Tangents

10/5/17          Ray             mid-30's

I feel like a whole new world has opened for me on my neighbor's front porches.

For years I’ve initiated Gospel conversations with random people on Chicago streets and in its marketplaces, parks and coffee shops.  I’ve learned a lot from the experience, but felt I was missing the people in my own neighborhood, most of whom I rarely see because they come and go by car and don’t typically hang around outside.  How to reach them?

I’m starting to document my experiences knocking on their doors with the initial question “What do you think happens after this life?”  I don’t have a “spiel”, but rather respond to wherever they might be at in their spiritual journey.

Today the first door I knocked on was answered by an Asian man in his 30’s, whom I found out later is a paramedic named Ray.  Though his parents are Buddhist, he quickly asserted his belief in no afterlife whatsoever.  I asked a few clarifying questions, but that seemed to be the end of the story and he looked like he was about to close the door.

40 minutes later, we were still talking.  I had shared the Gospel and he was engaged in asking curious questions about it.  How does that happen?

His house is fairly new, and I remembered some of the history behind the land upon which it was built.  Before he could shut the door, I asked if he had lived there long and if he was aware of the history of the area.  He had not, and was very interested to find out that he lived on the former parking lot of the International Amphitheater, where the Beatles once played and where the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention had taken place along with the rioting that it brought to Chicago.  Our conversation livened up considerably!

So Ray was interested in talking about local history, how then to get the conversation back in a spiritual direction?  It was easy, because that’s where the conversation had started in the first place.  I just asked “So getting back to that original question, do you feel you have a good understanding of what the Bible teaches about eternity?”   

Ray didn’t feel deceived, because we had begun to talk about eternity in the first place.  And I felt free to diverge off on a tangent, because I had already received permission to ask about spiritual things in the first place and could easily get back on the topic.

When it comes to sharing the Gospel, whether on the sidewalk or on someone’s front porch, I believe  the best way to start the conversation that can stay on topic despite tangents is a bold but simple question (which I usually introduce by asking if I can ask a crazy or interesting question) – “What do you think happens after this life?”