Connecting Through Parables

In persecuted areas, Christians are often afraid to share their faith with their neighbors. Even when believers find the courage to share, they often don’t know how to describe their faith in a way that their neighbors will truly be able to engage with and receive the message. Instead, believers often meet with one of two responses: either their audience loses interest quickly, or they want to start an argument.

Fortunately, we’ve rediscovered an effective method of evangelism that was pioneered by Jesus himself: using modern-day Parables and concrete examples to share truth about the gospel. As we present short scenarios and object lessons about the truth, we ask simple, non-threatening questions and get our audience to interact. Using the Parables method, we no longer have conversations that barely last a few minutes; instead, our audience stays engaged for hours. The whole goal is to raise interest in the gospel, often by showing how it is different from anything else they’ve ever experienced.

As we teach seminars on the Parables method to leaders and believers in the persecuted church, they report to us that their once-hostile neighbors are eager to find out more. Their neighbors clamor to know the answers to questions like, “Who is the Savior?” and “Can I know where I am going when I die?”