Training in Evangelism Skills

On Saturday, my church is hosting an Evangelism Training Day in conjunction with an organization called Outreach UK. You can see some of the details here.
Evangelism Training days - Outreach UK
We've been doing door-to-door evangelism for well over a year now with one of the guys from Outreach UK, and although we had no positive results for the first 12 months, we now have one guy who seems to have been wonderfully saved, and an elderly couple coming regularly to the church. We are also in contact with 6 or more other folk who have shown interest but haven't yet come to church. We are arranging some evenings in a coffee bar for these folk to come and talk about Jesus in a more neutral atmosphere.

Door-to-door evangelism is often pretty thankless, especially in Britain which is so secular. But there's a great promise in Galatians 6:9, and we are starting to prove the truth of it.

 

Well, the training took place today. I will give three very simple lessons that we were taught.
1. Listen! Let people have their say, and ask open-ended questions (What? Why? How? When? Where? Who?) to draw them out. I am always waiting to jump in and give my answer, but I've learned today to be patient and listen.
2. Have your testimony ready. People may argue with your views, but they will usually accept someone's experience. Don't overdo how evil you were before you were saved, but concentrate on the difference it has made to your life.
3. Be ready to answer the obvious questions: If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world? Why do Christians hate homosexuals? What is the Trinity? This sort of suff will come up, so we need to be prepared for it.
As Bob Dylan wrote: "I'll know my song well before I start singing." So must we.