Missionaries@Work: Manual 2

Missionaries@Work Study Guide II

6 sessions on

Evangelism in the workplace

Study Guide II – “Evangelism at work”

Content page Study 1 My personal mission field 1 Who are the people I want to share the gospel with? Study 2 Evangelism for the terrified x Some stuff to remember in the mission field Study 3 Developing an evangelistic mindset x Spotting opportunities Study 4 Did you read the Metro this morning? x Starting gospel conversations Study 5 What makes you believe that? x Questioning evangelism Study 6 The gospel in a nutshell x Explaining the gospel during the coffee break

M@W

Study 1

My personal mission field Who are the people I want to share the gospel with?

(1) Why be a workplace missionary? Matthew 9 tells us that when Jesus looked out on the crowds in the towns he visited, he had compassion on them because they were ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9:36). It’s a vivid image of the lostness of all human beings; and it’s how Jesus sees our workplaces – office after office full of individuals who have no direction on the big questions of life… all in terrible danger of wandering into a lost eternity. What does he think people like that most need? ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’ (Matthew 9:37-38). It might come as a surprise, but the thing Jesus thinks our offices most need is people like you! Workers… who will see the office as a harvest field… and who will get in amongst people – labouring away to gather them back to God. So many lost colleagues… who we spend so much of our time rubbing shoulders with. Rather than being second-rate (as secular work is often viewed when compared to church work), our normal jobs are a fantastic opportunity for Christian service. But for all kinds of reasons, we find it very difficult to make the most of the opportunities in the mission field we walk into every day of the working week. With this in mind, we have written this short Bible study course, which is designed to help us get started in the mission field and to become better equipped in sharing the gospel with our friends and colleagues. (2) My personal mission field Before we embark on thinking about how to go about sharing the gospel with people in our workplace practically, it is worthwhile spending a bit of time analysing our personal mission fields: Who are the people we trying to reach with the gospel? Who are the people we spend most time with at work? Who do we work most closely with? Etc…

• On the next page you find some graph paper on which you can draw the outline of your office. As you do this, spend some time thinking about the people you see and work with and who you want to tell the gospel.

• Now spend some time thinking about who the people you want to commit to trying to share the gospel with are and write a few names into each category.

(3) Developing a mission plan After having identified some of the people we want to reach with the gospel, it is useful to spend a bit of time thinking through where these people are at in their current thinking about Christianity: Have you had gospel conversations with them already? Do they know you are a Christian? What is their attitude towards the gospel? What might stop them believing? What would the next step with each of them look like?

• Spend some time thinking strategically about some of your colleagues. Use the table below to help you with this.

Name of colleague

General questions

• What kind of person are they?

• What are their main interests?

• What do you have in common with them?

Values and struggles

• What is most important to them?

• What do they struggle with?

Attitude towards Jesus

• What is their religious background?

• What is their view of God/ Jesus?

• What might stop them from believing?

Name of colleague

Exposure to gospel

• Do they know you are a Christian?

• What conversations have you had with them?

• Have they heard the gospel before?

• Have they come along to an event at Church?

• Have they read a gospel as an adult?

Next step

• What would move them a step closer to believing the gospel?

Pray

• God has given you your own personal mission field. The people whose names are on this sheet do not know Jesus in a personal way and are all in terrible danger of wandering into a lost eternity. Pray for them regularly, asking God to open their lives to the gospel and to give you the wisdom to know how best you can tell them about Jesus.

Study 2

Evangelism for the terrified Some stuff to remember in the mission field

(1) Why do we find evangelism hard?

Being a workplace missionary is not an easy task. Whether it is the fear of being rejected or ridiculed for our faith, the total lack of response from our colleagues when we do speak about Jesus, or our own lack of compassion for them – there are many reasons why we might be tempted to give up (or not even start) evangelism at work.

• What stops us from doing evangelism in your office? In the space below, note down all the reasons why you might be tempted to give up evangelism / why you find evangelism hard-going? Also list the things that distract you from evangelism.

• The main reason(s) why I find evangelism hard is (are): ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(2) Some stuff to remember in the mission field Whatever the reason might be why we find evangelism hard, the remedy is always to remind ourselves of the gospel and why it’s worthwhile sticking up for Jesus and holding out the good news about Jesus to our colleagues.

