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Launch Pad 45: Run a Book Table

by Editor

An easy-to-try but often overlooked type of evangelism is the book table. Find a busy public location (e.g. a street corner, a town square), set up a table (or if you’re ambitious, a display stand) and lay out some tracts, booklets, Bibles and Christian books (e.g. copies of Have You Ever Wondered?). Then simply wait for people to stop by and start conversations.

We spoke to Imtiaz Khan from London City Mission—an organisation that use book tables a lot in their evangelism. Imtiaz has been personally involved in this kind of outreach for years and said when he started, it was nerve-wracking, but he quickly discovered what a wonderfully easy form of outreach this was: many people are intrigued and stop to talk.

Imtiaz shared a story of an occasion when an Afghan man came up and just hung around, looking at books, but not talking. Finally he said: “Can I have a word?” He then opened up about his life and told how as a child in Afghanistan he’d been traumatised when he’d seen someone murdered. Imtiaz was able to pray and start a friendship with him.

Another time, Imtiaz was talking to a man who had stopped and asked what they were doing. Imtiaz explained: “We are Christians and we’re giving out free literature”. The man replied: “Do you know, I’m a Muslim—but the other day I was on a bus and saw a sign outside a church that said “Jesus is Alive”. And I thought: if he’s alive, why can’t he appear to me? Then a few nights later, I had a vision of Jesus!” As you can imagine, that opened the door to an incredible conversation!

Not all encounters are that dramatic. And not all involve Muslims—many different types of people are willing to stop and talk. Furthermore, book tables also raise the visual presence of Christians and locally: people realise their the local church is alive too!

So give it a go. Identify a good location; ask the local council if you need permission; get a foldable table and a range of books, tracts, and Bibles (including in multiple languages, if you live in a multicultural area). Don’t forget to pray. And remember: it doesn’t matter if you only speak to two people all morning, if those are the right two people!

Pray: Lord, give us the boldness to try a book table!

Previously: Launch Pad #44 Get Creative – Use the Arts

Next: Launch Pad #46 The Power of Dialogue

Bishop’s Stortford – An Encouraging Weekend!

by Editor

Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church were our gracious hosts for a weekend of ministry. Solas haven’t worked much in this area, so it was great to meet new people and serve alongside a great church there.

On the Friday night they invited me to speak at a youth event. About twenty young folks came – and they were really pleased with that number because not only was it during the school holiday when many were away -but there was also another big event on in the town that evening! Rather than asking me to speak on a given topic or Bible text, they asked for an open question night when the young people could fire any question they wanted at me! The young people who came were really great too and had so many questions that we overran the time and were still going when the parents were queuing up outside to collect them! Some of the kids there had a faith, others were there to find out more; but they were really engaged and remarkably thoughtful. So it was a real joy to help them think through some of the big questions they raised and what the Christian faith has to say about them. Hearing on e-mail after the event how appreciative the young people had been, was another encouragement!

Then on the Saturday we held a Confident Christianity conference with the church. We often invite guest speakers to join us for these – people with particular expertise in an area of evangelism and Christian witness.  We were joined in Bishop’s Stortford by Sara Stevenson, actually for the first time at one of our events. Sara is well-known for her work at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. I spoke about conversational evangelism using the title, “How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot”, and on way sin which we can engage the apathetic and disinterested with the gospel of Christ. That obviously meant that we spoke about the approach we have used in the Have You Ever Wondered? book.

Sara’s first session was called “Sharing your faith in a Culture Opposed to Christian Morality” which looked into helpful ways of addressing ethical objections to the gospel. She followed that with a session on engaging refuges with the gospel – an important mission field in the UK in 2024. Then as usual we opened the floor to Q&A which led to some good further interactions and lots of good conversations afterwards. Our friends at 10ofThose were there with their excellent mobile bookshop too, which seemed to be very busy which was encouraging too.

