I recently lost a good friend. Kent and I had known each other for several years. He was a very insightful person and a deep thinker. When we met for lunch, he often would tell me about the books that he had been reading and how God had used them to give him greater insight into life, history, and his relationship with the Lord.
Kent was also a brilliant artist. That’s how he made his living. I felt very blessed and privileged to be able to call on Kent when I needed a cover for an article that I planned to publish. He designed the cover for Keeping First Things First and redesigned it when I wanted to publish it in different languages.
Kent went to be with the Lord unexpectedly just a few weeks ago. Kent was not only a good friend, but also a fellow minister. Together, decades ago, we had tried to figure out how to do street evangelism. Looking back, our methods were crude and lacking in wisdom, but we were sincere in our desire to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
We would walk the streets of Dallas, Texas, together, passing out gospel tracts and trying to engage people in conversations about the Lord, explaining to them their need for salvation. There was some fruit from all of our efforts, but we received much more rejection and negative reactions than positive results.
When I finally began to study how Jesus ministered to people, I realized that His approach was completely different. His encounters with people were nothing like ours had been on the streets of Dallas. Jesus did none of the things that we had done in our encounters with people. His approach and His methods were totally different. And the amazing results that He experienced were a testimony to His effectiveness.
I saw that there was a better way to approach evangelism and basic ministry to people. By looking to Jesus as our model, and by understanding and applying the underlying principles of His ministry, I believe that we can experience similar results. I believe that Jesus promised this to us!
“I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.”— John 14:12 (CEV)
For starters, looking at Jesus’ first encounters with people after He entered into His ministry, we see an important aspect about Jesus’ approach & ministry “technique”. When Jesus was actually involved in ministry encounters with individuals, it was not typically His way to confront them with a direct statement, telling them that they needed to be saved. At least, it was not the way he *initiated *ministry encounters. His predominant “technique” was demonstrated in His first exchange with the two disciples of John who followed Him. He asked them a question.
“Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, And he looked at Jesus as He walked along, and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Him. But Jesus turned, and as He saw them following Him, He said to them, What are you looking for? [And what is it you wish?] And they answered Him, Rabbi—which translated is Teacher—where are You staying? He said to them, Come and see. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they remained with Him that day. It was then about the tenth hour (about four o’clock in the afternoon). One of the two who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first sought out and found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found (discovered) the Messiah!—which translated is the Christ (the Anointed One).”—John 1:35-41 (AMP)
Jesus didn’t seem to do a lot of *talking *except when he was teaching. When he was ministering to people one-on-one, He tended to ask questions in order to hear what they had to say. Asking questions proved to be a much more effective method of getting to the heart issues of a person’s life. Jesus asked questions in such a way that it drew people out of their “shells.” They lowered their personal walls of self-protection. They opened up to Him and shared their most personal needs with Him.
Professional counselors, coaches, and therapists are actually trained to use this technique, although they don’t often attribute it to Jesus. The most effective experts in the helping professions use questioning techniques to get to the heart of issues that are at the root of a person’s problems.
Think about your own experiences in doctors’ offices. Don’t you feel that you get better care from a doctor who takes the time to ask you targeted questions that help determine what you really need, and really listens to you describe your problems and concerns?
When we understand the power of asking good questions, we can see why Jesus used this approach so often in His ministry encounters, especially in the encounters that He initiated.
There is also a scientific reason why asking questions is more effective than just giving information to people. The mind cannot resist answering a question. Studies in neurobiology have proven this. Try it yourself. You’ll notice that whenever anyone asks you a question, your mind will immediately begin searching for the answer. It cannot be helped. Even if you do not say anything in response, your mind will be busy trying to come up with an answer to the question that was asked. (Menendez, p.63)
Thoughtful questions are powerful in their ability to reach deep inside of a person, bypassing the less-important clutter of daily life, and focusing attention on real issues of eternal value. Powerful questions can bring a person face-to-face with important choices, prompting him to take action on issues that he had not fully considered before because his conscious thoughts were not focused on them. (Menendez, p.63)
Reference: Menendez, Diane S.. Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training (p. 63). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.
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