you can hand something out, then you can give them a Gospel tract or a Ten Commandments coin. Ask "did you get one of these?" when they ask what it is tell them it is a Gospel tract. You have swung to the spiritual…
Now I'll leave it to others. Please post a comment hear with ways that you like to transition conversations to the spiritual!