Amongst the hundred-strong congregation was at least one person who told me that he isn’t a Christian. Some Solas events are designed for and promoted to people who are not Christians. Typically our café-style outreach events address the kinds of questions that people outside the church have about the Christian faith. But Confident Christianity events are really intended for Christians, to encourage, equip and embolden them in sharing their faith – so it was an interesting choice of meeting for him to come to. We had a lovely chat at the end, and he said he had come to give someone (who is a Christian) a lift there, and thought he would hate it; but said he had found it really interesting! It’s a reminder to all of us who speak in church-settings that you never really know who is going to be in your audience and not to miss opportunities to present the gospel.

PEP Talk with Ben Franks

by Solas

With a rich Christian heritage, but a bleak spiritual present, Wales is in desperate need of the Gospel right now. God is not unaware of the situation however, and is calling people to pray, share the Word and plant new churches right now. Andy and Gavin chat with a leader of 100 Cymru and hear about the vision for 100 new churches in the next 10 years!

Visit 100Cymru and sign up to pray for Wales!

With Ben Franks – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Ben Franks planted Hope Church Rhondda with his wife Lois in 2013. The church meets in a converted shop on Tonypandy’s high street and is hoping to launch two new congregations in the next 12 months. Alongside leading the team at Hope, Ben chairs the board of his family’s business while Lois runs a marketing company in Pontypridd.

About PEP Talk

The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

FOCL / ELF Masterclass Webinar: “How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot”

by Andy Bannister

Andy really enjoyed teaching for the the European Leadership Forum / FOCL on Tuesday 29 October 2024. He taught a three hour webinar on How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot … drawing from his book with that title. (You can find Andy’s book here).

You can download a copy of Andy’s slides from his five talks in the webinar as a PDF here along with a longer version of his session notes on “Five Steps for Answering Any Tough Question” and a chapter from his book, How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot, that covers the one talk we didn’t have time for on the webinar.

Want to stay in touch with and prayer for Solas? Sign up for the Solas email newsletter—packed with news, prayer points, and free resources.

Other great resources from Solas:

  • Short Answers videos — close to 200 videos, each about five minutes long, engaging with a tough question about the Christian faith.
  • Have You Ever Wondered? — our best-selling give-away evangelistic book, perfect as a gift for friends to start conversations about Jesus.
  • Check out our new 60 second reels, perfect for sharing on social media (TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube, etc.)

If you’d like to help support Solas’s work of evangelism and evangelism training across the UK, you can do for as little as £3 a month and we’ll send you a choice of one of several great books as a gift.

Launch Pad 44: Get Creative!

by Editor

Made in the image of the Creator-God, humans are insatiably creative, as poets, singer-songwriters, painters, engravers, writers, filmmakers, and weavers, demonstrate. Some are professional, others are enthusiasts—and many people appreciate their work. Yet the power of the arts to communicate the gospel is often under-utilised.

Many Christian artists love to communicate their faith through their work. Creativity by Christians isn’t just for church, but can help bring bold Biblical themes into our cultural conversation. Sixties music icon turned radio presenter Paul Jones says that the ‘spirituality of the paintings of Caspar David Freidrich’ was instrumental in his conversion to Christianity: the transcendent power of beauty that first dented his staunch atheism. Whilst in the world of literature, C. S. Lewis communicated as much of the gospel through his fantasy and science fiction novels as he did through his apologetics books.

There are so many inspiring examples of people who’ve used their creativity for the gospel; such as

J.S. Bach, who composed all his works ‘To the glory of God alone’!

Andrew is a poet whose work is found both in print and read at literary festivals: his rich and wonderfully structured phrases draw on his deep Christian faith.  Jen, another poet said: ”Jesus can’t help coming into what I write, as he forms an integral part of my inner world, although I once saw a judge at a slam poetry competition grimace when I mentioned him!” Clive is a singer whose faith seeps out through his lyrics! Phil is a filmmaker whose stories encapsulate gospel themes. Christian artists express the gospel in all kinds of ways.

Atheist children’s author Philip Pullman notoriously said that his books were about “Killing God”. Have we surrendered creative spaces to the world, or infiltrated them for the gospel?  Where there is a local writers’ group, are Christian ideas being heard there, presenting a better story? Do Christians only sing in church, or also at the open mic night at the local pub? Is there a visual art space in your town, and do Christians ever contribute there?

