THE GENTLE TOUCH IN SOUL WINNING
1 PETER 2:24 -"Who his own self bare our sins in
his own body on the tree..."
Winning
friends to Christ!! Every Christian longs to have that
joy, but, alas, few actually do. And why is that? Many
reasons, but at the heart, most people simply do not
have a plan that they can follow to do what they long
to do. We cannot drive a car without first mastering
the art. Swimming is something we learn to do. It took
long years to learn to read and write and to ride a
bicycle. Winning a person to Christ is no different.
On
the other hand, there is a HUGE difference, and that
difference is the presence of the Spirit of God to lead
and direct the action.
An
insurance man in California has developed a plan of
action that will lead you to a very satisfying life
full of gentle conversations about Jesus Christ. Some
people will trust Christ, many will not, but we are
in the seed sowing business and it is God that gives
the increase. And we have the fun of watching Him work.
We
present to you two sections. One is the dialog, explained
as we go along. It is The Gentle Touch. The other is
The Rationale. This is the explanation of where the
system came from and why it is used.
Your
question might be, "Is this the best system around?" The best system is the one you use on a daily basis.
The Gentle Touch will give you a holy boldness that
is not brashness. You will be able to handle every situation.
God
bless you as He leads you into new paths of joy in speaking
the name of Jesus Christ.
Robert
T. Seelye
Elements of the
Gentle Touch
"The Gentle Touch In Soul Winning" is made
up of several elements. The first element is to be constantly
in prayer that the Lord will bring into your path the
person of his choosing. Be alert to what is going on
around you so opportunities can be identified. Does
the person speak philosophically? Join in and pose the
question, "If a man die, shall he live again?"
for example. Go fishing, find a point of interest. Always
be asking this question, "Lord, is this the one
you want me to speak to today?"
The second element is to ask questions of the person
to whom you are talking.
The Key Question
As the conversation continues and you enter the spiritual
realm look for a place to ask this question. "According
to your understanding of the Christian Religion what
was the purpose of the death of Jesus Christ on the
cross?"
This the KEY question. Fail to ask it and the method
won't work. What it does is to focus on the death of
Christ, on his/her understanding of it, you go to the
heart of the issue.
You will usually get an answer something like this,
"Well, my understanding is that Christ died for
the sins of the world."
Answer with; "I've asked a lot of people that question
and your answer is one of the best I've heard. What
I'd like to do is prove to you that you are right."
Then ask; "Could I take a minute and show you
something that has been a big help to a lot of people?"
I've never had a person say no.
Did you know your name is in the
Bible?
At this point you pull out your New Testament and open
to 1st Peter. If the person is Catholic you can ask
if they've ever read the letters that Peter wrote? Peter
is big stuff with them, but in 100% of the cases, you
will find they have not read his letters. Chapter 2
and vs. 21 is where you start. You show that the subject
matter of the section is Jesus Christ, but that you
will be looking more at verse 24 than this one. When
you come to vs. 24 you can ask this question. "By
the way, did you know your name was in the Bible?"
"Oh no, no way can that be! Let me see it."
Then you show them the our" and ask whether since
Peter wrote the book, that would include Peter, you
and me. "Well, OK," and that is always a brand
new thought.
Where are your sins?
"Let's read together the 24th verse." Read
the first phrase and then pose the question, "According
to this verse, are your sins on you or are they on Christ?"
You will get a variety of answers here but the key is
that they are admitting that they are sinners. They
might say, "How can they be on Christ, I did them."
Or variations. "OK, lets try it once more and you
read it to me with your name in it." Using the
name is optional, depending on how intensely the person
is following things. "What does it say, are they
on you or on Christ?" At this point you will be
very likely to get what I call the "Round the World
Orbit." He/she tells you about his great grand
daddy who was a circuit riding preacher. And then there
was his mother, bless her memory, who really was into
church. And it goes on and on. Sometimes it is short
and sometimes long, the longest for me ran about 45
minutes, but that was an extreme case.
I don't think you understood the
question.
By and by the person runs out of steam. He has told
his story, you have grunted sympathetically all the
way through his monologue, having made NO COMMENTS at
any time.
Your feet are tired, but the thing is getting close.
When he winds down you jump in and tell him what it
meant for him to lay his soul bare like that. "You
have told me things about yourself that you might not
have told anyone else, and I really appreciate it."
What do you say about what he has said? Nothing. You
don't take up any points he has raised, dispute nothing,
ignore it all. The man has had his say and a sympathetic
person was there to really listen, that is enough. You
are his friend for life. So you say it this way. "That
was just terrific, but I don't think you understood
the question."
Quote him exactly.
