Dr. Don Everts, partnered with the Barna Group and the Lutheran Hour Ministries to research how practicing Christians talk about their faith which resulted in The Spiritual Conversation Curve designed to help Christians start spiritual conversations. He notes the Christians’ approach to sharing their faith has changed in 25 years. “Technology and rapid cultural shifts, including the impact of social media, have redefined the ways we communicate. This shifting definition of evangelism and the perceptions of faith sharing from both sides of the conversation: the sharer and the hearer.”
In the research, the fear of giving offense or being rejected is one of the primary barriers for many Christians in talking about Jesus. That is why most of us are quiet. The research reports on the state of our witness. Nearly three-fourths of practicing Christians are afraid to speak up about their faith.
The research findings:
1. We have fewer spiritual conversations.
2. We are uncomfortable with spiritual conversations.
3. Our conversations mention Jesus and the Bible less.
4. Our approach to spiritual conversations mirrors our surrounding culture.
5. We know spiritual conversations need to be initiated.
6. Our spiritual conversations increasingly have a digital element.
The project led to the creation of The Spiritual Conversation Curve which helps frame how one can start spiritual conversations knowing people have different postures toward the Gospel: unreceptive, receptive, and seeking, and reveals six types of conversations based on their posture: either in gaining a hearing, giving good news, or guiding toward faith.
In my last blog, “Start to Finish” I explained there are three discernable patterns in a given academic year. Mobilization was the third, predictable pattern that arrives after the new calendar year begins and with Spring. As the warm weather arrives and in many places snow melts, buds come out on the trees, and the sun shines, students head for the outdoors.
It is an ideal time to step up witness with outdoor activities like lawn talks, contact tables, personal evangelism, and social events, but they focus on the point of this chart and research on spiritual conversations.
Don admits for him the difficulty of witnessing was “apathy, shyness and basic fear.” He believed spiritual conversations were “pesky, painful, awkward things.” The research shows that most of us in the U.S. are reluctant conversationalists, which he named his book on the research (see Resource). The question asked was, “How often have you had a conversation about faith (or lack of faith) with anyone last year?”
The Spiritual Conversation Curve can help us be aware and sensitive to where people are (or not) in their understanding or experience of faith. Learning to have natural conversations with students you get to know (chatting, relating, sharing) can lead people toward faith—clarifying the costs and rewards of following Jesus. Don has written a 10-page booklet, “How to Talk About Your Faith,” that you can download for free at www.lhm.org/curve/.
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Don Everts is the senior pastor of First & Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Missouri, and is a writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries (lhm.org) and the Hopeful Neighborhood Project. He served with IVCF for 18 years. Don has spent almost three decades helping people on college campuses and in the local church become good stewards of their God-given gifts. His latest book is The Reluctant Witness. Some might remember his first 1999 IVP book, Jesus with Dirty Feet.
The command of Jesus is to make disciples of all people within all places at all times. Jesus did this by investing in a few to reach the many. This is why we must spend more time crafting the people in our small groups than crafting the program of our large groups. To invest in the few is to reach the many is the why of discipleship. So how do we go about doing this?
With someone proactively going out to bring someone in! It is this proactive process of FINDING we see in the Bible. It is Elijah who proactively found Elisha to lead. It is Jesus who proactively found the 12 to disciple. It is Paul who proactively planted Churches. We do not need to wait for a vision, we should not stall in hopes to hear a voice, because King Jesus has already given us a verse: “Go out and make disciples”. If we disobey this command, It’s not for a lack of clarity but a lack of conviction to be proactive in finding people to disciple.
Now, the extreme to this finding aspect of discipleship is bringing people into community only to entertain them instead of disciple them.
The variable between just entertaining people and actually discipling people is intentionally bringing food to the table for someone else to eat. Luke 24:25 says, “….and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he (Jesus) explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself” This means the Center of the Gospel is not what man wants, but who Jesus is, what Jesus came to do for us, and in the light of that what we should want to do because of who He is. Discipleship must be about our holiness as a willful response to seeing Christ’s worthiness. We should talk about dating and marriage, talk about money and tithing, talk about priorities and life planning, BUT WE MUST NOT TALK ABOUT ANYTHING WITHOUT TEACHING JESUS EVERY TIME. Jesus must be the bread we bring to the table for someone else to eat. But this cannot be done without abiding in Jesus on purpose instead of finding time on accident.
