The one minute gospel challenge!
by Andy Toovey on Nov.05, 2010, under Connections, Gospel, Resources
I preached my first town centre open air sermon in Bridgend yesterday, and I felt like when I was dared to dive off the three metre board at the local swimming pool when I was 11: absolutely terrified! But there was a great crew of friends out too praying hard, and picking up conversations with those who looked interested.
Anyway, the main point is, most people didn’t stop to listen, but there was a steady flow of people passing nonetheless. I reckon there was a one-minute envelope from when these people came within ‘firing’ range, to when they were out of earshot.
So the challenge is this: how do you best communicate the good news of Jesus in one minute?
I think you need to be:
- Ear-catching. It has to grab people’s attention whether by being vivid, or controversial, or even a bit odd! Jesus’ ear-catching parables, as well as hardening some hearts, also had the effect of opening others. As Spurgeon put it, like first tickling an oyster, so that you can then slip in the knife – the killer punchline!
- Direct. This can be no simple presentation of facts. The gospel call is not a lecture, it’s a lifeline thrown to the drowning person with a direct instruction to grab hold!
- Uncompromising. Paul preached in different cultures, cities and contexts. And while the manner and style of the presentation varied, the message of ‘Christ crucified’ (1 Cor 1:23) stood rock solid.
To give you some ideas, here’s what I preached today:
Anybody interested in knowing this Saturday’s lottery numbers? Course you are! Everyone wants to be rich right? You can be rich right now. Not rich with money – rich with something better. Jesus Christ was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Jesus was loaded in heaven. But he swapped it for a hard life here, and shameful execution on a cross. Why? So that he might give you his riches in place of your guilt. Trust Jesus with your life – he will give you the riches of knowing God personally.
Phew! It’s hard to be brief! A couple of cheeky uses of dashes, and there we go: 100 words!
But I want your ideas! Post a comment below with your one-minute gospel and I will shamelessly use the best ones on the street! Soli Deo Gloria.
November 6th, 2010 on 8:56 am
Hey,
Good stuff. I preach in the Open Air almost weekly. You’ve got the right idea.
Arron
November 6th, 2010 on 4:04 pm
I think the most important thing of all is to lift up God. Any message which fails to do this has lost the point of the gospel.
Here is what I would recommend:
“Hello everyone. In this day of hopelessness and despair, I offer you hope. You have all heard of Jesus. But do any of you know why he had to die? I’m going to tell you the point of the Cross.
It all starts with God being a righteous God. God is righteous. And because of this, God punishes sin. God hates sin and He must punish it.
Now the Cross is where God poured out His punishment. But He did not punish us: He punished Jesus. Jesus Christ died under the judgment of God at the Cross. God hates sin so much that He had His own Son nailed to a cross and left alone to die.
So how is that relevant to us? Because the Cross is the place of God’s judgment! Those who come to the cross and cling to Jesus are released from their sins. Those who trust in Jesus experience full forgiveness for sins, because the punishment has been paid in full.”
That’s about a minute. Here is a little extra, because I don’t like missing out the resurrection or an obvious plea for sinners to trust:
“God raised Jesus to life and has appointed Jesus to come back to this planet again. When you die, you will either meet him as your Saviour, or as your Judge. So trust in Him and may He save you! Those who do not trust will be punished forever in Hell. Trust in Him! Turn from your sins and run to Jesus! Amen.”
May God use this as He wishes to help you!
Matt