S.O.A.P Journals and Evangelism

June 28, 2019

Discipleship Blog Author

Scott Long

Discipleship Pastor

When preparing groups to do international missions trips, Dr. John Klaassen teaches a method for sharing the gospel called storying. Many cultures around the world are traditionally "oral" in communication and learning styles. Engaging people with the gospel in these cultures is most natural through story telling. The method is to simply take a compelling story from the Bible and share it like a short narrative, ultimately showing how it connects to Jesus. This has become the main strategy for most evangelicals reaching people for Jesus in foreign contexts. 

I have found It makes for an easy transition to the gospel in our context as well. More and more, I meet people don't read often, and social media gives us news in short clips and sound bites. This lends well to creating interest in biblical truths through telling stories. One thing you can begin doing is summarizing what you read and journal each day. Make a point to share it with people you have on going relationships with. 

Soap journals are effective for drawing out gospel truths from every passage you read, and when you write it, you remember it better. It would be as simple as intentionally saying, "Hey I read a very interesting story this morning. Can I share it with you?" Share the story, and then ask their thoughts. Connect the dots from the character of God, to the sinfulness of man, to the sufficient work of Jesus, to the call to repent and believe. This really starts to come alive when you share your journal stories with the same people, a myriad of connected stories over the course of time. You may even get people to start expecting the stories and asking you for more. Try this with your d-group. Teach them how to do it, and go share Christ in your spheres of influence. Share your results with us; we love hearing stories of how God saves sinners as we are faithful to make disciples.