How Christians can share their faith in a changing world- Britain best selling evangelism book author

In Britain at least, neither nominal
Christianity nor sceptics have even a basic
knowledge of the main people and stories
in the Bible stories.
In the US, where Pippert is from,
Christianity is still a visible part of the
social fabric, but there too, secularism has
been gaining ground, church attendance
has been in consistent decline while
religious ‘nones’ are on the rise.
As a seasoned evangelist, she’s all too
aware of these dramatic shifts, but her
calling, she says, remains the same.
Hence the title of her new book, Stay Salt:
The World Has Changed, Our Message Must
Not .
Becky speaks to Christian Today about
how the Church can continue to witness in
times that seem to have become only more
challenging since the outbreak of
coronavirus.

CT: How do you think the world has
changed since you first wrote Out of the
Saltshaker?
Becky: We in the West have been living in
a culture that’s been dominated by the
lethal distortions of post-modernity in a
way that wasn’t true when I first wrote Out
of the Saltshaker. For example, the
collapse of absolute truth; the shift from
objective authority to personal preference;
a designer religion approach that picks
‘cafeteria-style’ various beliefs, no matter if
the beliefs collide or are completely
contradictory.
The sexual revolution has also had a
tremendous impact, and I think we have
allowed ourselves to be intimidated by
media and cultural elites that are
increasingly hostile to true Christianity
CT: With all of these challenges, why
should we even bother still trying to share
our faith?
Becky: Because Jesus commands us to!
And His command – “Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations” has nothing
to do with our gifting, or what kind of
temperament we have. We are all called to
make disciples, whether we’re extroverts,
introverts, and whether we are gifted as
evangelists or not.
We also need to remember that secularism
doesn’t really address or answer our
deepest human longings. God has placed a
longing for identity and meaning and
purpose in all human hearts. Even when
unbelievers can’t quite articulate what they
feel they’re missing, the longings are there.
My husband and I saw this over and over
again when we recently lived in the UK for
seven years, and ministered throughout
Europe. I spoke to so many unbelievers
who were more spiritually open than
Christians even realized.
Despite all our cultural challenges, I believe
our age is the greatest opportunity for
Christian witness since the time of Jesus
and the apostles.
CT: Why as Christians do you think we are
so often reluctant to share our faith?
Becky: I think our trouble is three-fold.
First, we don’t realize that God is the Great
Evangelist who is delighted to use us in our
weakness! Second, say the word
‘evangelism’ and some Christians still think
it means preaching a memorised outline to
a victim and then running away! Which
means we aren’t paying attention to who
people are. What are their questions and
their particular obstacles to faith?
Thirdly, we’ve often redefined evangelism
in a way that isn’t biblical. What I hear all
the time in the West is: “well, our task is to
demonstrate the Gospel, not tell the
Gospel.”
And what I hear endlessly quoted is the
idea, attributed to Francis of Assisi, that we
are to “preach the Gospel and if necessary
use words.”
There is no historical evidence that Assisi
ever even said that, and if he did say it, he
was wrong! Biblical evangelism is bearing
witness to Christ in 3 ways: through who
we are, what we do and what we say. All
three are required. Our evangelistic witness
must be visual (engaging in acts of
compassion and caring about justice) but
primarily it must be verbal, and this is
where we are so weak in the West. The
world is changing so we must know how to
communicate the Good News for such a
time as this.
CT: You mention ‘such a time as this’. It
seems the times we live in have changed
more dramatically than any of us could
have imagined in the last few weeks with
Covid-19. How do you think the world is
changing through this?
Becky: What I am seeing and what I am
hearing, not just in America, but from other
parts of the world, is that many unbelievers
are asking questions and re-examining
their own beliefs. And churches are
reporting that their online services have
increased dramatically.
Why is this? Because catastrophe at this
level gets everybody’s attention. It’s as if
the fog has lifted and we can see reality
more clearly. People are seeing they’re not
in charge. They are afraid. They need help.
And they want hope.
An agnostic friend phoned me and said, “I
always thought I was in charge of my
destiny. But the coronavirus has opened
my eyes to see that I am not in control.
And to tell you the truth, I have always
known it. Because if I am god then what
kind of god needs to take meds for
anxiety? The truth is I make a lousy god!”
And I said, “So do I! We all do! I remember
as an agnostic when I finally conceded that
trying to be god was way above my
paygrade. It was freeing – and it was the
first step in my journey to becoming a
Christian.”
CT: Coronavirus has caused many
countries to go into lockdown. For
Christians who are living in lockdown, how
can they use this time of self-isolation?
Becky: There are two things. First, we need
to rediscover how to pray for revival, as
Christians did in the past. The First and
Second Great Awakenings were preceded
by believers crying out in desperation to
God to bring a revival because their times
were desperate. Furthermore, they learned
a great deal about how to pray in
calamitous times. This is too big a topic of
this interview but we need to learn from
them.
Second, we need to prepare ourselves for
evangelism. The world is changing rapidly
and we will have tremendous evangelistic
opportunities after the crisis. But there is
