I attended a webinar recently where Tina Waldron focused on the two major reasons Christians do not talk with their non-Christian friends about Jesus.

One is that many Christians are afraid they will not be able to answer the questions their non-Christians friends will ask. 

And lets face it. There are a lot of questions that people could ask us.  Here are the top 10 that I got from AI:

1. Why should I believe in Jesus?
2. How do you know the Bible is true?
3. Why does a loving God allow suffering and evil?
4. Isn’t Christianity just one of many religions? What makes it special?
5. What about people who have never heard of Jesus? Are they condemned?
6. How can you believe in miracles in a scientific age?
7. Isn't the church full of hypocrites?
8. What does Christianity say about LGBTQ+ people?
9. Hasn’t Christianity been responsible for a lot of violence and wars?
10. Why do Christians seem so judgmental?

There are some pretty sticky questions in this list.

So let me share three strategies that I use.  Any one of them will allow you to answer ALL of these questions and any other questions people ask.

1. Say "I don't know.  Let me research that and get back to you."

This approach shows that you take the question seriously and buys you some time to ask your pastor or do some basic research.  Asking your pastor has the added benefit of building that relationship and letting your pastor know that you are involved in relational evangelism.

Another place for answers is GotQuestions.org.  This is a site that I visited regularly when I was doing internet evangelism.

2. Prepare in advance.

Make your own notebook of questions and answers.

Set aside 20 - 30 minutes  each week to prepare your answers.  You could easily do this by giving up one TV program a week or one evening of scrolling through social media.

I suggest looking at:

• https://www.gotquestions.org
• https://www.everyperson.com/menus/existence.html

I have started interacting with Japanese students this year and quickly found out that I knew NOTHING about Shintoism.  I am starting to set aside time to learn about Shintoism. I don't need to be an expert, but I want to at least understand some of the basic concepts so I can have some idea of the questions I can ask and what questions I can expect.  

 3. Connect them with someone who can answer their question in their heart language

In multi-cultural communities you may find that conversations in English do not go deep enough to answer probing questions.

Suggest your friend go to https://MyLanguage.net.au, select their language, and then click the button to 'Ask a Question'.  Our online missionaries can answer questions in over 40 languages. 

So there you go: three strategies for answering questions.

And since you read this far, I will tell you that the other reason Christians do not talk with their non-Christian friends about Jesus is that they are afraid they will lose the relationship.  We will get to that in future emails, but for today let's pray that God will give us boldness to say : "I don't know.  Let me research that and get back to you."

Let's pray:

"Lord Jesus, thank you that my friends have questions about what it means to follow you.  I know that some of these are just smoke-screens to keep them from considering the claims of your lordship.  Yet, some of them do have real questions. I look to your Holy Spirit to remind me of the things you have said so that I can give a good and proper answer for the hope that is in me.  Also I ask that you would give me wisdom to know when to say 'I do not know'.  I look forward to the adventure of sharing faith and how you will guide me.  Amen"