How do we broach the subject of Jesus as Saviour with our friends?
mm.
Wait for them to ask about your faith/religion.
Pray for Holy God's Guidance & Wisdom.
An idea is discussing Jewish Moshiach: e.g. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332562/jewish/Moshiach-101.htm and Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14 (only Aramaic "Son of Man" in the Tanakh). What was the blasphemy spoken by Yeshua in Matthew 26:57-68 ?
Keep Smiling [:)]
What if they don't know about our faith? I.e. they don't know we are Christians.
What if they don't know about our faith? I.e. they don't know we are Christians. Wait for them to ask about your faith/religion.
I know you already do this, but if you live your life as a Christian shouldn't it be obvious? If it isn't, I would need to take several steps back.
I know this is not a "modernized" way of doing this.... but I have had unChristian friends over for dinner and after dinner play a game or something and somewhere in the process I've asked the question "My I talk to you about life here after? I care for you enough to ask."
Very few has that not worked for a good discussion.
You could always find an excuse to bring up something about church, and then maybe you could use that as a lead in to ask them about going to synagogue. Make it about them and their experience, and then use what they say as a bridge to discussion about your commonalities and differences.
For instance, I used to work for a Jewish family, and I asked, because I was genuinely interested, what they thought about the afterlife since it isn't well fleshed out in the Hebrew Bible. She told me that they don't really know for that very reason, and I used that to discuss how the NT adds to the discussion concerning the afterlife.
Unless they are only Jewish in nationality and not religious, then you could just use something at church as a conversation starter.
I'm getting the feeling that you don't know these "Jewish" friends well which has led me to several possible comedy sketches. Why? Because the "Jewish" family I know best with the wife on the synagogue board and maintaining a kosher kitchen, older son married to a nice Jewish girl raising a committed Jewish family, and younger son -- okay, young, single and I don't know his religious practices has a husband/father raised as a Presbyterian who has never converted to Judaism. Said husband is my cousin and he would be amused at your assumption that his family doesn't know the "Jesus as Saviour" religious discussion. And he would shut the conversation down politely and quickly - perhaps even give you a glimpse of his humor. But if he had a sense that the primary reason for having dinner together was an opportunity to evangelize, the family would be very slow to accept or offer another invitation. On the other hand, my Catholic son was delighted to attend a friend's bar mitzvah and had lots of questions regarding appropriate behavior as a known inter-faith visitor. And on the third hand, I had a Jewish classmate who had been raised Anglican. When he discovered that his grandparents had become Anglican for political reasons in the years before WWII, he felt obligated to make the reverse journey to right a social wrong. Most would assume he was Jewish-Buddhist; I know the back story solely because my aunt was friends with his mother. I'm just saying, if you don't know the situation, don't put your foot in your mouth and ruin what might be a beautiful friendship.
MJ., I find the points you raised via various examples to be very appropriate and wise. We have been invited by other Christian friends who apparently had a "hidden agenda" in trying to "evangelize" us to their particular denominational orientation. What could have been a nice and edifying experience turned quickly into an almost "wasted evening" ...
I also agree with MJ; don't force an unnecessary error. If you invited them over only to evangelize them, then this is not likely going to be a productive friendship. Also, as MJ said above, if you do know them, then they should already know about your faith because of the way you live, and conversations will come naturally.
I don’t evangelize over dinner! When we have invited friends (religious or otherwise) it is to get to know them better and learn to appreciate them for who they are. After you get to know them, without you planning it, the evangelism part will take care of itself. If you‘re going to invite someone over for dinner with a “hidden agenda;” don’t do it, it‘s deceiving and unchristian!
I remember one time I got invited over for dinner and after that, it was a “water filter presentation” and what a good business opportunity of a life time I would have 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ needless to say, they seemed upset when I shut them down quickly and told them I wasn’t interested in selling water filters or buying one 😂😂😂 Well deserved! 😁😁😁
DAL
PS. I have not been invited to their house ever since 😂😂😂
"May I talk to you about life here after? I care for you enough to ask."
I’ve answered that question like this: “You mean the life after ‘here’? Well, I’m just gonna drive myself home, go to bed, then wake up tomorrow to go to work as usual.” Then the joy of their puzzled faces 😂😂😂 when after that comes, “Alright, good night! Thanks for dinner!”
I get the sense that the others responding are not Evangelical Christians as the original poster might be based on the question. I am an Evangelical Christian and I use a method found in this resource. I don't know if Logos has it digitally, but Lifeway does.
Nice resource, but there’s a time and a place for everything. When I was a full-time minister, I didn’t like when people invited me over for dinner and all of a sudden they thought they had to talk about the Bible or give me a Bible as a present. Not every visit or every conversation has to turn “evangelistic.” That’s where the resource fails miserably and is not realistic. Some people want to talk about life in general or watch a movie, they don’t want to feel like all you want to talk about is Bible stuff.
PS. If Lifeway has the resource, maybe WORDsearch had it, which means Logos will have it in the future.
Oh dear, oh dear ... does every "everyday conversation have to be turned into a gospel conversation", else one may just not be an "Evangelical Christian" (what is an "Evangelical Christian")?
It seems that the book you mentioned is available at
https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/130033/turning-everyday-conversations-into-gospel-conversations
PS.: By the way, my "method" for having a gospel conversation is to invite a person to such (rather than hypocritically inviting them to "everyday conversation" and then dumping "gospel conversation" on them) ...
When I was a full-time minister, I didn’t like when people invited me over for dinner and all of a sudden they thought they had to talk about the Bible or give me a Bible as a present.
Yes, that was always a problem with pastors. When does 'work' stop ... you didn't know. So, you just sort of feel your way.
These days evangels and politics are synonymous, so that pretty much defines the conversation. My sister started off on a political leader, and that ended that.
I have a simple way of evangelizing - invite them to a concert e.g. a Mozart Requiem Mass at the cathedral. End up taking them annually for over a decade and to similar musical events as well. Art or poetry readings work as well. They will start broaching the subject of beliefs/faith which begins with correcting many erroneous beliefs ... eventually when the erroneous beliefs about Christians are stripped away, there is room for acceptance of true beliefs.
P.S. I have been fired twice as a potential candidate for conversion - once because I was taking too long, once because I was trying too hard to protect the beliefs of the evangelizer, a very fragile personality whom I really liked.
How do we broach the subject of Jesus as Saviour with our friends? mm.
Lots of good suggestions by everyone.
How many times have they been over for dinner?
If first time, maybe say a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing before the meal.
Build better relationships first and foremost, and over time the conversations will happen. Don't try to force it.
Bob
I know this is not a "modernized" way of doing this.... but I have had unChristian friends over for dinner and after dinner play a game or something and somewhere in the process I've asked the question "My I talk to you about life here after? I care for you enough to ask." Very few has that not worked for a good discussion.
I didn’t like when people invited me over for dinner and all of a sudden they thought they had to talk about the Bible or give me a Bible as a present.
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