The Articles Library, Section 6
What does “Christian” mean on Monday morning?
UNDERSTAND OTHER WORLDVIEWS AND THEN SHARE YOURS

Michael Zigarelli
Influence often begins with understanding one’s audience–how they think, what they value, what persuades them and what does not. This cornerstone chapter from the book Management by Proverbs offers a plain English primer on the most prevalent worldviews you will find in the workplace (at least in western society). It also presents some practical advice for maintaining a Biblical perspective.

Andy Crouch
Condemning, critiquing, consuming, copying. Each of these approaches to culture is sometimes the only appropriate response, as award-winning author Andy Crouch shows. But the problem, he says, occurs when any of these responses becomes the only way we know how to respond to culture – when it becomes our unconscious stance toward the world, our default stance, our “posture” – to the world around us.

Tim Downs
With wit and wisdom, this article offers five powerful approaches to becoming more persuasive with non-Christians: Speak the unbeliever’s language, show an understanding of the unbeliever’s world, be intelligent and credible, use tools that raise good questions, and have a reasonable persuasive goal.

Randy Newman
There’s a better approach to sharing the gospel than our traditional argumentation — an approach that looks, sounds, and feels more like Jesus the rabbi, than Murray, the used car salesman. It involves more listening than speaking, more inviting rather than demanding “a decision.” And, perhaps most importantly, it involves answering questions with questions rather than giving answers.

Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg
Lee Strobel, a former atheist and hard-nosed, hard-living Chicago Tribune reporter, has for decades been putting his communication skills to good use for God as a pastor and book writer. And he’s learned during that time that telling people about Jesus is not a drag but an adventure. This is the Introduction and Chapter One from his new book, Unexpected Adventure. Also, to hear an audio interview with the effervescent Strobel, click here.

James O’Donnell
1984. The hinge of my life. I found I believed in nothing. I trusted no one. And no one I knew was worth trusting. That is, until I met Arthur.

Michael Zigarelli
Jesus used stories all the time, but he used them for far more than inspiration or entertainment. He introduced, through his parables, a new way to understand and relate to God and to the people around us. In fact, storytelling was arguably Jesus’ primary approach to persuasion. This article explores what makes that approach so powerful and offers several practical tips for improving our own storytelling.
Related article: For more perspective on the power of storytelling, download this chapter from The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling.

William Peel and Walt Larimore
In every part of the world, people are looking for spiritual answers and resources as never before. But you don’t need to travel to some exotic foreign mission field to find hungry hearts. You spend hours every day in the most strategic place of impact in the world–your workplace. Here are five practical keys to help you with your ministry.

G.K. Chesterton
Chesterton’s insights are as applicable and instructive today as they were a century ago. In this excerpt from Orthodoxy, he masterfully shows that the shift from a Christian worldview to a relativistic, postmodern worldview (“A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed”) leads ultimately to the denial that anything is truly knowable and, further, that life has any real purpose. This is why he can make the profound and arresting claim that “There is a thought that stops thought (and) that is the only thought that ought to be stopped.” Today, as then, because this relativistic dogma has not been “stopped,” many remain alienated from God and despair that life is meaningless.

Todd Kappelman
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) was one of the most recognized and respected Christian authors of the twentieth century, and a leading voice on the subject of worldview. As a consummate scholar with a deep concern for the average Christian, his books are both profound and highly-accessible. Here’s a brief introduction to some of his greatest work from Probe Ministries.

Kent and Davidene Humphreys
When is the best time to broach the sensitive subject of God with our co-workers, our friends or our family? A veteran businessman and his wife share their vast experience about when people are most amenable to talking about God and considering the invitation of Jesus.

Absolute Truth? Absolutely Not! Americans Are Most Likely to Base Truth on Feelings
George Barna
Reporting on a survey of over 1,000 adults nationwide, the Barna Research Group found relativism to be the most pervasive worldview among Americans. Among both adults and teenagers, “doing whatever feels right or comfortable” far outpaced Biblical principles as the basis on which people make ethical and moral decisions.

Few Have a Positive View of Christians
George Barna
A nationwide survey of 1,000 non-Christians finds that fewer than half of those sampled have positive views of clergy, only one-third have a positive impression of born again Christians, and just one-fifth have a positive view of evangelicals. Interestingly, according to the lead researcher, “Our studies show that many of the people who have negative impressions of evangelicals do not know what or who an evangelical is.”

Four Attributes of an Effective Workplace Witness
Os Hillman
The Great Commission makes no exception for the workplace, but in a corporate culture that’s often hostile to the gospel, how can we share the love of God on the job? Os Hillman, a leading spokesman in the faith-at-work movement, offers four ideas worth considering.

How to Be a Person Others Will Follow
Michael Zigarelli
Why should anyone follow you? Why should they make the kind of changes you’re requesting?
When it comes to persuading people, it’s not enough to have a good case to make. Those we seek to influence–our kids and spouse, our employees, our boss, our customers, our neighbors–are constantly filtering our words through our behavior. And if our walk doesn’t match our talk, then we shouldn’t expect to make much of a difference in that person’s life. From the LifeWay Bible Study, Influencing Like Jesus, here are five ways to become the kind of person others will follow.