Hello, friends!
I've been spending most of my time at Lincoln University doing "proxe stations" which are interactive Gospel displays. Instead of asking students randomly if I could talk to them about Jesus, I set up a display that draws folk to me. They ask me what I'm doing, then I get to have a conversation with them that leads to a presentation of the Gospel. I love proxes because it makes talking about Jesus natural and not super awkward. It's also something that students can learn to do pretty easily and is a great way to get them started on doing evangelism.
Proxes at Lincoln have been really great for meeting people but not actually super great for evangelism. It isn't because folk aren't interested in Gospel. It's actually because most students at Lincoln identify themselves as Christians, which means the conversation about inviting them to follow Jesus is much harder. It's not really good strategy to try and convince students that they aren't Christians as a way to get them to want to be a part of your chapter.
The model that I use to present the Gospel is called the Big Story. You can see it here. Basically, you explain the world using 4 circles then ask students to identify which circle they identify with the most. The first circle says, "my world is great and I wouldn't change a thing!" Circle 2 says, "my world is messed up and that's just the way it is." Circle 3 says, "my world is messed up but I believe that Jesus has saved me." Circle 4 says, "my world is messed up, Jesus has saved me, and he's sent me to go heal the world."
Here's the "problem" at Lincoln. Most of the students who I encounter put themselves between circles 3 and 4, meaning they identify as Christians but don't feel like they're "ready" to go out and heal the world. Sometimes this means that students need or want to make a re-commitment to following Jesus. Oftentimes though, it means that they they grew up in the church so are "Christian by default" but really haven't thought about their faith in any substantive way for a long time. I'm sure this happens on other campuses too but I've noticed that this is very much true for students at Lincoln. These conversations are difficult because before you can invite a student to change, you first have to have a conversation about how their view of the world isn't actually accurate.
Wednesday, was an exception to the rule and it was terribly refreshing. More than half of the students who I met on Wednesday did NOT identify themselves as Christians. There was the self professed atheist. There was the woman who believed in a higher power but wasn't sure what to make of all the claims about who Jesus is. There were the two men who put themselves solidly in Circle 2 and knew that their world was broken. While on the one hand, these conversations are heartbreaking because students are lost and they need the Gospel, it was so uplifting to actually have real conversations about faith where students were free to share their doubts, fears, and questions. No one made a decision to follow Jesus on Wednesday but it was good for my soul to have real conversations about Jesus.
Friends, would you please pray for these students? Kloe, Diamond, Autumn, John, BlueMan, and a host of other students on Lincoln's campus need to know who Jesus is. Would you pray that God will reveal himself to them and that He will change their hearts. Please pray that I'll get another chance to interact with them and share the story of God's goodness with them. Pray for more interactions like this and that students will say "yes" to following Jesus!
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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