A Fresh Insight into Evangelism

Had an interesting conversation yesterday at Faith Camp with an adult helper from one of our partner churches.  She was sharing her political views pretty forcefully, and I struggled to try to keep finding common ground so as not to alienate her.  After about a half an hour of conversation, she made a broad statement that I felt that I had to challenge.  She was talking about Muslims and said, "we all worship the same God."  I was tempted to shoot her down and correct her, but felt led instead to ask her a question instead.  I asked her "why do you feel they are the same?" Her response?  "Well they all prayer toward heaven."  The question and her subsequent answer opened a dialogue that led her to admit she really didn't know the bible very well, or even really what she believed as a Christian.  We talked about the fact that Mohammad and Allah didn't give their only son to bear the sins of the world; that Buddha and Hare Krishna and the Hindu deities didn't either.  I encouraged her to read the book of Romans as it explains some of the misconceptions she had. 

I came away from this conversation with a fresh insight into evangelism for my own life:  Build rapport and look for common ground with every person - don't directly challenge their mistaken beliefs, but instead, ask them to explain them along with the reasons why they hold those beliefs.  I have to admit, my experience over the past 2 years in sales has helped me to hold dialogues with people over what they believe and hold value for.