Spiritual conversation starters

"'Do you understand what you are reading?' Philip asked." -- Acts 8:30

Lyle Pointer published a series of "spiritual conversation starters" in a little brochure. His suggested opening lines for soul winning conversations were:

Do you give much thought to God and spiritual things?

Tell me about your most memorable spiritual experience.

What do you think is a person's greatest spiritual need?

Tell me about your church background; did you go to church as a child?
How do you feel about your upbringing and your awareness of spiritual things?

How would you describe your life with God now?

How do you think a person begins a personal relationship with God?

When did you feel closest to God?
What factors or influences brought you nearer to God?

What would renew that sense of closeness?

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being closest to God), where do you see yourself in relationship with God?
Where do you want to be?

How do you see yourself moving closer to God?

How can I encourage you to get to where you would like to be?

Dr. Pointer gives some words of advice to those wanting to use his conversation starters:

Ask questions that tie into former conversations.

Listen closely. Be sensitive.

Proceed as long as your friend shows interest.

Affirm any amount of truth or insight offered.

Additional witnessing / soul-winning resources

Should attempts at sharing our faith with other people take into account the journey they are on? How serious are we . . ? More . . .

Wouldn't you like to have faith in something? . . ? More . . .

Want to take conversations with a friend to a deeper level? Interjecting the right question can make that happen. [ lists of questions ]

Writing your testimony

Walking away -- a personal evangelism, soul-winning case study [ read case study ]

Witnessing scenarios

How to witness: a PowerPoint presentation on relational evangelism [ view presentation ] [ open as PowerPoint ]

How should leaders respond when moral issues are at stake?

What should leaders do when key people in a congregation have unresolved morality issues? [ read more ]

SNU missions course materials and syllabi

Cultural Anthropology Introduction to Missions Linguistics Mexican Field Studies Missions Strategies Modern Missionary Movement (History of Missions) Nazarene Missions Church Growth and Christian Missions Theology of Missions Traditional Religions World Religions

Go to:

Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008 | Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 405-491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: March 19, 2006 | URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/starters.htm