Soul Winning Tips and Examples
On this page I hope to help give you tips on how to give your testimony and win souls. I will also be giving you examples that may help you to make the gospel a little more clear for the person that you are trying to share Christ with.Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when thinking about soul winning. Time is slipping away for many people in this world. According to "The World Factbook" by the CIA almost 2 (1.7) people in the world die each second. 102 people die each minute, 6098 people each hour, 146,347 die each day, 53.4 million people per year. Most of them are dying without Christ in their lives. Although we can not lead everyone of these people to a saving knowledge of Christ we need to do as much as we can to show everyone what it takes to go to Heaven.
Message for those left behind.
How to give your personal testimony.
The omelet - Are good works enough?
Should I invite people to come to church?
Have you tried a bus ministry?
Message for those left behind.
Have you thought about trying to leave a gospel message for anyone left behind at the Rapture or at your death? This is what I have done. I have written a letter to family members with a personal message just to them. If I am not sure that they are Christians I include a gospel tract with the message. You can tell them anything you wish to including what they have meant to you, mention special moment in your relationship and give the gospel in your own words in a way that you think may make it easy for them to understand since every person see things differently. The outside of the envelope has the persons name on it and it says it is only to be opened upon my death. I update it every so often and then put it in a new envelope. The messages to my children still have the original messages I wrote to them when they were babies so they can see what was going on in our lives at that time. My sons are both Christins but I left the original tracts in their envelopes for them. I keep these letters in my fireproof lock box as I figure that people will look in there if anything happens to me. I hope this will help to share the gospel when we are gone either by rapture or death. You can write these letters to anyone you want to. You can even have preaddressed envelopes with a forever stamp on it to be mailed to them. You will just have to update their address if they move. If anyone comes into my house after I am gone there are gospel tracts all over the place in drawers and other places that I keep them so if I don't have an envelope for them they still find the gospel message. If you have many preaddressed envelopes you could have them all put in a larger 8x11" envelope and have enough forever stamps in the larger envelope to put on all of the letters. I seal them all because I don't want anyone else reading them. They are all personal just for their eyes only.How to give your personal testimony.
Do you want to know the best way to present salvation to all sorts of people? The answer is your personal testimony. The reasons are simple.1. People are most interested in a true human interest story (they can identify with other people best), and
2. You are interested in sharing with others what Christ and salvation mean to you personally.
You may be giving your testimony to a friend, a co-worker, someone that you meet on the street, or in a church service. Here are some guidelines that will make your testimony the kind that others will like and that will bring glory to Christ:
1. Realize what is at stake: the destiny of the souls of men.
You are representing Jesus Christ. II Cor. 5:18-20.
2. Ask the Lord to give you wisdom and guidance in preparing and presenting your testimony.
3. Begin with an interesting, attention-getting sentence and close with a good conclusion. Include relevant, thought provoking facts and experiences.
4. Give it in such a way that others will feel associated with you. See #8.
5. Give enough details to arouse interest.
6. You should always have a general outline already in your mind. By this, we mean that you can give your testimony in two or three minutes to an hour or more. You never know when or for how long you may be called on to give a testimony.
7. If you are the first or only one to give a testimony, always give the plan of salvation.
8. Be sure your experiences are scriptural before you share them with others. Interpret your experiences by the Word of God and not vise-versa. The Bible is our authority.
9. Be lovingly enthusiastic. Let them know you really believe in what you are saying. Don't bore people with the greatest thing in the world.
10. Speak loudly and clearly, in a relaxed tone of voice.
11. Smile often. A smile tells a person, "I like you," and "You're worth smiling at." Ask the Lord to give you a happy, radiant face. Eph. 4:15.
12. Avoid mannerisms when you speak, such as: rubbing your nose, playing with your ring, jingling coins in your pocket.
13. Feature Christ, and not yourself.
14. Have a good appearance: clean, good posture, smell good.
Be full of life.
Salvation in a testimony:
1. Tell the circumstances involved in your salvation.
2. Spell out exactly what salvation is. Be clear and simple.
Think: Could a person be saved by hearing that testimony alone?