real spiritual openness right now! That is
precisely why I wrote Stay Salt, to
strengthen believers to share their faith in
this new age. Never imagining, of course,
that Covid-19 was just around the corner!
CT: So what can we do right now?
Becky: Pray! Ask God to give us
opportunities to share the gospel and to
give us a holy boldness as we’ve never had
before. As we take walks in our
neighborhood pray and ask God to reach
our neighbors. Call your neighbors, family
members, friends whom you know are not
believers. Ask them how they are doing;
how are they handling the stress? Listen
and express compassion. Take a risk and
ask if they would like you to pray for them.
Perhaps not in the first conversation but
later on, why not invite them to take a look
at Jesus and what He had to say? Even in
times of social-isolation we now have so
many ways to communicate that we didn’t
have in times past. And I have written
seeker Bible studies for non-Christians that
might be helpful.
CT: You’ve been in so many countries and
involved in evangelism for decades.
Across all the countries you have been to,
do you see a universal struggle or a
pattern in terms of what people struggle
with when it comes to evangelism?
Becky: The number one thing I hear is: “I
would witness but I can’t because I’m so
inadequate.” But we are inadequate! What
did the Risen Christ say to the Apostle
Paul?: “My grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is made perfect in weakness”
Then Paul says, “Therefore, I will boast all
the more gladly about my weaknesses so
that Christ’s power may rest on me.” That
is why the first section of my book is on:
The Means: learning to celebrate our
smallness as we lean on the power of the
Spirit.
The second thing I hear is: “I just don’t
know enough, I don’t understand the
Gospel well enough, I don’t know how to
defend it.’ That’s why the second section
of Stay Salt is: The Message. What is the
gospel? What kind of pushback might we
hear from sceptics and how do we answer
them? How do we help them see that their
longings are so beautifully met in the
gospel?
The third thing I hear is: “I’m just not
confident, I’m afraid. How do I start? How
do I bring up the topic of faith, naturally?
What if they bring up a question I can’t
answer?” The last section of my book is:
The Model. How did Jesus engage in
evangelism? How do we deal with our
fears; how do we reach spiritually closed
people etc.
CT: So what would you say to someone
who doesn’t know where to start?
Becky: I like the model of “Prayer – Care –
Share” – because it’s exactly the right
order.
Pray: ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the
right person and help you in every aspect
of witness. Also ask the Lord to open the
eyes of your non-Christian friends to
understand the gospel and recognize their
need.
Care: befriend people, establish real
relationships and demonstrate compassion,
just as Jesus did. Jesus never treated
people like they were ‘Evangelistic
projects.’
Share: At the right time share the gospel.
Remember that Jesus listened to people,
asked lots of questions, and roused their
curiosity. He wasn’t in a hurry to move on
to the next person. Nor did he have three
set questions and a formula. And he spoke
the truth of the gospel in love.
CT: If it sounds like Christians are
struggling to share their faith on a
personal level, what can pastors and
church leaders be doing to support their
congregations in evangelism and give
them that confidence?
Becky: First, the vision for evangelism
always starts at the top. Ministers often
say, “But I’m not gifted as an evangelist.”
But they don’t have to be! They will cast a
vision for evangelism by sharing from the
pulpit their own stories of witnessing – and
it doesn’t always have to be success
stories! When congregations see that their
minister is engaged in evangelism – and
they too have fears – it makes a huge
difference.
Second, pastors must equip their flock
through training. Especially in times like
this, when we need confidence and
competence. It’s why we filmed our
evangelism training that we’ve done around
the world called “Empowered” .
Empowered isn’t a video for unbelievers –
it’s training Christians who usually feel
totally inadequate when it comes to
evangelism.
CT: We live in such a technologically
equipped era and have so many tools at
our disposal and yet at the end of the day,
evangelism is something more simple. It’s
just sharing our faith. Do you think we can
overcomplicate evangelism?
Becky: Yes, I think that’s true. The church
in the West is the best resourced in all of
history – yet we’ve been very feeble in
evangelism. But the gift of these terribly
challenging times is that it causes even
Christians – clergy and laity – to see how
desperately we need God. We must rely on
God and cry out to God in prayer in ways
we’ve never done before. Then we’ll see
afresh that God is with us – He is the agent
of evangelism – and He’s given us all we
need.
CT: Looking back over the last 40 years,
what has struck you the most about
evangelism?
Becky: First: evangelism is easier than I
thought, especially when we follow Jesus’
way of witness. People are often more
open to having a spiritual conversation
than we assumed, and we have the power
of the Holy Spirit working in us and through
us.
Second: evangelism is harder than I
imagined! Because we have an enemy who
will harass and intimidate and try to scare
us to death. So we mustn’t be surprised
when difficulties arise, but remember that
Jesus defeated the enemy at the cross!
Third: We need to accept our weakness
and lean on the power of the Holy Spirit –
trust the power of the gospel and God’s
Word to reach people – and acknowledge in
every situation that God’s presence is
always with us. Then reach out to others in
compassion with the glorious message of
the Good News in the tremendous power of
God.

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