Ice Breakers
When sharing the gospel the most difficult step can often be initiating the conversation or transitioning a casual conversation to presenting the gospel. Some make this look extraordinarily easy. They make it look simple because they are gifted in this way and most likely have had many years of practice. Others, however, find this to be very intimidating and extraordinarily difficult.
I call this step breaking the ice. Breaking the ice is a tool, strategy, or catch phrase that can transition or initiate a conversation into the proclamation of the gospel. Finding the ice breaker that works for you can help alleviate some of the intimidation and make your effort much easier. There are a variety of tools, strategy, or catch phrases that can be used in this process of transitioning a conversation to an open door for a witness. The key is finding out what works for you and your hearer. We also need to understand that our ice breakers will differ depending on who, what, and where any given situation or audience we are presented with.
There are a whole host of tools in our modern world that help open doors and initiate gospel conversations. There are plenty of witness training programs that equip the potential evangelist with the tools necessary for breaking the ice. We have available to us pre-marked bibles and gospel tracks with ice breaker questions to initiate conversations. When doing door to door evangelism I have often found that surveys are a great tool. You knock on the door, tell them that you are from the church up the road, let them know you are there doing a survey, and ask them if they have a few moments. The surveys start out with questions of likes and dislikes then lead to spiritual questions which lead to the gospel. If they give you permission to do the survey the ice is broken and the door is open. Again, these are just a few of the host of tools we have at our disposal.
There are a variety of strategies that help break the ice in sharing the gospel. One of my favorite is servant evangelism. Servant evangelism is small acts of kindness done for the purpose of gaining people’s attention so the gospel can be shared. It is not about the acts of kindness in and of itself. If only the act of kindness is done apart for the sharing of the gospel it is not evangelism. Remember, the purpose is to break the ice so we can share the gospel.
The church I pastor is known in our community as the “Ice Cream Church.” For years we have loaded up a trailer with an ice cream freezer then drive up and down the streets of our community giving out ice cream. They then come to us. While they are waiting on their ice cream cone we share the gospel. I have led hard core gang members to the Lord by giving them an ice cream cone.
This works well for us. However, this isn’t the only type of servant evangelism that we do; but, we have found it to be one of the most effective for the young and old alike. Again, find out what works well for you-experiment. Just as there is a verity of tools, there are a variety of strategies, and there are hundreds of ways to do servant evangelism. “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42).
Catch phrases are another great way to break the ice. Asking someone, “Has anyone told you today that they love you,” or, “Do you know what the greatest free gift in this world is,” or “What is eternal life?” I often ask people, “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” If they say, “No I don’t mind.” I will then ask, “Do you know for certain that you have eternal life and that you will go to heaven when you die?” Just as there are a variety of tools and strategies, there is a large variety of catch phrases.
Remember though, we are not salesmen giving a sales pitch. We are evangelists fighting a spiritual battle. That being said, we are not left at this task on our own. Nor, are we to go about this task on our own. The greatest tools, strategies, and catch phrases are nothing apart from the empowering a guidance of the Lord. Psalms 127:1 says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.” Therefore, let God lead you and empower you as you share His story with this lost world. Rusty Kuhn
I call this step breaking the ice. Breaking the ice is a tool, strategy, or catch phrase that can transition or initiate a conversation into the proclamation of the gospel. Finding the ice breaker that works for you can help alleviate some of the intimidation and make your effort much easier. There are a variety of tools, strategy, or catch phrases that can be used in this process of transitioning a conversation to an open door for a witness. The key is finding out what works for you and your hearer. We also need to understand that our ice breakers will differ depending on who, what, and where any given situation or audience we are presented with.
There are a whole host of tools in our modern world that help open doors and initiate gospel conversations. There are plenty of witness training programs that equip the potential evangelist with the tools necessary for breaking the ice. We have available to us pre-marked bibles and gospel tracks with ice breaker questions to initiate conversations. When doing door to door evangelism I have often found that surveys are a great tool. You knock on the door, tell them that you are from the church up the road, let them know you are there doing a survey, and ask them if they have a few moments. The surveys start out with questions of likes and dislikes then lead to spiritual questions which lead to the gospel. If they give you permission to do the survey the ice is broken and the door is open. Again, these are just a few of the host of tools we have at our disposal.
There are a variety of strategies that help break the ice in sharing the gospel. One of my favorite is servant evangelism. Servant evangelism is small acts of kindness done for the purpose of gaining people’s attention so the gospel can be shared. It is not about the acts of kindness in and of itself. If only the act of kindness is done apart for the sharing of the gospel it is not evangelism. Remember, the purpose is to break the ice so we can share the gospel.
The church I pastor is known in our community as the “Ice Cream Church.” For years we have loaded up a trailer with an ice cream freezer then drive up and down the streets of our community giving out ice cream. They then come to us. While they are waiting on their ice cream cone we share the gospel. I have led hard core gang members to the Lord by giving them an ice cream cone.
This works well for us. However, this isn’t the only type of servant evangelism that we do; but, we have found it to be one of the most effective for the young and old alike. Again, find out what works well for you-experiment. Just as there is a verity of tools, there are a variety of strategies, and there are hundreds of ways to do servant evangelism. “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42).
Catch phrases are another great way to break the ice. Asking someone, “Has anyone told you today that they love you,” or, “Do you know what the greatest free gift in this world is,” or “What is eternal life?” I often ask people, “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” If they say, “No I don’t mind.” I will then ask, “Do you know for certain that you have eternal life and that you will go to heaven when you die?” Just as there are a variety of tools and strategies, there is a large variety of catch phrases.
Remember though, we are not salesmen giving a sales pitch. We are evangelists fighting a spiritual battle. That being said, we are not left at this task on our own. Nor, are we to go about this task on our own. The greatest tools, strategies, and catch phrases are nothing apart from the empowering a guidance of the Lord. Psalms 127:1 says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.” Therefore, let God lead you and empower you as you share His story with this lost world. Rusty Kuhn
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