So:

  1. What is your creative passion?
  2. Work hard to weave gospel themes into your work.
  3. Strive to get your work seen and discussed outside the church.

Pray: Lord, thank-you that you have made us creative. Help me to communicate you through all the gifts I have been given.

Previously: Launchpad #43 Offer to serve in your church Sunday school or youth work

Next: Launchpad #45 Run a Book Table

Steve at St Peter’s in Dundee

by Editor

Solas has got a good long history with St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee. In fact, if it wasn’t for St Pete’s there would be no Solas really! Since arriving in Dundee myself last year, it’s been great to get to know St Pete’s Associate Pastor, Will Lind a bit. The church’s continued support for Solas is hugely appreciated by us all here – especially their prayer support.

The first time I spoke at St Peter’s was when I was invited to go and share at their midweek prayer-meeting about the ministry of Solas. I got to give them an update on our work, as well as a few thoughts from myself about being the new speaker, and settling into life and ministry in Scotland. So was really nice to be able to share all of that with people who had been praying for Solas for some time, and for me before I had even met them. I love meeting with Solas supporters and to have the opportunity to pray with them too! After the meeting lots of people wanted to speak to me, there were some great conversations and it was a great encouragement to me.

That led in turn to me be invited to preach up at St Peter’s on a Sunday evening service. They have a fantastic congregation there, who seem really ‘solid’ – if that makes sense! The are a really informed group of people who continue to impress me with their commitment to prayer. Before the service I was able to join them for a prayer meeting, which I especially valued.

In the service itself I took them to 1 Peter 3:15, which is a foundational text for Solas’s work. I used it as an exhortation to evangelism, which the folks there responded to enthusiastically. I really enjoy the conversations I have with people after services, especially with warm, friendly congregations like St Peter’s who want to talk and chat about the message for ages after the end of the formal part of the ‘service’.

They get a good-sized congregation for their Sunday evening service – of people of all ages, including a good number of students. They are situated right next to the university and my guess is that about a third of the congregation were students, or student age. The pastor at St Peter’s is away at the moment, so I was also glad to serve the church in his absence and enable him to have a well-earned break.

Solas has a special relationship with St Peter’s so it was really good to be able to share in that. We do love serving churches all over the country. Please get in touch with us, if you’d like us to come and talk about evangelism at one of your services.

Confident Christianity at Eldad Elim Church

by Solas

Please find below the presentation slides from Andy Bannister’s talks at Eldad Elim Church. Thanks for coming along to Confident Christianity!

Guernsey CCC 1 – How to TalkDownload
Guernsey CCC 2 – Jesus and Failures of the ChurchDownload

And some further free resources you might enjoy:

*Solas Short Answers videos — a huge collection of short videos addressing common questions about Christianity. Great to learn from and/or share with friends.

* Our new “60 second shorts” series — perfect for sharing especially with younger audiences. (You can also find these on TikTok here).

* If you need more copies of Have You Ever Wondered? to give to friends, you can get those direct from our friends at 10ofThose.

* On the Jesus and the Failures of the Church talk, see my interview with historian John Dickson about his brilliant book on this subject.

* And on sharing your faith naturally, check out the brilliant Launch Pad series on the Solas website.

Launch Pad 43: Offer to serve in your church Sunday school or youth work

by Editor

Often when we think about sharing our faith, we look primarily outside the church. I think that’s generally just the logical thing to do – one might be forgiven for drawing the conclusion that on a Sunday the church will primarily be filled with Christians. But, that’s not the whole story.

I’ve recently spent some time with the youth group at my church and I’ve been struck by how much more willing they are than the adults to invite their friends to come along.  The result is that at any given meeting, there can be people present from atheist, Muslim, or other backgrounds. This opens up a great opportunity to not only serve younger people within in the church, but it also means there will be great opportunities to introduce people to Jesus and the Christian faith – and the door’s already open, they’ve happily come along to see what church is all about. Serving in Sunday school or youth ministry is a great way to learn how to answer questions from inquisitive minds, but also offers a great opportunity to share your faith with those who are not Christians.

