How to Ask Great Questions
The Gospel is a message to be told. Filling your life with acts of service, love and grace is powerful and necessary for evangelism (1 Thess 1:4-6), yet if the good news of Christ is not spoken to the non-Christian, then:
“How can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14
However, we must be careful not to set this truth loose from the wisdom of other scriptures. If sharing the Gospel faithfully just requires the presentation of information what’s to stop us all putting down this email, running out the front door, finding the nearest pedestrian and asking them if they think they’re a good person? Go on, I dare you.
Here are two truths presented in the Scriptures:
We’re called to be God-focused in our evangelism. We are to share the unchanging message of the Gospel faithfully, according to the Scriptures and God promises to bring salvation according to His will (1 Cor 2:1-5, 2 Timothy 4:1–5, Romans 1:16–17)
We’re called to be audience-aware in our evangelism. Considering the audience we’re telling the Gospel to and the language we use is modelled and commanded. (1 Cor 9:18-23, Acts 17:22-31, Col 4:5-6)
When we hold these truths together, we not only talk about Gospel telling but also Gospel comprehension.
Instead of just asking, “how can I hold this conversation to tell the Gospel as quickly as possible?” we start asking “how can I help this person or group best understand the Gospel?” When we acknowledge room for audience-awareness we then make room for asking spiritual questions, because good questions require a whole lot of empathy and time.
Good questions also:
Help us understand our audience, to present the Gospel in a way they can understand.
Build trust and a sense of safety as we let them take control of the conversation.
Make the person we’re speaking with feel valued and cared for.
Open up opportunities for more conversations in future.
“Telling creates resistance, asking creates relationships” - Andrew Sobel
It’s with this in mind that our next article will tackle the practicals of asking great questions. You may be reading this and thinking, gosh I don’t even know how to start spiritual conversations, let alone ask good questions! Be encouraged, God is the source of all our power in evangelism, he calls us to go, weak as we are and promises to be with us every step of the way (Mt 28:20).
Consider are you God-focused and audience-aware in your evangelism? If not, where are you lacking and what’s one step for growth you can take?
Consider when you share your faith, how much time is spent telling compared to asking and listening? Are you satisfied with this balance?
Ask one non-Christian friend “You know I‘m a Christian right? I‘m actually quite curious, do you believe anything‘s out there yourself?“
If they‘re happy to answer, show genuine interest, then ask: “Thanks for sharing, how did you come to realise that?“ feel free to close the convo there or follow where it leads.
