How Do We Talk with Skeptics? (Questions for Restless Minds)
How Do We Talk with Skeptics?
Share your faith and keep your friends.
You want your non-believing friends to be brothers and sisters in Christ. But how do you talk about Jesus without driving them away? When do you talk? When do you stay quiet?
In How Do We Talk with Skeptics?, Sam Chan shows you how to walk the tightrope by offering ten wise tips to keep the balance right. Listen well. Speak persuasively. Learn hospitality. Gently reveal the holes in your friend’s worldview. Gain wisdom on when to speak and when to listen. With Chan’s help, you can keep your friends while being a faithful witness for Christ.
Order all 17 volumes in the Questions for Restless Minds series.
Praise for How Do We Talk with Skeptics
“The best thing about Sam’s book How Do We Talk with Skeptics? is not just that it’s practical, but it’s realistic. Sam anticipates the challenges we will face and shares ten tips to help us overcome them. As you read Sam’s tips you will find yourself thinking ‘yes—I was wondering how to do that.’ As an evangelism trainer, I recommend Sam’s tips to others. As a Christian who wants to talk about Jesus with my skeptical friends, I put them into practice.
—Belinda Lakelin, creator of “Plan A: The Great Commission for Every Christian” for the Baptist Association of NSW and ACT
Sam Chan is a compass for our complex times, guiding Christians through the culturally-fraught waters of commending Christ to others. The practical wisdom packed into this contribution is indispensable for anyone serious about having better God conversations.
—Dan Paterson, founder of Questioning Christianity; speaker and evangelist; coauthor of Questioning Christianity
This is seriously awesome! I’ve read a lot of books on evangelism, and Sam Chan’s insight into the culture and the way forward in conversations is profound. What a blessing you are to us all. This is not to be put on the pile of books to be read ‘sometime,’ but this is one to be read tonight.
—Julie-anne Laird, director of missional engagement, City to City Australia; canon for church planting, Melbourne Anglican Diocese
Questions for Restless Minds series
The Questions for Restless Minds series applies God’s word to today’s issues. Each short book faces tough questions honestly and clearly, so you can think wisely, act with conviction, and become more like Christ. Edited by D. A. Carson, the series covers a wide range of topics centered around critical questions many Christians wrestle with today.
Learn more about the other titles in this series.
Praise for the Questions for Restless Minds series
“This generation of Christians inhabit cultures that sometimes reject not only biblical revelation about reality but also the reality of reality itself. The Questions for Restless Minds series poses many of the toughest questions faced by young Christians to some of the world’s foremost Christian thinkers and leaders. Along the way, this series seeks to help the Christian next generation to learn how to think biblically when they face questions in years to come that perhaps no one yet sees coming.”
—Russell Moore, public theologian, Christianity Today
If you’re hungry to go deeper in your faith, wrestle with hard questions, and are dissatisfied with the shallow content on your social media newsfeed, you’ll really appreciate this series of thoughtful deep dives on critically important topics like faith, the Bible, friendship, sexuality, philosophy, and more. As you engage with some world-class Christian scholars, you’ll be encouraged, equipped, challenged, and above all invited to love God more with your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
—Andy Kim, multiethnic resource director, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
- Introduction
- Be Realistic about How Much You’ll Talk
- Find Creative Ways to Do Hospitality
- Learn the Art of Conversation
- Learn the Art of Listening
- Learn the Art of Presenting Our Point of View
- Gently Dismantle Their Worldview
- Learn the Art of Positive Apologetics
- Use Wisdom as an Entry Point
- Become the De Facto Chaplain in Their Lives
- Look for “Black Swan” Moments
- Conclusion
- Title: How Do We Talk with Skeptics?
- Author: Sam Chan
- Series: Questions for Restless Minds
- Series Editor: D. A. Carson
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2021
- Pages: 120
- Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
- Trim Size: 5x7
- ISBN: 9781683595212
Sam Chan is a public evangelist with City Bible Forum in Australia, where he regularly shares the gospel with city workers, lawyers, doctors, and high school students. Sam is the author of How to Talk About Jesus (Without Being That Guy) and Evangelism in a Skeptical World, and he blogs at espressotheology.com.