You should know there's a new slj site! Check it out

One beautiful fall day this past year I walked onto the mall on the campus of Mankato State U. in Minnesota with Scott, the I-V chapter prayer coordinator. We were there to survey students about their thoughts on God. We saw a guy sitting alone so we approached him. “Hi,” I said, “my name is Dave and this is Scott. We are involved in a group on campus called InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and were wondering if we could take ten minutes of your time to ask you about your spiritual beliefs.”

He agreed, so we asked our first question: “How would you describe your spiritual beliefs?” Jason responded that he really didn’t know how to answer that.

“Do you believe in God?” we asked next. He said he did and that he thought “God is like a friend who helps you out when he’s needed and cares about what is going on in your life.”

We then asked him if he did anything to develop the spiritual side of his life. He said that he attended church when he went home and that he read the Proverbs because they gave him wisdom for life. We were encouraged by this answer and dug a little deeper. “From your reading of the Bible, do you believe that there is absolute truth?” we asked next. Jason said yes, but didn’t have any idea how you could know it.

At that point it seemed like Jason wasn’t very interested in keeping the discussion going, so we asked our final question. “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?”

Jason thought a little and then said that he would like to know what the meaning of life is. Scott asked Jason why he would ask God that. Jason said that he would really like to know what life was all about and what God was thinking when he started it all.

Then I asked him, “What would it take for you to know that God had given you an answer to that question?”

Jason said, “If God came himself and told us the answer, then I would believe it.”

I decided to probe a little further and asked, “What do you think of Christianity’s claim that Jesus was God?”

He paused and then looked at us and said in a puzzled tone, “I didn’t know Christians claimed that.”

His response surprised me. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t know Jesus claimed to be God; I’ve come to expect that from most students on a college campus. What surprised me was that this was someone who attended church occasionally and read at least a little of the Bible, yet he had never learned one of the most important truths about Jesus. As we continued our conversation, I was reminded again of how vital it is to be a presence on campus that challenges students to consider the claims of Christianity and invite them to follow Jesus.

I have started doing these surveys on campus with chapter members over the past two years because of students like Jason. During these conversations, we also look for opportunities to share about Jesus and our own personal faith journeys. Later in the conversation we usually give the person an IVP booklet that is evangelistic in nature and relates in some way to the questions we were discussing. We look at this as a way of saying thanks and perhaps stimulating them to think more about Jesus and Christianity.

This style of witness may not seem very relational, but I have found it valuable for a number of reasons. First of all, it allows us to listen to what non-Christians think and believe. This can help the I-V chapter be more effective in reaching the campus. I’ve found that most people are happy to talk to us about what they think and believe about different issues.

Second, this style helps students and me develop our skills in evangelism. Doing this takes boldness. It makes us rely on God and causes us to grow in communicating our faith well so that we know what we are talking about.

A third reason I do this is to share the gospel and give students an opportunity to follow Jesus. It’s a way for me to interact with students I wouldn’t normally meet or who may not even know Christian groups exist on campus.

This type of evangelism is not my strongest style. I am by no means an expert at it. I am also not an extrovert who loves walking up to strangers and starting conversations with them. It takes a lot for me to do this. I do it, however, because I am convinced that it is a strategic way for my students and me to become better witnesses on campus. I do it because it is a way to challenge people to consider Jesus and his claims. I do it because there are students like Jason all over the place who have never heard the good news of the gospel and this is one way to help them hear it.