Asking Questions and Telling Stories
This is Dr. Ed Hoskins welcoming you to Lessons in Discipleship, a series designed to help new believers become established in their Christian faith. Today’s session is Sharing the Gospel Part III. It’s a sowing tool – asking questions and telling stories. First, let me tell you a little about myself. I’m a retired physician. I spent 34 years in family medicine and student health. I became a Christian 50 years ago and was helped early in my Christian faith by the Navigators, a nondenominational international Christian organization whose stated goal is “To Know Christ and to Make Him Known.” I’ve been on associate staff with that organization since 1980. Lessons in Discipleship is a compilation of what I learned during that time. What I learned then I now pass on to you. Today’s session is Sharing the Gospel Part III – Asking Questions and Telling Stories. I love asking questions and telling stories because it’s ‘receiver-oriented’ rather than ‘sender-oriented.’
Why is this important? As you probably already know, in the Western world we love to talk and we love to hear ourselves talk, but that’s being sender-oriented. I believe we need to be more receiver-oriented, where we do more listening than speaking. A wise person once told me many years ago: God gave us two eyes, two ears, and one mouth. We should use them accordingly.
Well, Jesus was the master at both asking questions and telling stories. Let’s look at a simple Bible study I once did on how Jesus asked questions. I remember one Sunday afternoon many years ago, when I went through all four gospels and the book of Acts and found every place where Jesus asked a question. I wrote them down and looked at their contexts. I was also interested in what resulted from Jesus’ questions.
Here are some of the questions Jesus asked. To a blind person Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” To Peter he asked, “Who do people say that I am?” To the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” To the woman at the well Jesus asked, “Where is your husband?” To a hostile crowd who was looking for him he asked, “Whom do you seek?” Following a parable, to one of the Pharisees Jesus asked, “Which one will love him more?” In another situation Jesus once asked, “Which son obeyed his father?” To the disciples before his ascension to heaven Jesus asked, “Boys, have you caught any fish?” In every case hearts were opened and deeper issues addressed.
I am always amazed at how asking questions can open up the hearts of other people. Suddenly you go deeper, from an intellectual basis to a more heart-felt level. Here are a few helpful questions I’ve used with my non-believing friends and with others. “Could you tell me about your spiritual journey in life?” Even if someone tells me they are an atheist I add, “Even an atheist has a pathway that brought them to that point. What was your pathway?”
Another question I have asked is, “If you had a dream tonight and God came to you saying you could ask him for anything, what would you ask him for?” Here are two more fun questions I’ve used with some of my Muslim friends. “Which one do you think existed first? God, his spirit, or his word?” Or, “What makes a person clean or unclean in Islam?”
Here is an excellent resource for asking questions. It is a small and simple book, called Godspace. It’s by Doug Pollack, Lifetree Publishers, 2009. In the back of his book Doug includes a list of 99 possible questions grouped with three questions for each of 33 topics. I’ve adapted a few of those for my own use. I encourage you to do the same. Incidentally, memorize and keep a few stock questions in your virtual pocket so you can use them with another person. Pray and ask God for an opportunity to ask your questions. Then try one out. God can use questions like these to pry open their hearts.
Now let’s move on to storytelling, which in my opinion, is possibly my favorite form of truth-sharing. Everyone loves stories, providing that they’re relevant, short, and well-prepared. However, the most important personal story to tell is your own faith story. Every believer has one. Here are some recommendations. Keep it short. Practice it so that it’s no more than three to five minutes. Second, pick a single significant theme from your own life to serve as the ‘glue’ for your story. Third, include a single verse of scripture to quote. You don’t have to cite reference and page. Make it short. Fourth, be sure to tell how Jesus became real for you. Fifth, eliminate common religious words and terms such as ‘redemption’ or ‘salvation’ or ‘baptism,’ etc. Get someone else to help you practice telling it.
I love this verse from Revelations 12:11, “They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” There are also other great stories to tell. Consider retelling Jesus’ parables. Depending on how you count them, there are about 38 of them.
They are easy to introduce simply by saying, “That reminds me of something Jesus the Messiah once said,” and then telling the story. These stories are fantastic and they really do open the minds and hearts of people. Sometimes using precious stories from your friends’ culture is appropriate. Every culture has its own valued stories. An example here is the famous Shah-Na-Meh (Book of Kings). It’s an epic poem with the adventures of Rostam and Sohrab. We, in the West, don’t relate to these stories. However, our Iranian friends do. Here’s an experience I once had. I was having dinner with a group of friends from Iran, and I mentioned, “I just finished reading the Shah-Na-Meh and I was really impressed by it. Could you tell me a few of the major lessons a person could learn from that story?” It was as if someone turned on their power supply. I could see the wheels turning in their heads and they wanted to talk. Another possibility is the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayam. You can find both of these online or check with Amazon.com.
A few other interesting stories that a lot of my Arab friends love are Kalila wa Dimna. These are animal wisdom stories. In addition, there are witty cultural stories known as the Juha stories or Nasruddin Hoja. You can get these from your local bookstore or online. Their wisdom stories really make people smile.
Let’s summarize what we’ve learned in this brief presentation. First, God gave us two eyes, two ears, and one mouth. We should learn to use them accordingly. In other words, we want to be more receiver-oriented (listeners) rather than sender-oriented (talkers). Second, memorize one or two simple questions. Use them with your friends. Third, every believer must practice and use their own personal faith story. Fourth and fifth, keep asking questions and telling stories. They’re usually non-threatening and they are fun and easy to use. They often open others to deeper spiritual conversations. Stories, such as Jesus’ parables, are subtle, courteous, and mysterious.
Well, we will see you next time for another session on Lessons in Discipleship, when we cover How to Have a Daily Quiet Time. That wraps up today’s session. Thanks for being a part. Remember, until next time, keep following Jesus. He’s worth it.