• Having listed the main reason(s) why we find evangelism hard, which particular Bible truths will encourage us to keep going? Write down the particular truth(s) you need to remember over the coming weeks and months in the space below:

Here is some stuff to remember before a day of being a workplace missionary:

We have a great message to proclaim John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Hell is real, and we’ll probably meet people today who are on course to end up there John 3:18 “Whoever believes in [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

There’s nothing my friends and colleagues need more today than to hear a precious message of Jesus because... John 3:36 “Whoever does not obey the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:34 “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.”

Rejection is to be expected John 3:19-20 “And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Opposition is to be expected John 16:18-21 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they

will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.”

The gospel is powerful and there is a harvest to be reaped John 4:35-36 “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

The gospel in a nutshell (Who could I tell this to today? It’ll only take one sentence!) John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Pray

• Pray xxx

Study 3

Developing an evangelistic mindset Spotting opportunities

(1) Are you in an evangelistic mood today? If you are remotely interested in science a must-read is the “The Cartoon guide to Genetics”. The book outlines how the discovery of genetics came about over the centuries and it is very funny and easy to understand. The cartoon on the very first page depicts a caveman roaming around the landscape with a bat in his hand and a thought-bubble above his head, which reads “I am in a scientific mood”. The idea is to show that this is exactly what kicked off all scientific discoveries in the centuries to come: people being in a scientific mood and ready to explore the world around them.

It would be great if this was us in our offices, not running around with a bat, but our Bibles, and thinking to ourselves “I am in an evangelistic mood”. It is exactly the sort of mindset we need to have in order to keep evangelism on the agenda in the midst of a busy workday. In the last session, we have already talked about the reasons why so often we are not in an evangelistic mood and how remembering particular Bible truths might help us with this.

• Briefly remind yourself of the main reason why you find evangelism hard. How has remembering a particular Bible truth helped you with this in recent days / weeks?

(2) A day in the life of a workplace missionary One of the reasons why we might find evangelism hard going is the apparent lack of opportunities to talk about the gospel. In most workplaces, people will rarely walk up to the office Christian and question them about their beliefs, let alone ask them what they must do to be saved. But maybe there are also more opportunities than we think there are. Maybe we just need to become a bit better at spotting them….

• Below is a diary extract from an imaginary Christian, called Alex. Shadow Alex during a day in his office and think through how he could use some of the situation he finds himself as gospel opportunities.

Alex works as in office a short walk away from Euston Station. Some of Alex’ colleagues know that Alex is a Christian, and a few of them even have accompanied Alex to the Euston Church Service last Christmas and to Covent Garden Talks on a Thursday lunchtime. Alex is keen to live as a Christian in the workplace and talk about the gospel with his colleagues, but he finds it quite hard to get into an evangelistic mindset in the midst of a busy workday. Particularly at the moment the job is very demanding and Alex has got quite a number of deadlines and meetings coming up during the week that is just about to start…. Monday morning, 6.30 am The alarm clock rings. Alex gets up, goes to the bathroom, has a shower and then wanders over to the kitchen for the first cup of coffee of the day. Over breakfast, Alex reads a chapter in the Bible and turns to pray for the day. 7.45 am Alex has left the house and has walked to the tube station. The first train that arrives on the platform is fairly empty and so Alex manages to get a seat. Alex glances over to the woman sitting next to him and notices that she is reading “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. 8.00 am Alex arrives at Euston Station. On the way out of the station, one of the many people handing out leaflets offers Alex a flyer about a new gym in the area that promises to “transform your body within a month”. 8.10 am Alex arrives at the office building. The receptionist is at her desk. When she sees Alex, she smiles and asks “How was your weekend?”. 8.30 am 30 min to go before the first meeting of the day starts. Alex is sorting out some important documents for the meeting, when the secretary walks in and brings Alex a cup of coffee. She asks Alex if she could have the afternoon off the following day, to go to hospital with her mother who will get some test results back. Struggling to hold back the tears she tells Alex, that she fears it might be bad news. 9.15 am The meeting is well under way and the discussion is getting increasingly heated. A couple of Alex’ colleagues are ranting on about Bruce, a colleague who was supposed to be at the meeting, but has failed to show up. 10.30 am When the meeting is over, Alex goes to the coffee kitchen and bumps into one of the colleagues who also was at the meeting. “Tell me Alex, how come YOU never join in, in complaining to the boss, what a failure Bruce is? Don’t tell me you think Bruce’s behaviour is okay…” 11.30 am Alex has just spent the last 45 min getting a presentation together for a meeting this afternoon. There is still a lot of work to be done and it will be quite a rush to get everything it finished in time. There’s a knock on the door and Ruth, a colleague of Alex, working in a different department, comes in and asks, if Alex wants to join her and a few others to go for lunch. Before Alex has time to answer, Ruth spots the latest Euston Church flyer (featuring the “My body is a temple” series) on Alex’ desk. “What’s that? Have you started to go to the gym?” she asks mockingly. 12.30 pm Alex is having lunch with Ruth and several other colleagues. The conversation at the table turn towards the BBC1 documentary “I helped my daughter die” which follows the story of Kay Gilderdale who has helped her ill daughter to

