Living His StorySample

Communicating like Jesus Did

One thing that is clear as we read the Gospels is that Jesus knew how to engage with people. He was deeply personal in his approach and he cared about people. Some of us might have been brought up with quite fixed ideas about what we need to say to people when we talk about the gospel. Those of us from evangelical backgrounds might have learned simple gospel outlines to share with people. However, the problem with such approaches is that they can be rather generic, learned and without taking into consideration the individuals we might be talking to. Sometimes our simple explanations and answers do not seem to relate fully to the complex reality of the person sitting before us. What we need is better and more imaginative ways to connect the gospel we know and believe with the person we are talking to. This is the pressing task of Christian witness. 

Witness as a way of life is something, we are all called to do in every aspect of our life. Witnessing flows naturally and purposefully out of the lives of those who live the gospel story in the world today. Conversations about the things we love most and are most interested in arise naturally and easily through the connectedness of our lives with people that we know. The good news of Jesus is no different – it has always been passed on through ordinary individuals. This person-to-person approach is the one that Jesus advocates to his disciples. 

We cannot witness to the good news of God’s love if we are not spending time in the company of other people, particularly those outside the Church. The ‘Talking Jesus’ research discovered that the second most common way someone became a Christian was through having conversations with people who were Christians. This was second only to being brought up in a Christian family and came before attending church or reading the Bible. Conversations are therefore a crucial part of what it means to be a witness. We have tended to think of evangelism in terms of telling people about Jesus. What if we were not just to communicate what Jesus did but to communicate like Jesus did? There is so much we can learn from how Jesus interacted with people. When it comes to conversations, Jesus has much to teach us. 

Time and time again, Jesus begins the conversation from a place of love. And our conversations too need to start from a position of love. Remembering that God’s heart is moved for each and every individual can help us in challenging or testing situations. This is the starting point to life in the kingdom of God.

Developing the skill of listening in evangelism enables us to get more quickly to the heart of the issue and to truly engage with the person in front of us. Listening allows us truly to understand a person and not just the ‘stereotype’ of that mindset. The way to develop this art of listening that we have been talking about is through simultaneously honing our ability to ask good questions. And of course, Jesus is the master of asking brilliant questions. Did you know that in the New Testament Jesus himself is asked over 180 questions and he asks over 300 questions in return?

Our role as witnesses is to speak grace. As disciples of Jesus, we have experienced the love of God in Christ. It is our great privilege that we get to reveal this extraordinary love of God to people in ordinary ways, through everyday conversations, through listening and asking questions. In this way we can live his story: communicating not just what Jesus did but communicating like Jesus did.

Questions for Reflection

1. What strikes you the most about how Jesus interacted with and had conversations with people? How might you learn from his approach?

2. What can draw from the way Jesus interacted with people?

3. How can you better improve your communication with people when sharing Jesus’ story and your story?