Four Directions

A Tool for Evangelism

I've been thinking about this idea for years and using it in evangelistic conversations.

I called it Four Gaps originally. The gap between us and the earth. The gap between people. The gap within ourselves. The gap between us and whatever we take to be ultimate.

Have you noticed the gaps? Then the conversation goes wherever it needs to go.

I also say things like, every human effort seems to be aimed at solving these gaps, but we’re pursuing them from our own gaps, and if you look around, throughout history, we still seem to have the gaps. The Christian says Jesus comes to us with no gaps…

Putting it online changed the shape of things. Gaps sounded passive, as if it just happens to you. Directions felt more active and engaged. We exist in four directions, whether we notice it or not. Without a conversation, I felt we also needed a space for self-reflection, so I chose reflective questions to follow.

Further online, the conversation may not happen. So I decided to complete the story, including the four chapters, which I think speak to the four directions. Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration. I freely admit that doing this makes it feel more like a Tract.

I am not sure if that is the best way forward.

The Four Directions section, without the completed story, could just be sent to people to start a conversation. The person receives it, and then we begin the conversation.

I would love for you to try it.

Then I would like to know whether finishing the story helps or if it would be better left open as a conversation. Maybe there is a different way of approching the story. By the way, the share button at the end sends the site to your email on a computer and to WhatsApp on a mobile phone. So you can pass it on.

Test it and see. Then come back to the poll. Let me know what you think.