Occasionally I find it helpful to break in at this point,
look at my watch, and remark that I am really running
out of time. You would be amazed at the way they want
to continue. I've had them actually grab me and say,
"Let's finish this. What was the question?"
and you go back to the beginning and tell him what he
said when you asked what his understanding of the purpose
of the death of Christ on the cross was. And you quote
him exactly. Nothing cements the thing more than to
be quoted with approval by you, who is getting more
and more interesting to him. "You said this and
we looked at what Peter wrote and the question was:
According to this verse are your sins on you or on Christ?"
That was the question and lets try it again." You
go through it once more and this time you get a very
small orbit, might be one minute's worth. You ignore
it, never even acknowledge what was said, and go over
the verse once again.
Take a different tack.
"Let's try it one more time." This time you
take a slightly different tack. Have the person read
the verse with his name in it, then ask," "According
to the Bible, where are your sins?" When they
give the answer that the Bible says their sins are on
Christ, then ask "According to you, where are
your sins?"
(This is the moment of truth.)
My Sins Really ARE On Christ!
Suddenly it hits a person that, "Hey, this is true,
my sins really ARE on Christ!" Some laugh at how
simple it all is and they missed it for so long. Others
weep but when the truth of the location of that person's
sins hits them, they have already trusted Christ and
you have a new Christian on your hands.
After they see that their sins are on Christ, ask them,
"Well, where are your sins right now?" They
will say, "On Christ." And you ask, "How
do you know?" At this point they will usually take
the Bible from you, point to the verse and say, "It
says so right here!" I then ask if that is all
the proof they have, and they will apprehensively say
that it is, wondering what comes next. I tell them that
they are correct, it is all the proof they have, or
ever will have and it is enough. The Bible settles it.
Then I ask if they ever pray. Whatever the answer, show
them 1 John 1:9 and explain how we acknowledge to God
that we have sinned, but now that they are put away,
we can also thank God for forgiving them. "Can
you do that when you get home?"
It is thrilling to watch them grow,
what a joy.
How to use this method to win souls. Memorize the questions
that are italicized and use them as the Holy Spirit
leads to move the conversation along. Do not spend time
telling people what you believe, just ask questions
and listen carefully to the answers. If you would like
to know more about sharing the gospel and how to use
this, please contact:
Robert Seelye
or
Paul Hansen
THE GENTLE
TOUCH -The Rationale
After coming to know the Lord in September of 1954, the desire to win people to Christ was planted and has never left. I was in the life insurance business, which is a finishing school for a sales person. Everything that is done and said is directed toward motivating the prospect to buy the policy. I did well and it was a shock to me that my efforts to win folks to Christ seemed to fall flat.
Book stores offered books on soul-winning and I read them. I tried out method after method, and while a person would trust Christ occasionally, it never seemed quite right. Way too much arm twisting and "convincing" and dealing with the objections people seemed to be full of. On the other hand, it was so much fun that I was doing more of that and less of selling life insurance. Only one thing to do. Change careers.
I became a salesman for a small oil jobber who sold motor oil in both case lots and bulk to service stations and garages. Every day I was out there looking for new business. I also found that I had the time to try out everything I was learning about the business of winning souls. What I was looking for was a non-confrontational method. I knew from life insurance days that a confrontation sold nothing. One day, while reading Chafer's Systematic Theology, a statement really hit me. He said that as we speak , our message should be so accurate that the hearers can believe and be saved while you are yet speaking. But of course! Now how do you do this on a one on one basis?
Not too long after that I was reading some Moody paperbacks by Dr. Walter Wilson. He was a busy doctor and owner of a canvas factory. He also was a tireless soul winner. As I read I knew I was closing in on the answer to my search. Wilson asked questions. Then asked more questions. The folks found the answers to Bible truth as he showed it to them and they learned it for themselves. Marvelous. But what questions to ask? I didn't think his questions quite fit what I was trying to develop, even though they were good. Then one day the whole thing fell in place. I found 1 Peter 2:24 and that was key to putting the system to work. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, --".
After experimentation and moving things around, I finally hit on what works. That was over 45 years ago, and there have been conversations using The Gentle Touch (TGT) times without number. I have made every mistake in the book, tried doing it this way and that, the dialog you see on the attached TGT sheet is the final result. In fact, some friends who minister in Utah use TGT in their door to door work and find that they can win the LDS to Christ using it. One day one of the men said that he and the others would like to see if they could make improvements on the method. The pastor, who had been in my SS class in the 60s, said that was a good idea and let's do it. Four of them gathered for a whole evening without finding a single way to change anything without destroying TGT.
