Here are two realities that I and my staff team have frequently experienced when sharing the Gospel on campus:
- The worldview and data of most non-believers has become dramatically distant from the worldview and data of the Gospel.
- Information in general has become so abundant through the web to the degree that sharing new information with people does not generates less excitement/curiosity than ever before.
The conversations that I would describe as successful result when I'm able to listen well enough to ask questions and share how the Gospel connects with their heart, passions, and talents. Many staff sense that meaning has become the new destination, not information.
Concluding a conversation without connecting how the information of the Gospel might be relevant and meaningful to the listener usually produces an awkward ending. The listener is often unimpressed with the information of the Gospel, and we are frustrated at the listener for not valuing the information.
Some new tools have surfaced to connect with this demand for meaning--Soularium uses pictures to bridge a conversation about what is meaningful or not to the listener, which then gives a platform one to share how the Gospel more specifically to the listener. There are also some new short movies that can be downloaded on an iPod and used similarly.
I don't know if there will ever be a general evangelistic tool that's as effective as the Four Spiritual Laws. I do see tremendous potential in developing many tools that allow believers to tailor and contextualize the Gospel to the listener's heart, passions and talents.