Another thing to consider is that just because a young person is part of a church-going family it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have understood the Gospel and put their faith in Jesus themselves! When I was growing up I was sometimes taken to church even though I wasn’t myself a Christian. And, although I’d been to Sunday school a few times, and even gone to the youth group occasionally, I wouldn’t have been able to explain what the Gospel is, much less made any personal response to Jesus. We can’t assume that just because someone is at church, that they are a Christian.

Why not consider serving in your church Sunday school or youth group and pray that the Lord would help you to find people to share the Good News with? Help the group to develop a culture of invitation, and host events they are confident to invite people to. (Solas can help with these).

Prayer: “Lord, please use the Sunday school and youth groups at my church to bring those who don’t know you into the church”.

Previously: Launch Pad #42 Evangelism Shouldn’t Be A Drama, But Then Again, It Could Be!

Next: Launch Pad #44 Get Creative

 

Reason for Hope at Glasgow Grace!

by Editor

It was great to be able to speak at Glasgow Grace. It’s a church I love, and I especially appreciate the leadership there because they have such a heart for reaching the people around them outside the church. They are involved in the life of the community, are planning a church plant and are constantly praying and thinking about ways that they can reach the people around them in Glasgow.

I had previously spoken at one of the church’s outreach events in a pub in the city; and they invited me to preach on a Sunday following on from that. They invited me to tell the church a bit about Solas, explaining what we are about and the work we do in evangelism, evangelism-training and producing resources. I pointed them to some of the website articles, Short Answers videos and PEPtalk podcasts. I took a couple of books along, such as “How to talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot” and “Have You Ever Wondered?” too. I gave a few of those away and had some great conversations with folk as a result too. I must have been there for an hour and a half chatting to folk after the service!

It was awesome being there, it is such a vibrant, energetic church who responded really well to my sermon which was on 1 Peter 3:15, “ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

There were lots of students there on Sunday morning which was encouraging too. Some of them said the had never really thought this through before and were struck by the way in which the scripture exhorts to use our minds and reason; but that’s not where it ends – because reason and faith work together. Being a Christian does not mean you switch your brain off!

So, it was a privilege to be at Glasgow Grace again and I hope to work with them again in the near future!

Confident Christianity at Discovery Church Penzance

by Solas

Here you will find the presentation slides from Andy Bannister’s talks at Discovery Church. Thanks for coming along.

Penzance CCC 1 How to TalkDownload
Penzance CCC 2 Sexuality and IdentityDownload
Penzance CCC 3 SufferingDownload
Penzance Sunday – Back to JesusDownload

And some further free resources you might enjoy:

* Solas Short Answers videos — a huge collection of short videos addressing common questions about Christianity. Great to learn from and/or share with friends.

* Our new “60 second shorts” series — perfect for sharing especially with younger audiences. (You can also find these on TikTok here).

* If you need more copies of Have You Ever Wondered? to give to friends, you can get those direct from our friends at 10ofThose.

* On the sexuality talk, lots of people asked about further resources — check out our friend Ed Shaw and our friends at Living Out.

Found Church Larbert

by Solas

Here are the presentation slides from the Confident Christianity series featuring Andy Bannister and Steve Osmond from Solas.

(1) Sermon – How To Talk About JesusDownload
(2) Evening (Andy) – Sharing Faith in a Culture of ConfusionDownload
Where is God in the Midst of SufferingDownload
Can Science and God Co-Exist_V3Download

For those looking to read a little more on the topics we explored in our time together, we recommend the following books:

  • ‘How to talk about Jesus without looking like an idiot’ by Andy Bannister
  • ‘Have you ever wondered?’ edited by Andy Bannister & Gavin Matthews
  • ‘If God, why Evil?’ by Norman Geisler
  • ‘A Grief Observed’ by C.S. Lewis
  • ‘Where is God in all the suffering?’ by Amy Orr-Ewing
  • ‘Can Science Explain Everything?’ by John Lennox
  • ‘The Return of the God Hypothesis’ by Stephen Meyer

The Big Breakfast at Kirkliston Community Church

by Solas

Here are the slides from Gavin Matthew’s talk at The Big Breakfast on 5th October 2024. Links to additional resources are below.