3. As a general rule, it is good to quote at least one clear salvation verse, and no more than two. Eph.2:8-9; John 3:16; I John 5:13.
4. Always distinguish between faith and works, between salvation and service, Christ and religion.
5. Remember the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Rom. 1:16. Rely on His Word and the Holy Spirit.
Don'ts
1. Don't use Christian jargon. Words such as "born again," "convicted," "converted," do not communicate truth to the average non-Christian.
2. Don't preach-- Do talk, share something of value.
3. Don't tear down. Be positive!
4. Don't let your testimony drag on. When you have finished, you can stop. Don't keep talking just to talk.
5. Don't apologize. This gives the person or audience lack of confidence.
6. Don't mention church denominations, especially in a derogatory way.
7. Don't speak critically or negatively about any other individual or group. You are here to talk about Christ and try to lead a person to a saving knowledge of Christ.
8. Don't give the impression that the Christian life is a "bed of roses." Some people are told that when they give their life to Christ, that all of their problems will be solved and life will be a complete joy for the rest of their lives. If you have been a Christian for very long, you know that you will still have problems.
9. Don't give a bragamony.
Example-What is a saviour?
We call Jesus our Saviour. Here is an example of how to explain to someone that you are witnessing to what a saviour is.
Let's suppose that you are 10 miles from shore and your boat sinks and you can't swim. Along comes another boat as you cry out for help. - What is a Saviour?
Let's say that the man in the boat throws out a book for you entitled "How to Swim". Would you call this man a saviour? I don't think so. You may have a few other names for the fellow with your last breath, but I doubt that it would be saviour.
Now let's say that he gets out of the boat and shows you different methods of swimming. He shows you the dog paddle, the backstroke ,and a few other things. Is this person a saviour? NO! You might call him an example at best.
How about if he throws you a life preserver, pulls you into his boat, gives you a blanket, some hot chocolate and takes you about a mile from shore and throws you back into the water so that he may continue on his way. Is he a saviour? NO! Maybe an indian giver. He really didn't save you because you will still drown one mile from shore just as quickly as you will ten miles from shore.
None of these examples are of a saviour. A saviour is one that gets you out of the water into his boat and takes you all the way to shore.
Jesus did not just give us a book with instructions in it, He was not just an example for us to follow, He does not take us part way to Heaven and then cast us back out again. When Jesus saves us, He stays with us through this life and takes us all the way and sets us on Heavens shore. That's what happens when you accept Jesus as your saviour. He has stated that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and He will not cast us out (John 6:37).
The omelet - Are good works enough?
You often hear people say, "I am not that bad of a person, I think that God will let me into Heaven when I die. After all, He knows that I am doing my best."Here is a little illustration that you can give to people to help them see that they can not get to Heaven on their own righteousness. Let's suppose that you are at my house one morning when I am cooking breakfast and I offer to make you an omelet. As I am cooking this omelet which call for 3 eggs in the recipe, I realize that I only have 2 eggs in my refrigerator. Just then I remember that an egg rolled under the refrigerator last month. I reach under and dust it off and continue cooking the omelet adding onion, cheese, and other ingredients to it. Now you know about the egg that I found and added to the meal, so when I bring it to you, you refuse to eat it. I try to convince you that most of it is very good, it only has that one bad egg after all and that shouldn't affect how good that the omelet actually is.
This is what many people try to do with God. They think, yes I have done some things in my life that I shouldn't have done, but I am basically a good person. They try to convince God to let them into Heaven with a less than perfect life. The Bible says that we can't get into Heaven with our own righteousness, but that if we accept Christ as our Saviour that God will give us His righteousness. With the righteousness of God we can then go to Heaven when we die.
Should I invite people to come to church?
Here is something you may find interesting. The institute for American church growth asked over 10,000 people this question: "What was responsible for your coming to this church?" This is how they replied.