commit suicide. One of Alex’ colleagues says that he is really glad that Mrs Gilderdale was cleared of attempted murder recently. “It’s really good that assisted suicide is not punished anymore.” 1.15 pm On the way back to the office, Alex ends up sharing the lift with Henry who also just returns from his lunch break. Alex doesn’t like Henry very much, especially since Henry has been accusing Alex of being a “Bible-basher” in front of the entire office one day. 2 pm On the way to the afternoon meeting Alex passes by the photocopy room. Loud swearing can be heard from the inside. Alex looks inside and sees Bruce slamming down the lid of the photocopier. “J….. C…..! Why do people never fix this f…… machine, when they cause paper jam…???”. 3.30 pm The meeting is over. Alex is back in the office and tries to catch up on the emails that arrived during the day. Kev from Euston Church has sent an email to tell people about the upcoming Carol services in December. An electronic version of the flyers is attached. 3.45 pm Alex is interrupted from writing a meeting report when Bruce walks into his office. “Just wanted to say thanks for helping with the photocopier earlier. … I take it the boss was fairly annoyed that I didn’t show up for the meeting this morning. A bit embarrassing really, I totally forgot all about the meeting and had a lie-in. I guess I’ll just tell him I had to go to the dentist or something like that…” 4.05 pm A message appears on the companies’ intranet message board. It’s an invitation from Phil, who works on the floor below Alex, asking people to join him to watch the Darwin movie “Creation” next week. Phil writes “It promises to be a great movie and at least in this country the movie is allowed to be screened in cinemas, unlike the US, where it’s too controversial for those “born again” Christians who still believe that God made the world in six days." 6.45 pm Alex is interrupted by another knock on the office door. It’s Ruth again. “I’ve had enough for today, I’m tired and hungry and I’m going home now. Did you hear the news about Haiti? First, the earthquake in January where more than 150.000 people died, now there is a cholera outbreak. Quite shocking. I’m really glad we don’t live in that part of the world and that we are quite safe from those kinds of disasters and epidemics over here. 8.30 pm Alex is working late. There is just too much that needs to be done this week. Alex decides to get another cup of coffee and wanders over to the kitchen. The place is very quiet and deserted - everyone else seems to have left already. Alex can’t wait to finish the report and go home, too. In the kitchen, Alex bumps into the cleaner who has just started her shift. 9.15 pm With all the reports written, Alex finally leaves the office to go home….

• Pick a day during your working week and write a short diary listing the various conversations you have had during that day. What does a typical day at work look like for you? Where are your points of contact for starting gospel conversations? Are there any you haven’t considered so far?

Pray

• Pray….