FEEDING people Jesus, however, doesn’t guarantee immediate life change. This means although we find and feed, the last aspect of discipleship has to be FIGHTING for them.
As Tim Keller illuminates in “The Meaning of Marriage”, When couples fight for truth or love, but not both, this is when relationships die. Truth without love results in hardened hearts from loveless words. Love without truth results in hardened hearts from unspoken words.
The either-or approach to truth or love is the wrong way to fight. The only way to fight fair is suggested in Ephesians 4:15 as the Apostle Paul advocates for us to, ”speak the truth in love”. This is the only combination to fight for solutions in romantic relationships, likewise, this is the only combination to fight for souls in a discipleship relationship.
If we have truth without love we will have a one-sided gospel: always talking about how we must repent without ever talking about why we should believe, preaching about hell without talking about heaven, pushing down against sin without ever lifting Jesus up, talking about what we need to do as Christians without ever talking about what Christ has done for us. This will produce disciples void of the gladness and grace of God because all they hear is what we need to do and what we are not doing. Likewise, If we have love without truth we will still have a one-sided gospel: always talking about why we should believe without ever talking about why we must repent, always preaching how Jesus wants to get us out of hell while never preaching how Jesus wants to get hell out of us, always talking of Jesus taking up His Cross for us without mentioning how Jesus commands us to take up our crosses for Him, talking about God’s love for us without teaching how God has said: “If you love Me you will obey Me”. This will produce disciples void of the gratefulness and grit of God because all they hear is how Jesus has done something in us, forgetting this same Jesus wants to do something through us. We do not need to proclaim truth without love, nor love without truth, The Gospel is the call of Jesus to both “repent and believe”. This gospel is best received when we disciple both truth and love into our people.
The Moravian missionaries preached the truth that Jesus is the only Way to God. With love, they sold themselves into slavery to reach an island of slaves where missionaries were outlawed and the Gospel was unknown. Elizabeth Elliot preached the truth of God’s forgiveness to the Auca people of Ecuador. She did this with love, as this was the same tribe that made her husband a martyr and herself a widow. But forgiveness forgets the past as it sees the vision of the future. AW Milne preached the truth of sin and holiness to the people of the New Hebrides that martyred every missionary before them. He did this with an undeniable love for their souls, as these same people wrote on his tombstone, “When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness”.
When we fight for our disciples through truth and love- We value their future more than their feelings, we are more filled with Heaven than others are filled with hell, and our boldness to do the right thing outweighs anyone’s boldness to do the wrong thing.
This is how to make disciples, to find, feed, and fight for the lost lambs of God. This is the Great Commission of discipleship- required of all Christians in all places at all times.
Daniel Alexander (Alex) Rodriguez is the national training director for XA. He develops core curricula for staff training, presides over essential staff training venues, like the annual Reach the University Institute (RUI) and the national Campus Missionaries-in-Training (internship) program, and oversees the creation of staff training resources, like the Small Group Leader Podcast, Season 1 and 2. He is the author of Real Devotion, Discovering the Whys Behind the Whats of the Gospel (2021) Wisdom House Publishing.
It may not be a trend, but certainly, more XA females are getting ordained, and that is exciting and important in reaching our collegiate mission field with female enrollment in college at an all-time high. Since 2010, the number of female career campus missionaries and missionary associates in XA continued to increase each academic year, and in 2021, female leadership in XA surpassed males. XA has always embraced women in ministry and leadership. I asked several XA females what led them to get ordination, and how does XA ministry work for them. I talked to so many, and they were all so kind to respond, but there’s only room for 5 vignettes this time. Watch for more females telling their stories next time.
