Ineffective Evangelism: Those who need salvation aren’t interested in hearing the traditional message about Jesus. While they may nod, being courteous, their lives remain unchanged. They believe all Christians are hypocrites with an “I’m better than you” attitude.
Evangelism that Works: You’ll never spread the gospel effectively by giving people what they don’t want. They shun advice, and they become defensive when they are told they are wrong. But they would love your help in solving a mystery. How can you be so happy in the midst of your tragedy? They want to hear your story, how the storm came but you weren’t blown away, how your dilemma didn’t end in defeat.
Stories Change Lives: In 388 BC, Plato urged the city fathers of Athens to exile all poets and storytellers. Why? “Every captivating story,” he said, “sends a charged idea out to us, in effect compelling the idea into us, so that we must believe.”
A well-written story walks readers through an experience that makes the truth obvious when it would otherwise have been dismissed. Society today doesn’t respect the Bible as a source of absolute truth. But first tell a story that shows the truth, and then they’ll believe the Scripture that supports their new faith.
You Have a Life-Changing Story: All Christians have had struggles that led to an insight that changed their lives. When readers follow your emotional journey from fear to faith, from tragedy to triumph, they will share your experience and insight, which will bring a change in their lives, much like yours but at less cost.
Scripture describes the powerful arrival of the Kingdom of God and the casting down of Satan by people who overcame by “the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).
Following Jesus Means Telling Our Stories: Peter tells us to always be ready with our stories, to give reason for the hope we have, which would otherwise remain a mystery to the world (1 Peter 3:15).
When the demoniac at Gadara was delivered, he wanted to follow Jesus but instead was told, “No, go to the ten cities and tell your story” (Mark 5:18–20). The community had rejected Jesus because he caused all their pigs to be killed. But later, after the changed man had time to tell his story, a multitude from the area flocked to see Jesus (Mark 8:1–9).