Written by Maggie Hendrick
My job at MAVEN, an apologetics ministry that primarily serves the next generation, is to plan and help lead their biblical immersive experiences, which are evangelistic-type trips to train Christian youth to know what they believe, why they believe, why it matters, and ultimately, on this trip, how to articulate their faith with others.1 The exercises, training, and tips below come from my time observing students and seeing what has been the most fruitful for them, as well as my personal experiences sharing the gospel. But I am learning and growing in evangelism like you!
Survey
Let’s take a quick survey. I am calling it a survey because that sounds less intimidating than a quiz. You can also find these questions on the printout from the first article.
With your Bible closed, from memory, what three Scriptures would you use to articulate the gospel message?
Next, pretend your friend walks up to you and asks, “What is the gospel?” You have three sentences, what would you say?
How did that go for you? If you feel convicted or ill-equipped, let that be a motivating factor for you moving forward. Some of our fears toward evangelism may come from a lack of knowledge and feeling unprepared. Thankfully, that component of fear or hesitation can be easily remedied.
MAVEN has a similar but more expanded survey that students take before training for their upcoming trip. It is meant to allow the students and their leaders to hold up a mirror and reflect on where they are at. I made this abbreviated version of the survey to accomplish the same goal for you. So, ask yourself: Are you prepared to share the gospel?
What is the Gospel?
I want to begin with my favorite method of communicating the gospel. I don’t have a cute name for it, and I don’t know if it’s already a thing or not. It’s just what I have found to be the easiest and most versatile because it’s just three personalized sentences: one sentence for the bad news, one for the good news, and one for the required response. They are not three sentences that you memorize and repeat like a robot; Instead, they are three distinct theological points that you convey to each individual.
I came up with this method because the bad news, good news, and required response must have been articulated for evangelism to have occurred. The bad news must be shared because acknowledging, confessing, and repenting from sin is part of the required response. You also don’t see the need for good news without the bad news. The good news must be shared because the gospel means good news. The complete good news needs to be articulated as laid out in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. The correct required response needs to be shared or they are left hanging. Just hearing the bad news and good news doesn’t save someone. We aren’t telling them a story, we are urging them to be reconciled to God. They need to know how. Whenever the bad news, good news, and required response have been shared, evangelism has taken place.
Grounding in Scripture
Before we get into some concise, three-sentence gospel examples, let’s make sure our understanding of these three components is grounded in Scripture. I made a quick example of an in-depth gospel message using only Scripture because God’s Word is better than our words. A more robust understanding of Scripture makes our brief, on-the-fly contextualization of the gospel easier.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24). “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). ”For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).
These are 100% God’s words, not my words. We aren’t cherry picking to get it to say what we want it to say. We are accurately exegeting (explaining) Scripture in a topical study of “What is the gospel?” We let the Bible form our views, not the other way around. Ephesians 2:8-9 is my personal favorite because it articulates the good news with the required response. It then emphasizes how we are not saved by our own works.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The Three-Sentence Method
Since we have examined Scripture, let’s dive into this three-sentence method. The best way to describe my three-sentence method is by simply giving you examples to show that it only takes one sentence to describe each of the three necessary components: bad news, good news, and the required response.
“Because we have all sinned, we are separated from God. But God loves us and sent his son Jesus who lived a perfect life, died on a cross, was buried, and rose from the dead three days later. Those who place their faith in Jesus will be saved and go to heaven.”
If you wrote this on your survey, you should give yourself a pat on the back. This is the gospel. However, these particular sentences could be improved. If I used these three sentences to share the gospel with my lovely Latter-day Saint neighbors, they would likely agree. But, we don’t actually agree. We have different gospels. We may be using many of the same words, but they have different definitions. Those differences result in a different gospel. This is why I encourage you to remove ambiguous terms and simply use their definitions instead. This is the versatile part of the method comes in and why I love it. How could I be more effective in articulating the gospel message to my lovely Mormon neighbors?
