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.