I visited there..................1%
I liked the Sunday School........1%
I had a special need.............2%
I just walked in.................3%
I liked the programs.............3%
Other............................5%
I liked the Pastor...............6%
A friend or relative invited me..79%
I have found in my experience that I as the Pastor of a church I can go and knock on doors and invite many people to come to church. Most of them will say that they will be there Sunday but very few will ever show up no matter how much I go by. However one of my church members who is a friend of theirs can invite them and they will be there that Sunday or soon after. I have found that many people expect the Pastor to go out and visit as part of his job. However the Bible tells us that ALL Christians should invite people to come to church. Start with your friends, neighbors, and relatives. After that it will be easier to ask the cashier at the bank or the man at the gas station that you see occasionally.
Have you tried a bus ministry?
There is one very important ministry that I don't see a lot of churches trying today. This is the bus ministry. When I was going to Bible College, I was a member of a church that really believed in the bus ministry. The church had about seven buses that they used to bring children to the church on Sunday mornings. The church had about 120 members that showed up on Sunday morning and the bus ministry brought in about 80 to 120 children each Sunday. One thing that the Pastor of that church really emphasized was that the children of today are the church of tomorrow.
Try a tract ministry.
We love tract ministries and think that you should consider having one if you are looking for an effective way to witness. Often times you meet someone that you don't have time to talk to about Jesus Christ but you have a burden to share the gospel with them. Perhaps you are a person that can not easily talk to people about your faith. A tract may be perfect for you. You can give the person a tract. A tract is a piece of literature that explains to people how to become a Christian. It is usally short and to the point. Tracts can be used as a tool to grab a persons attention. There are tracts that have things to draw someones attention such as tracts that look like money or tracts that have illusions or puzzels on the front for a person to look at and try to figure out. Some tracts look like comic books, some just start out by thanking someone for helping you out. Some just ask the question about Heaven "Would you like to go there when you die?" You can find tracts about Christmas, Halloween, New Years and just about any other subject you would like to.
When trying to find a good tract to use there are several things you will want to look at. It shouldn't be too long. I have seen some tracts which are full of a lot of great material but they have been so long that many people either won't start reading it or they put it down for another time. One thing we know about life is that they may not have the time later to read the tract before it is too late for them.
The tract should establish that we are all sinners and that we can not get to Heaven by good works. It needs to also make it clear that good works can't help a person to get into Heaven. We are saved by God's grace through faith in His Son and accepting the payment that Jesus made on the cross for our sins and nothing else. Adding anything to faith in Christ will nullify the gospel, even if it says believe and be baptised. Baptism to help with salvation becomes a work for salvation.
First of all pray that God will help you to leave the tracts in the right places and give them to the right people. Hopefully people will find them that have questions about their salvation. Some people will stick a tract in their purse or wallet so they can read it later and will find it at the right time in their life.
If you are at a restraunt, you can leave a tip in a tract for the waitress. Make sure it is a good tip or they won't read the tract and you will just give Christians a bad name. I worked in many restraunts and can tell you that they usally don't like the church crowd on Sunday afternoons. Christians who come on Sunday after church as a whole are demanding, rude, and very cheep tippers. If you are a Christian eating at a restraunt still in your Sunday church clothes make sure you treat the staff well before leaving a tract.
When you go to a county fair or to an amusement park you can leave gospel tracts. The tracts that look like money are espically fun to leave at these places. Also at shopping malls.
I like to put a tract in the envelope when I send in a payment for a bill. My Brother used to have a successful business. He put a tract with every invoice he sent out.
Subway stations, bus terminals, waiting rooms or any other place where a person is going to have a little time on their hands.
Leave a tract in the Bible at a hotel that you stay at. Many people at hotels are there because something is going wrong at their house and they need a place to stay for a night or two.
Remember not to leave a tract close to a garbage can. Some people will just throw it away when they see it before anyone interested can read it.
I hope this has helped you to consider having a tract ministry or getting involved on one that your church or another organization may have. If you have any questions about a tract ministry feel free to contact us at makeitclear@aol.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
5823 HWY 4 West