The dialog is arranged so that objections and side issues do not come up. The opening question sets the stage and defines the scope of the conversation. "According to your understanding of the Christian religion, what was the purpose of the death of Christ on the cross?" This can be worded in a number of ways to be in synch with what you know of the person. For example, "According to what you learned of the Christian religion (in Confirmation Class) what was the purpose of the death of Christ on the cross?" In every case, however it is worded, it defines the rest of your conversation.
You are not in a contest of wills, to see who is right or wrong. The very opposite, you are in a gentle conversation in which the person appreciates you, approves of what you say, and genuinely listens. It is also difficult to teach and learn.
How can that be? Easy. It is built into us that we want to be in control. We want to TELL the person what he needs to know and in which he is presently deficient. In our inner being we want to show that we know something he doesn't and thus make ourselves somehow superior. It is complex and you can believe that I had to learn this the hard way, like everyone else. So what is the answer?
Learning to trust the Holy Spirit as we ask questions is somewhat difficult at first but when it is seen that it flows exactly as it was taught, then it becomes easy to use.
To illustrate. I was in the island of Malta speaking in a two week evangelistic campaign. One evening I was having a chat with a Maltese man who worked at Air Malta and pastored a small church as well. I was explaining how TGT worked and he remarked, "It will never work in Malta, you just don't know the Maltese people." I challenged him to try it and to let me know how it went. Two days later he let me know what happened. "It was like playing a tape, I went through it exactly as you had told me and at each point I got back the answer I had been assured I would get. When the man trusted Christ I almost died of shock!" This is not an isolated event, I have heard the same thing many times. But I understand how hard it is to learn, as it runs against the grain of our natural thinking. Trusting the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Word of God to the sinner really comes hard. When a person realizes that it is God that does the work and not him, then suddenly it becomes a very handy tool to be able to use.
What about objections? Objections to what? You are into a conversation about general things and there is a veer toward spiritual things. You ask the "Purpose" question and if there is an objection, it would be at that point. Fine, thank them for their time and be on your way. The Lord kept you from wasting your time, and is extremely rare.
In a recent presentation of TGT I had two significant questions asked. "What if the person you are speaking to does not believe the Bible to be the Word of God?" The answer: "How would you know that? You didn't ask that question, how did it come up? What you asked was for him to tell you, from his background, what he thought the purpose of the death of Christ might be. This will include all his prejudices, misinformation, whatever. You do not ask if he believes it, just what he thinks the answer is. The issue is the death of Christ, not any side issues whatever." Another person asked about 1 Cor. 15 and the use of the gospel definition given there. My reply was that it is a wonderful definition, but in a situation like this, the only thing we are interested in is seeing the person get saved. Not in explaining every point of Bible truth. When the person is saved we can teach him the whole counsel of God.
So how does 1 Peter 2:24 fit into the thing? To make it short, as it is outlined on TGT sheet, you ask the person as he reads 1P2:24, "According to this verse (or what this says) are your sins on you or are they on Christ?" I often hear this, "Well I did them, how can they be on Christ?"
Right at this point is a key to using TGT. Sin has been acknowledged, you need not speak of it further. And you will get what I call the "Round The World Orbit." In which the person gives you a story that is largely defensive in nature, but which requires no reply from you. The Orbit, however, is either of two things. A defense of his sin or an acknowledgment of them. Very useful. Defined in TGT sheet. When that dialog is over, you ask the same question again and at some point he will see that, WOW!, my sins are on Christ! He has trusted the Word of God that says Christ bore his sins. Amazing to watch.
You might ask, "Is this a Biblical way to handle the verse?" Jesus was speaking to the Disciples and asked the question in Matt. 16:13 "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others." "But what about you? Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
And so it is with 1Peter 2:24, it is the Spirit of God that reveals the truth and completes the divine transaction. You are only a spectator, it is awesome to behold.
What if the person should ask, "Well, why would Christ want to die for me?" or some variation. "It is because He loves you and proved it," while you turn to John 3:16, putting his name in the "whosoever". For good inquiring questioners you can go to Romans 5:1, Romans 8:1 and other verses that demonstrate aspects of Christ's work. Then come right back to 1Peter 2:24 and continue on from there. There is no need for excursions into side issues. And they won't come up if you don't bring them up, as noted earlier.
You are just a couple of people having an earnest conversation about a subject of great mutual interest. So confrontation is not what you are into.
I have used TGT for over four decades and it has become a part of me, it comes up as conversations flow, and is as natural as breathing. I know of others who do it too, and it is the same. But there are not very many, pretty hard to learn.
It is my prayer that TGT can be a tool in the hands of the Lord that will turn many to Christ. It is not copyrighted but any alteration will make it very much less useful.
Robert T. Seelye
Robertseelye@earthlink.net
562.697.7143
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