Katie Moran – James Madison University
The Potomac Network AG ordained Katie May 2020. She completed a CMIT in 2008-09, and served at the University of Virginia for 11 years. In 2019, she and her husband, Josh, moved to Harrisonburg, VA. to pioneer XA at James Madison University and they continue there today. Katie had been credentialed at the certified level for 10 years when the network superintendent at the time spoke at a credentialed women’s breakfast she was attending. He cast vision for continuing our education, our commitment to the movement, and strengthening our endorsement by the AG, by pursuing ordination. This was extremely influential for me. I decided then to pursue licensing and ordination as soon as possible and have been an advocate for others to do the same. Along with her husband, she is XA co-director at JMU, serving primarily by discipling the staff team, student leaders, and students. She preaches regularly at the large group meetings, teaches at student leadership meetings, and trains CMITs in classes XA offers. Katie reveals, “Chi Alpha has been a place of transformative relationships for me: from my early days as a student being discipled for the first time, through transitions such as the internship, staff team, pioneering to more personal ones such as marriage and parenthood. Chi Alpha is a great place to see the Kingdom of God at work; transforming individuals within the context of community. . . . God continuously transforms us to reflect God’s image and do the work we were created for in this place where Heaven and Earth come together by God. “
Melissa Nguyen – Central Washington University
The Northwest Network AG ordained Melissa in 2021. She has served for 11 years on staff at Central Washington University, Ellensburg. She completed a CMIT at Western Washington University in Bellingham as preparation for campus ministry. She and her husband, Tony, watched their first ordination service at the NW Network Conference many years ago and decided it would be so cool to do that service together. “Between pressing ministry seasons and having kids and full plates it took us a few more years than we intended to complete all the steps for ordination, but we were happy to complete it together and get to walk together in ordination in April 2021.” Melissa explained, “Our main reasons for pursuing ordination (and doing so together) seemed like a meaningful step to show our lifelong commitment to ministry and to serving as AG ministers. We enjoyed the educational requirements and thought it was a nice step to show our network that we’re committed for the long haul.” Melissa preaches regularly in the large group services. She leads a core group, mentors small group leaders, and pre-engagements couples, mobilizes students for missions, assists with the CMIT program along with administrative roles. She reminds us, and identifies with other spouses and parents in saying, “Besides my full-time ministry, she and her husband are raising two preschoolers – XA missionary kids.”
Alicia Youngblood – Texas Christian University
The North Texas District AG ordained Alicia in 2021. She has served as co-director of XA with her husband, Andrew, at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX, for 9 years. Alicia candidly said, “I initially pursued certification to get a better paycheck as I came on staff full time and quit my job. Then, I pursued licensing as we went through national appointment in 2016. In the last few years, my convictions around women in ministry and the need for women representation has grown, so I decided to go ahead and get ordained since I was in a denomination that valued women and allowed me to do so.” Serving as a campus minister at TCU allows her to disciple female leaders, help her husband manage the leadership team, teach leadership classes, preach to the entire campus group several times per year, and handle the administrative side of campus ministries. Alicia says she loves being a part of XA. “It has empowered me to be a woman in leadership and it is the only paradigm I have for ministry. Because of working side by side with my husband, I have been given awesome opportunities to lead, to minister, and to be a part of God’s plan to reach young adults with the message of Jesus.”
Rachel Yokers – University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
The Wisconsin/Northern Michigan AG Network ordained Rachel in 2021. She started off her journey with XA at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh as a freshman in 2008; the very year that XA launched on campus. She completed a CMIT at Western Washington University from 2013-2014, and was invited to serve on staff at UWO in 2014 with the campus minister, Josh Ernst. When Josh assumed the position as district director of W/NM in 2016, Rachel became the director of XA at UWO. Rachel says her reason for pursuing ordination. “I pursued ordination because of the example it sets to my female students and the leadership is shows to my male students; to boldly proclaim that God can call anyone into vocational ministry and leadership. It also felt like the next right thing Jesus was asking me to do for myself and for Him.” Her ministry at XA at UWO includes preaching at services, leading a small group, mentoring students and staff, and working with “Give-a-Year” students, and occasionally speaks at women’s conferences. She also has the unique responsibility serving as a chaplain with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department. Rachel says, “XA was the place where Jesus took hold of my heart and transformed my life. There’s no other way to put it; the Lord used Chi Alpha to raise me, disciple me, to train me to be the woman I am today. And I am forever grateful.”
Crystal Burkhart – University of Alaska Fairbanks
The Alaska Ministry Network AG ordained Crystal in 2020. She serves at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She and her husband, Paul, have been there 8 years. She felt compelled by God to pursue ordination. She teaches, preaches, and leads small groups, and directs the marketplace missions internship. She also serves on the national XA Guiding Coalition, and as presbyter for the Alaska Ministry Network. She explains, “After serving as world missionaries for almost a decade in Southeast Asia, God called my husband and I at a World Missions Summit to transition from overseas to serve and pioneer XA at the UA Fairbanks.” She and her husband completed an internship at Sam Houston State University XA and then took a team of 8 missionaries to pioneer in Fairbanks. “Every step of the way we have felt encouraged, welcomed, and supported by the XA nation and feel grateful to serve in this movement.”
