How is the Gospel Best Presented? If our Christ-given task is to make disciples, we also need to examine how we present the gospel.  Do most of the long-lasting decisions that lead to people becoming committed followers of Jesus come from five-to-15-minute concept-centered presentations of the gospel, or do they come from some other longer, relationship-based sharing of the gospel?  Oscar Thompson, author of Concentric Circles, and Jim Petersen, author of Evangelism as a Lifestyle make convincing arguments for relationship-based, or friendship-based evangelism.  Our own experience also led us to the same conclusion. Near the beginning of our ministry in university student evangelism and disciplemaking in Mexico, we

What Aspects of a Person’s “Being” Do We Need to Consider as We Share the Gospel? There are three aspects of every person’s being which need to be active in “believing” or “having faith” in Jesus, regardless of cultural background.  One of those aspects is the intellect. The fact that I mention this first does not mean this is the first thing you need to focus on in transcultural witnessing.  In most cases the first aspect that comes into play in the life of an individual who is investigating faith in Jesus are the emotions, which will be the next aspect I mention.  But

How Culture Shapes our Presentation of the Gospel How does culture tend to shape our presentation of the gospel?   I have already touched on this some: we are much more direct in our communication style than many other cultures in the world, and we tend to think that this is much better . . . because we are used to being direct.  But many cultures in the world, including Asian and Latin American cultures, are more indirect in their communication style.  Our style is not necessarily better than theirs. Probably one of the most difficult things for us to understand about