How to Lead a Friend to Christ:

If you are considering how to lead a friend to Christ there are some basic DOs and DON'T'S to keep in mind:

   DOs:

• Do love your friend with the love of Christ which empowers you to love them unconditionally.  

• Do listen to your friend's story and authentically come to understand where they are coming from in life. Get familiar with their journey - LISTEN WITH EXCELLENCE.

• Do affirm the positive attributes of your friend's life and personality - specifically tell them what things you see in them that are strengths and blessings.

• Do give your friend SPACE and RESPECT. Do this by showing compassionate sensitivity toward their struggles and shortcomings. You do not have to agree with them, but we are called to love them. Always respect their God-given right to take their time in making a decision for Christ.  

• Do share with them what Christ has meant in your own life, but do not set them up for an inquisition or questioning session. When we give a personal testimony, think of it as an OFFERING to offer up to them with NO strings attached.  

• Do discover and minister to their needs when possible. People will not care how much we know until they know how much we actually care about them and their needs. Needs don't have to be material or financial - sometimes the greatest need someone has today is to have a good friend who sticks with them.  

• Do be prepared to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them in a simple, clear and effective way. We don't recommend a "canned or memorized" approach, as this often causes great anxiety in the presenter, causing them to "perform" well. We advocate our first KNOWING the Gospel essentials and then sharing them conversationally, allowing the person you are sharing with to respond as you go along.  

• Do plan to be their authentic friend if they choose to postpone making a decision for Christ at this time. This is the number one criticism of many evangelism approaches - it is DO IT NOW or we are out of here to the next place. God gives us free choice and respects that. Let it be in God's time, not our agenda's time.

• Keep the Good News the Good News. While hell is certainly real and Biblical, it is a WEAK approach to use fear to persuade someone into coming to Christ. Love is greater than law. Grace is greater than sin. We should never "water down" or "dress up" sin but it should be in perspective to the saving power of Jesus Christ for living the abundant life.  

• Do recognize that being a disciple of Christ who leads others to Christ is a LONG TERM process - not often a single moment. While we may be the one who gets to pray with someone to accept Christ - we may NOT be that person at all. Rather, we may be the one who befriended them in such a loving way that they came to drop their defenses enough to listen openly to the message of salvation from someone we don't even know! God uses the "team approach" often.  

     DONT'S:

• Don't use fear or coercion to manipulate people into choosing Christ. This is not what Jesus used, why should we?

• Don't quote scripture addresses to someone constantly like you are impressing them with your own memorization of the Bible. They will be impressed but not the way you are thinking.

•  Don't be pushy with others, regardless of where they are in their faith experience. Even if someone is a Hindu or in Islam, be respectful and open to share the Good News of Christ with them - not in a condemnatory way.

•  Don't shove tracts or materials into someone's hands as though you are doing a literature dump on them. Evangelism is not DOING SOMETHING TO SOMEONE but BEING WITH SOMEONE. There is a big difference.

• Don't assume that just because someone you are trying to reach for Christ comes to church that all is going to be well with their soul. Churches have strong percentages of people in them that don't know Christ personally and need someone to love them into the possibility of discipleship.

•  Don't feel that you have to put someone else on YOUR TIME SCHEDULE. God wants others to come to Christ more than all of us put together! But, God also wants them to choose Christ out of freedom and free will, not pressure.

These are some thoughts on leading my friend to Jesus Christ, for openers. Here is a skeleton outline of the Gospel to share with your friend.

I. Creation

• God created and called it good

• Adam and Eve -- Free Choice

 II. Sin

• Anything (good or bad) that separates us from God

•  We can never remove sin alone (repentance)

• God made a merciful provision

III. Jesus Christ 

• Jesus died on the cross for our sin

•  Receive Jesus as Savior

•  Receive Jesus as Lord of all

IV. Transfer Our Trust

• Not just belief in God, but trusting in Him

• Prayer is the way to start this new personal relationship

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