Jesus and the Questions of the AgeDownload

Other Resources

The “Talking Jesus Report”. The complete research and accompanying resources are freely available here: https://talkingjesus.org/  I also interviewed Rachel Jordan-Wolf, who was the person behind this research, and you can hear that interview here.

The other interviews and testimonies I referenced in my presentation are: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sarah Irving-Stonebraker, David Bennett, Nathaniel and Rahil Patel. A highly recommended further read in this whole area is Daniel Strange’s little book: “Making Faith Magnetic: Five Hidden Themes Our Culture Can’t Stop Talking About… And How to Connect Them to Christ”.  (Good Book Company, 2021) You can click on the link to find the book online or use your local bookshop.

With John Kirkby

by Solas

Taking an entrepreneur’s approach, one man has been challenged by God to start sharing Jesus in his own life, and then expand it to the whole church. Can he do it? He’s done it before with poverty, so we are audaciously believing it can happen with evangelism!

Check out the Isaiah 61 Movement website and search for “i61” for your mobile app store.

With John Kirkby – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Dr John Kirkby CBE (prefers ‘Johnny Boy’) is the founder of Isaiah 61 Movement (i61m) and Christians Against Poverty (CAP). John had a tough life after his father died. His marriage ended, with huge debt, he had lost everything. Now with a doctorate & CBE, John was healed and transformed because his friend shared life with him, shared faith with him, then shared Jesus. 30 years on, John has founded i61m to to see every Christian confidently doing the same for their friends, and build Jesus-sharing culture with churches everywhere.

About PEP Talk

The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, Andy Bannister (Solas) and Kristi Mair (Oak Hill College) chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Launch Pad 42: Evangelism Shouldn’t be a Drama, But Then Again, It Could Be!

by Editor

When we think about evangelism, we often think about things like preaching, or Alpha, or Christianity Explored—content and programmes based on reason, discussion, or conversation. But how do we reach people who are closed to this?

C.S. Lewis, well-known for books like Mere Christianity, then turned to writing stories, like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Cosmic Trilogy. Lewis explained that he felt the front doors of people’s minds were often guarded by watchful dragons that made it hard for people to even allow the claims of Christianity across the threshold. But Lewis had an inkling that with stories, maybe one could “steal past those watchful dragons” and smuggle in truth through the side door.[1]

An amazing ministry that helps churches use story and the arts in evangelism is The Mark Drama. They send a trained theatre director to your church who over six weeks works with volunteers to put on a performance of Mark’s Gospel. Every incident and most of the words of Jesus are covered in a way that is profoundly engaging. The result is not the cheesy “tea towels on the head” naff Christian drama, but a contemporary and powerful retelling of Jesus’s story.

Callom Harkrader, now Young Adults Pastor at Above Bar Church in Southampton, once worked for The Mark Drama. He explained that churches and Christian Unions that have used it have found that friends or family who might say “no” to an invite to a service or an outreach event respond quite differently when you say “I’m taking part in a play, would you come and watch?” Callom himself has a theatre background and said: “The Mark Drama sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does! And it’s powerful, because it’s Jesus’s words. It’s the gospel.”

If you can’t get The Mark Drama to your church, what about making use of The Chosen, the modern retelling of the Jesus story designed for the Netflix generation. A friend of Andy’s recently became a Christian after being persuaded to watch the series. She found herself moved to tears at the presentation of Jesus in the show and soon after, became a Christian. Because The Chosen is so widely available (both for free, or on various streaming services) it’s easy to point friends to it.

Pray: Father, thank you for giving us creative Christians in the Church. Help us to use their gifts in evangelism. Amen!

Previously: Launch Pad #41 Join a Book Group

Next: Launch Pad #43 Offer to serve in your church Sunday school or youth work

[1]       The illustration can be found in C. S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1994 [1966]) 37.