Tag: sacred agents

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Preparing a Gospel Talk

Sacred Agents

Preparing a Gospel Talk

By Andrew Turner

Last week Andrew Turner wrote on Becoming a Gospel Prepper. This week, he shares a few insights on what sorts of things to ask while preparing a gospel talk about Jesus.

Lots of opportunities to share Jesus come informally, conversationally, and at random moments. But sometimes you’re given a little notice, to prepare a talk about Jesus and his kingdom. How to put it together? There are too many ways to describe.

But once you’ve jotted down some thoughts, here’s a few questions you can ask of it:

Is it big enough? The gospel is revolutionary news! Don’t turn it into a mere life-hack (and bear in mind people are generally only expecting life-hacks). ‘Make a tree good,’ says Jesus, ‘and its fruit will be good.’ How freaky is that – to make a bad tree good?

Is it small enough? The gospel is news of cosmic proportions. But how does it also touch on the little lives of little people? It’s one thing to describe the enormity of God … and another to say ‘And he’s concerned about you. He’s asked me to come and talk to you.’

Is it long enough? Unless you’ve only been given 5 seconds, you’ll want to say more than just “God loves you.” Tell a story, give an example, describe the response God would like.

Is it short enough? Jesus is the master of this (and, OK, everything else). It’s not the way of God to overwhelm people with 181 proofs followed by ‘Checkmate!’ Instead, give enough information to intrigue, to draw out inquisitiveness and questions.

Trust God to work powerfully even through your weaknesses

Is it you enough? If you’re old, don’t need to pretend to be young. If you’re not a good speaker, better to apologise (once) and do your best, than to put on a different persona.
Be just who you are … trust God to work powerfully even through your weaknesses or ordinariness.

Is it them enough? That said, if you’re old and they’re young, you need to speak in terms that they can get. Think about what life looks like from your hearers’ point of view and be sure to empathise.

Is it telling enough? The gospel is news. There are facts, information that needs to get into their heads and hearts. What do they need to know that perhaps they’ve never been told, or has slipped their minds, or has been suppressed?

Is it asking enough? The gospel is also an invitation. If your hearers can walk away from your talk thinking, ‘Well, that’s nice to know’ – then an opportunity will have been missed. Give some next steps and see who might be willing to take them!

Preparing a Gospel Talk

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries.  Top Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

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Becoming a Gospel Prepper

Becoming a Gospel Prepper

By Andrew Turner

The Good Samaritan must have had some margin in life, don’t you think? Loving your enemy-neighbour that much surely took quite some admin! Bothering to attend to the battered stranger in the first place. Then there was all the over-and-above: Time taken to get him to care, money spent for treatment and recouperation, forty bucks for the deluxe donkey-wash.  

Who has the time and money ready for that sort of spontaneous act? Uncomfortably, my first answer is ‘Not me’, and my second answer is, ‘The person who loves their neighbour the Jesus way.’ So going forward as a sacred agent, I have adjustments to make.  

I think preparation is the key. Careful preparation opens up windows for spontaneity, as any romantic will tell you. So what would it look like to be a gospel prepper? 

Preppers are people who stockpile food supplies - a cupboard of food supplies.

Not standing back or standing still

‘Preppers’, of course, are people who stockpile supplies in case of a future disaster. Sacred agents similarly have an eye on the future. We’re not oblivious to the dark powers and spiritual forces in the world, so putting on the armour of God is good preparation for standing firm. But part of that armour, in Paul’s metaphor, is “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

So standing firm does not mean standing back or standing still! 

Are we fitted out to cross that road and help that bleeding stranger? To run up to that chariot and share with the Ethiopian official? To make the most of every opportunity with gracious conversation? The peace we have with God means we prepare not out of a sense of doom or lack of control in this crazy world – but with all the assurance of the one who naps in the boat before calming the storm. The peace we have with God is a shalom we can share in radical ways like the Samaritan. It shows and tells the good news that what’s upon us – and right up in our face – is not a zombie apocalypse, but the kingdom of God. 

Gospel Prepper’s Checklist

Here’s a very basic Gospel Prepper’s Checklist:

TIME: You can’t schedule sudden opportunities. But why not arrange a code-word you can say/text to your friends/family that means, ‘Sorry, I’m delayed by an opportunity to show and share Christ’? Just having that conversation in advance could be helpful all round.

MONEY: A gospel-opportunity fund – even if it’s only enough to buy someone a meal – it’s set aside and ready to go when the opportunity comes.

WORDS: Memorise a basic outline of your own testimony/gospel outline, cleared of jargon and tangents and practised on your Christian friends – so you really are ‘always prepared to give an answer’ when asked about your hope.  

Imagine how effective we’d be at sharing Jesus if we were prepped up like that? How prepared are you? And what would you add to the checklist? Discuss!

Becoming a Gospel Prepper

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. 

Future Church

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