Confession: for years I was too cool to use the Knowing God Personally/4 Laws booklet (a gospel tract developed by Cru). I was taught to use it in college. But for my first 12 years on staff with Cru I thought it was cheesy and awkward. A relic left over from Cru’s random-gospel-sharing glory days.
But three years ago our team decided to go back to using the Knowing God Personally (KGP) booklet. Now I use it 99% of the time I share the gospel with college students.
Four years ago in the fall semester we saw 4 students trust Christ. This last fall we saw 50 students become Christians. This is not 100% the result of using the KGP, but it definitely played a role.
Last week Jonalyn Fincher, a speaker at Cru’s 2013 National Staff Conference, mentioned that we should avoid using the word “sin” in sharing the gospel because it’s a loaded term that makes the hearer feel worthless/unlovable.
At a follow-up seminar, during the Q&A, a Cru staff member asked Jonalyn, “Should we, then, stop using the Knowing God Personally (KGP) booklet?”
Jonalyn replied, “I would only use this tract with someone older than 50.”
Laughing, she said, “If I HAD to use this I would say ‘I found this tract. What do you think about it?’ You can make fun of this and still lead someone to Christ.”
Jonalyn followed up with some thoughts on her blog :
Because most Americans have exposure to what “Christian” is supposed to mean, using tracts actually underlines their preconceived ideas that we are a rather crazy bunch, rushing to ask the most personal questions when we’ve only been talking for five minutes.
Jonalyn goes on to say that she advocates “a spiritual conversation that is built on relational identification, not pushing a decision.” (In other words: relational evangelism vs. sharing the gospel in a first conversation.)
Some thoughts: I liked Jonalyn’s talk at Cru staff conference so much that I went to her seminar (which I thoroughly enjoyed as well) and agreed with her on the vast majority of her insights on evangelism. I don’t know Jonalyn, but from hearing her speak and tell stories, I’d say this: Jonalyn is what we want our Cru students to become - a person with a huge heart for the people around them who is passionate about sharing Christ in a relevant way.
But I disagree with her on a few points:
1) I think the KGP is VERY effective with under-50 year olds (read: college students)
2) It’s unlikely you can make fun of the KGP and still lead someone to Christ
3) Relational evangelism and the KGP are not mutually exclusive
As Christians, we all need to be able to articulate a clear way of explaining the gospel.
The website Gospel Centered Discipleship gives a great apologetic for why:
A friend suddenly says to you, “Okay, tell me what this Christianity stuff is all about.” What would you say? Could you explain the gospel clearly in that moment?
Here’s the deal: if you think when the moment finally comes and your friend is ready to listen, that the gospel will flow “instinctively” and smoothly off your lips, you are wrong! It will come out of your mouth and fall on the floor in a muddled mess.
To be effective witnesses we must work at being able to take what we know in our heads and hearts and clearly express it out of our mouths.
They go on to give 3 steps toward Gospel Clarity, with the third step being:
Learn a rote gospel presentation. Yes, I am talking about one of those presentations you may think are “canned” and corny and come with a matching gospel tract. Let me tell you what I have gotten from them:
• They help me wrestle with the logic of the gospel.
• They make me memorize key gospel verses, which is reason enough [to use them]
• They teach me transition sentences that help me so that I don’t get stuck in one part of the gospel and can’t remember what comes next.
• They keep me on track so that I can get through the whole gospel message . . . even when my friend keeps asking about aliens or The DaVinci Code.
• They lead the listener to a point of decision.
I would add these two benefits:
Sharing the gospel (using a tract) is only as awkward as you make it. If you apologize for using the KGP, it’s going to be awkward. If you call it a tract, it’s going to be awkward.
Typically what I say is, “This is the best, concise summary I've seen of the central message of the Bible" or “In Cru we are all about the Gospel. One thing we love to do with every student is go through an overview of the central message of the Bible - the gospel”
Gospel Centered Discipleship adds this:
The truth is that they only sound canned or awkward if you fumble through them because you haven’t learned them well. Learn them well and the framework will become part of how you naturally think, so that the words and ideas will flow off your lips like they’re your own. It will almost be like you’re speaking out of instinct!
Our primary method of evangelism on our campus is relational evangelism (see here for some of our thinking on it – how relationships overcome perceived irrelevance).
It’s our vision that “everyone on campus would know someone who passionately follows Christ.”
We hope that everyone on campus hears the gospel from a friend. But that friend might be using a KGP to communicate their faith in a succinct, powerful way. And that friend for sure is able to eloquently articulate the gospel because they have used the KGP many times in following up interested students (contact cards).
Training using the KGP will hopefully result in a lifetime of effective relational evangelism.
As college ministers, we have a responsibility to not only reach our campus (by sharing the gospel) but training up a new generation of laborers fluent in the gospel.
In college ministry I think we make a unique contribution to the global Church. There are a lot of places where people can find great teaching, be discipled, etc. But we are one of the few places where someone will get this: a chance (and training) to share their faith. Many feel like they should share their faith but don't (because no one told them how) – so they’re loaded up with guilt.
We say, not just “go do it” but “let’s do it together."
The college campus offers a unique environment in which to get that training and are set up for a lifetime of relationally sharing the gospel.
The reality is, on many college campuses you have a LOT of open doors to share the gospel on a first appointment (before a relationship is formed) – especially with the thousands of incoming freshmen who step onto campus every fall.
On our campus, every year we have hundreds of students asking for more information about a relationship with God and/or Bible studies ( click for more info on how we get these contacts). So we share the gospel using the KGP on the first appointment the vast majority of the time.
This recipe will result in hundreds of thousands of students equipped to share the gospel for a lifetime: a trained laborer (staff or student) taking an untrained student to share their faith using the KGP.
I have no dog in the fight. Cru did not ask me to write this. But I do care deeply about reaching and equipping college students. And I have found that the Knowing God Personally booklet is a very effective tool to share the gospel and equip students for a lifetime of gospel-sharing.
And it just so happens that the design wizards at Cru Press Green have given the KGP an updated look – available in 3 different layouts. Click to see a pdf preview:
Order the new KGP booklets here.
What do you think about using a gospel tract like the KGP to reach and equip college students?
©1994-2020 Cru. All Rights Reserved.