Study 4

Did you read the Metro this morning? Starting gospel conversations

(1) Some stuff to remember when getting into conversations In the last session we have seen that probably there are more opportunities to get into gospel conversations than we might have thought. But how do we go about using the opportunities. What do we say? How do we even start to get close to sharing the gospel in our conversations? How do we get from talking about the weather to talking about Jesus? Before we share some tips and examples, here are a few things to remember before starting any gospel conversation: • pray We are utterly dependent on God’s help in our evangelism. He is the one to create the opportunity and his Holy Spirit is the one doing the work of convicting people with respect to who Jesus is and that they need him. So pray. Before, during and after each conversation. • glorify God Remember that our ultimate aim is to glorify God, not to win an argument. It’s easy to forget this in the heat of a debate, when we are keen to get our view across. So don’t be argumentative or insulting or insensitive. Even when we have to say painful and hard things such as talking about sin and judgment, we want to do it in a way that honours God and shows sensitivity, respect and concern for the people we talk to. Likewise be honest in what you say, even if it means admitting that you don’t know the answer. (That’s always a good opportunity to get into another conversation when you have thought or read about it more.) • engage with the other person Listen carefully to what they say and ask questions to see what is behind their own opinion and they questions. We will say much more about this in the next study and how we can use questions to find out where people are coming from and how to challenge them in their own thinking. • be authentic Share your life with people. Allow them to see how being a Christian works out in your own life. Many people are first drawn to Christianity because they see a Christian living out their believes. Tell people if and why you might find some Bible truths hard, too, and why you treasure others. • get to the words of Jesus Finally, in our conversations we want always aim to get to the words of Jesus. It is believing the good news about Jesus that saves people, and so they need to hear the gospel.

(2) Easy starter conversations and gospel opportunities You will remember our imaginary Christian friend Alex on his way to work on a Monday morning. When he entered the office building the receptionist asked him, how his weekend was. It’s a question most of our colleagues ask us as least once in a while and it provides a brilliant opportunity to say that we went to church on Sunday and tell our colleagues what we have heard in the sermon. Why not make it a habit every Monday morning on the way to work to recap the sermon from the day before and think of one or two bits you could tell your colleagues about. “My weekend was great – thank you. I went to church on Sunday and we talked about how brilliant heaven is going to be, when God removes death and illness and war, etc.”

• Think about the sermon you heard last Sunday. What could you tell a colleague about it?

• Can you think of other “easy” starter questions or statements, that will enable you to respond with something Christian? Write them in the space below.

(3) Did you read the Metro this morning? Many of our colleagues read the Metro or newspaper on the way to work or check up on the latest news online, and often people share what they have read in the news and been struck by. This can provide another gospel opportunity and allow us to respond with something Christian. So why not make it a habit to read the news in the morning and as you read think about ways you might contribute to the conversation by saying something about Christianity. Think back to Alex’s conversation with his colleague Ruth about the news article on assisted suicide. Ruth said that she thought “its really good that assisted suicide is not punished anymore.” What could Alex have said? He might have replied that he thought only God is allowed to end a life or ….

• Look at a couple of the newspaper headings below. How could you respond with anything Christian?

(4) What’s on your mind? In Study 1 when we started to develop a mission plan and to think about our colleagues and where they are at in their thinking about Christianity, we started to analyse a bit what the particular issues are that our colleagues face, what they struggle with as well as topics that are important to them and on their heart. It is worthwhile spending a bit of time thinking about this and how we can respond with something Christian the next time they start talking about these things.

• What issues and struggles do your colleagues face? What is on their mind? What is important to them? Think about how you could respond with something Christian next time these topics come up.

Pray

• Pray….

Study 5

Questioning evangelism Challenging people’s belief systems

(1) Challenging people’s beliefs In this session we are going to start thinking about what to say when we get into conversations with our friends and colleagues. In particular, we are going to focus on how to challenge people’s own beliefs. This is important because, as long as our friends and colleagues are convinced of their own beliefs and ideas, they are unlikely to see the need to engage with what we have to say about Christianity. They might listen politely, but they probably won’t be willing to consider our belief for themselves. However, if we manage to challenge them and disturb them in their own thinking about the big questions of life, then they are more likely to think about and take serious what we have to so say to them. How do we go about doing this? (2) Questioning evangelism The best way of challenging people in their conviction is by asking them questions. Asking questions is generally a great evangelistic strategy, because it gives you time to think and pray, as it puts the focus on the other person for the moment. In addition, asking questions helps you to find out why a person is saying something or asking a particular questions. Asking “why are you asking this?” back or “Would you be willing to spend some time listening to the answer?” helps us to see if their question is really burning on their heart and if they are genuinely interested or just out to have an argument or a laugh. A good starting point to challenge someone’s belief is by asking a question that brings to surface people’s underlying assumptions and convictions:

• What is your own opinion so far? • What do you believe yourself on this issue?

