Gilbert’s Coaching Tips

CruPress mailed out their latest resources to local leaders in the US last week. Rick James, CruPress Publisher, says that the first volume of the Critical Concept series, or White Papers, is “targeted toward more advanced discipleship”. One of the papers, “War of the Worlds”, by former staff and author, Bayard Taylor, gives us a peak into the various worldviews that we find on our campuses. He wrote the following article as a back-up to the Critical Concept article and his website. Bayard offers very basic suggestions for moving from a worldview discussion into the gospel.

Using Worldviews in Sharing the Gospel
“Before you dive, get the big picture.”

Fellow Buzzards,

This newsletter is about teaching the biblical worldview more cogently by teaching the worldviews. If you understand how the biblical worldview looks really, really good compared to the alternatives, it ups your confidence.

Once your confidence is upped, you realize that compared to the competition, as a Christian who believes in the biblical worldview and the gospel, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You’re more excited about Jesus. You’ve got something to share!

So how can we use the other worldviews to share the gospel? Here are some really simple ideas you might want to try.

I’ve used this basic approach with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations and have almost always had great success with it.

First: Get into a genuine, back and forth conversation with somebody. No agendas, no manipulation. Just gentle, genuine curiosity. You’re trying to get to know somebody as a valuable human being.

Second: Pay close attention to little hints and saying that indicate or reveal which worldview the person believes is true.

Third: When you get a hunch where the person is coming from, find a piece of paper (or a napkin that’s handy) and draw the box diagram that most closely resembles his or her worldview, as you understand it. (You do remember the the box diagrams for each worldview in Blah, Blah, Blah, don’t you? If not, go back to chapter 3, or to the worldview cheat sheets in chapter 7.)

Fourth: Point to the diagram you just drew and ask, “Does this pretty much describe where you’re coming from?” Then watch and listen closely to the response. It doesn’t matter if you got it exactly right; or if the person corrects your drawing; or even rejects the premise of the diagram in the first place. At least you’re in a genuine back-and-forth conversation. Plus it gives you an opening in which you can say, “Can I show you my worldview?” Or, “Can I show you another way of looking at things?”

Fifth: If the person’s worldview is basically the biblical (he or she believes in God the Creator to whom we are accountable), then much of your work is already done — you can move right into sharing the gospel (how to get right with God, how to have a relationship with him through Christ).

However, if the person has one of the other worldviews, then when you draw the biblical worldview diagram be sure to show how the biblical contrasts with the person’s own worldview. Point out things from chapter 5 by asking questions such as “Can you see why only in the biblical worldview does it make any sense to say that you’re created ‘in God’s image’ and therefore have innate dignity and worth before God?” Or, “Can you see that only in the Biblical worldview does it make any sense to say, ‘God loves you’?”

(This compare and contrast thing is very important; it will help people value what’s different about the biblical worldview, whether they can accept it at that point or not.)

I also draw a cross inside the biblical worldview box diagram and say something like, “This cross represents God loving us so much that he came and lived among us as a human, and even died for us on the cross to bring us back to him.” Including the cross is important because if we merely say “God loves you,” it feels abstract to most people, even though it’s the truth. But when we tell HOW God loved us, self-sacrificially through sending his Son to die for us on the cross (John 3:16), that helps make the message concrete in peoples’ minds.

Sixth: Let the person respond in his or her own way and on his or her own timetable. You’re not there to convince someone to do something so much as to witness to and live the truth. We then try to be very sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in the other person’s life. There’s no formula; there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

It might involve offering to pray for a need. It might involve asking the person if they’d like to thank God for his incredible gift in Christ. It might involve going outside and playing some frisbee. It might involve inviting the person to join you in some disaster relief. I don’t know what it will be — that’s why God gives his people the Holy Spirit!

What’s Really Cool About This Approach:

–No formulas — it’s based upon principles, not saying the right thing;

–No huge amounts of memorization — because the six worldviews are so simple and easy to draw;

–No pressure — it lets the Holy Spirit be the ultimate convincer.

Ask your local leader for a look at the “War of the Worlds” article. Otherwise, you will be able to order it from CruPress, though it is not listed yet. The diagrams Bayard refers to above make that transition into the gospel easier. I have read many worldview books over the years, including Bayard’s Blah, Blah, Blah: Making Sense of the World’s Spiritual Chatter. There are fuller treatments and some quote the proponents of the various worldviews more extensively. Some would have us look to do battle with those views. But what I like about Bayard’s approach is the willingness to understand where those we witness to are coming from. Very few come to Christ because we defeated their intellectual argument. They are more likely to respond to the consistency they see between what we believe and our heart for them. Blah, Blah, Blah simplifies the complex issues and is written in a way that appeals to students. Why not pick up a copy and take it with you on your summer assignment.