It is time to contextualize! This means we are trying to help others consider the gospel in its correct context by using precise language and clarifying details. Our world and other religions have hijacked many biblical words. Or simply, some biblical terms are too vague when used in isolation. For example, instead of using the words faith/believe, saved, grace, or heaven,” use the intended definitions in their place. When talking to other Christians, we usually know what we mean when we say these words. I’m not telling you to remove these terms from your vocabulary. I am encouraging you to be more precise in your language so your message is better understood by non-Christians. Below are a few examples of clarifying distinctions:
Faith or Believe – transfer your trust
Saved – be forgiven for your sins, be reconciled to God, and have a right relationship with him
Grace – free gift; being given something good that you do not deserve
With this in mind, here are a few more three-sentence gospel examples.
Another example could be a conversation with a complete stranger. During your discussion, you hear him say something like, “You think that just because I don’t believe in this Jesus guy, I am going to hell. Christians don’t even follow the Bible most of the time themselves.” My three-sentence gospel may look something like this:
“This may sound shocking, but the Bible actually says everyone, including myself, deserves to go to hell because we have all sinned against a perfect and just God. But, because God is love, Jesus came to earth to pay the just punishment for us by living a perfect life, dying on a cross, and physically rising from the dead three days later, proving he’s God and has that authority. The Bible agrees with you that some believe this in vain, are not Christians, and do not live their life aligned with the Bible, but those who have placed their faith and confidence in Jesus, even though they still make mistakes, have been forgiven of their sins and are made a new creation that has the power of the Holy Spirit to help them obey God.”
Let’s consider a younger audience. My three-sentence gospel to my six-year-old son may look something like this:
“We all have made many mistakes that require a consequence, not just from mommy, but from God. God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you so badly that Jesus came to earth, didn’t make any mistakes, and took our consequences for us by dying on the cross and rising from the dead three days later. If you trust that he did that for you, apologize for all your mistakes, and ask God to help you make good choices for him, he will forgive you, and you can have a relationship with God forever!”
All of these examples are just three sentences. Some are more elaborate than others…use that semi-colon! They are the complete gospel message, and they are personalized.
After all these examples, you may be thinking, “Easier said than done Maggie!” I’d say, “You’re right!” I took time to study and think these out. They likely wouldn’t come out so perfectly crafted on the fly. But, the more you know your Bible, the easier it will be. The more you study and practice at home, the easier it will be. And the more you get out there and start getting to know people and try to form three sentences on the fly, the easier it will be and the better you’ll be at it.
Closing Prayer and Exercise
We want to have an authentic love for the person we are talking to. We don’t want to give them phony love and compassion. We want to genuinely love them. Spend time with the Lord and ask him to give you a heart for the lost. I remember the first time I went to Utah as a sixteen-year-old, the very first time I shared the gospel ever. And after that very first day of talking to Mormons, I cried myself to sleep. God completely broke my heart for them. To this day, whenever we say goodbye to the Mormon missionaries who were at our home for dinner and conversation, the second we close the door, my sweet husband comes over to hug me because I am on the verge of tears every time. I love Mormons so much. But they are really easy to love.
Looking back at seventeen-year-old Maggie, just one year later I went to Berkeley on a mission trip to talk to mostly atheists. At the end of my first day there (and practically every day there), I was angry. It was hard to love some of them. And even now, it is still a challenge to display Christ’s love to everyone. With all that said, pray for God to break your heart for the lost so your love for them is authentic, and your love for them will motivate you to evangelize more!
I want to close by encouraging you to take a few minutes to craft a three-sentence gospel with a particular loved one in mind. Think about that one friend, co-worker, or family member that God has placed on your heart that you want to share the gospel with. Using Scripture and tips from this article, spend some time writing a personalized three-sentence gospel to that individual. Then, use this week to pray for an opportunity to share the gospel you wrote down to them. Look for part three of this article series for some helpful tips on how to get into gospel conversations.
Read Evangelism Article Series Part III: How to Get Into Gospel Conversations here.