Next, we can ask them questions to find out what they base their ideas and beliefs on:

• How have you come to this opinion? • What has convinced you of the truth of this? • How did you arrive at this conclusion?

And then we can gently ask more questions to challenge their ideas…

Let’s work through an example together and see how this could be done. • Example 1: “I think all people are basically good.” Your friend says: “I think all people are basically good.”

• Discuss for a few minutes why your friend might (want to) believe this.

• What does the Bible say?

How then could you react to such a statement? After finding out why they believe this statement, you could say: “Really? Does this include Osama Bin Laden? Or the guy who killed the Amish school children a few years ago?”. Your friend might then concede that maybe not ALL people are good. “Where would you draw the line?” “How good is good enough then?” “How would you rank yourself?” These are just some of the question you could then ask, to get into a conversation about God’s standard of goodness and the fact that we all can’t live up to this…. • Example 2: “Do you really take the Bible literally?” Your friend says: “Do you really take the Bible literally? It’s surely been changed many times over the years. Just like in a game of Chinese whispers.”

• Discuss for a few minutes why your friend might (want to) believe this.

• What does the Bible say?

Again we can start the conversation by asking them: “Why have you come to this conclusion?”

If they have genuine doubts about the authenticity of the Bible we can then ask: “Is it not possible that it happened otherwise?” “Is it not possible that if the Bible really is the word of God, that God made sure it is preserved and not distorted over time?” Or if we think they simply look for a reason to dismiss the Bible we could ask: “Would you like it if the Bible was reliable?” “What kind of evidence would convince you?”

• Let’s practise some more examples. Pick one or two of the statements below and think through why your friends might believe these to be true. How could you challenge the thinking behind these statements? Where would you go to start explaining the Bible’s view on them?

“All religions are the same.”

“Lots of people do good things without being Christians.”

“I would never tell anyone that their religion is wrong.”

“Christianity is just a crutch for weak people.”

“ All religions lead to heaven. They are like different paths up the same mountain.”

“Some Christians are awful people – look at the crusaders or priests who abuse kids.”

“Miracles can’t happen. Lots of what the Bible says is just fairy tales.”

“I can’t see God. Why should I believe in him?”

“Do you really believe hell is a true place?”

“How can you believe in God in light of so many people dying of Aids?”

“Why do you allow the Bible to dictate how you live?”

“People don’t raise from the dead. So your Jesus cannot be alive.”

“Isn’t it arrogant to claim only Christianity is true?”

“Hasn’t science disproved God’s existence?”

“If God gives us free will, why does he send people who don’t believe in him to hell?”

“I believe God will let all people into heaven.”

“Isn’t Richard Dawkins right in saying that God is just a delusion?”

Pray

• Pray….

Study 6

The gospel in a nutshell Explaining the gospel in the coffee break

(1) Gospel ingredients In this session we are going to think about what to say to people when we get an opportunity to o share the gospel with them.

• How would you summarise the gospel in a sentence?

• What are the essential gospel ingredients? What do you think should be included in a gospel presentation? (Read Acts 2:22-39 to see Peter’s “original gospel outline”. What does he include in his gospel presentation?)

(2) Gospel outlines Although most of us know the gospel and have heard many explanations of it in sermons and talks, we still find it hard to explain it to others in a simple and clear way. One way to help us with this is to learn a “gospel outline” which we can tell people in a few minutes and which contains all the essential ingredients and sufficient information to achieve a response, yet is uncomplicated, expressed in non-technical terms and easy to be remembered. There are several published gospel outlines, some of which contain pictures of illustrations and Bible verses to go with the explanations. On the next pages we have printed a few of these gospel outlines.

• Pick one of the outlines, read it carefully and then try to explain the gospel using this outline to a friend.

• Compare the various gospel outlines. Which gospel ingredients are emphasised on the different outlines. Are there any ingredients that are missing? Which outline do you think is most helpful / easy to remember / appropriate for your colleagues? Learn it by heart!

Pray

• Pray….