Why are questions better than answers?

Randy Newman encourages Christians to

engage non-Christians by asking questions

When it comes to evangelism, do you feel pressured to know all the answers? What if you didn’t have to worry about having all the right answers but instead knew the right questions to ask in return? In Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did (Second Edition) (Kregel Publications), author Randy Newman asks readers to look at evangelism in a different way. After all, Jesus asked questions; why don’t we?

A Senior Fellow at The C. S. Lewis Institute, Newman has been using a questioning style of evangelism for years. In this provocative book, he provides practical insights to help Christians engage others in meaningful spiritual conversations. Asking questions, Newman suggests, doesn’t tell unbelievers what to think but instead challenges how we think about people, their questions and our message. He asserts that sometimes the best answer is a question. It’s the way Jesus often talked with people as He led them into discussions about the issues that mattered most.

The author admits he started using the questioning method of outreach out of frustration. “Just answering questions wasn’t working. I needed to try engaging with people instead of just preaching at them. I saw enough success to keep going, develop the technique and experiment with new questions,” he explains. “It also prompted me to study how Jesus answered questions with questions.”

A perennial best-seller, Questioning Evangelism has been updated in its second edition and includes a chapter in which Newman reflects on the success of the book and what the book’s popularity has taught him. Also included is a new foreword by Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ. However, the biggest change involves revisions to a chapter addressing a major hot topic that arises in opposition to Christianity in today’s world. “Fourteen years ago when I wrote a chapter on how we witness to homosexuals, readers may have found it odd. Back then, few people brought up the issue of homosexuality in the context of an evangelistic conversation,” muses Newman. “Today, however, people raise the question often, and it’s absolutely essential to address it.”

Questioning Evangelism offers sample conversations and suggested follow-up questions on a variety of topics that arise in evangelistic conversations, including:

• Why are Christians so intolerant (or homophobic)?
• Why does a good God allow evil and suffering such as terrorist attacks and AIDS?
• Why should we believe an ancient book written by dead Jewish males?
• If Jesus is so great, why are some of His followers such jerks?

While the book can be read for individual study, the book contains a study guide for small-group discussion and application. Newman hopes readers will discuss the book together, then share their successes and failures with one another as encouragement and to become more effective in future conversations.

Learn more about Questioning Evangelism at www.connectionpoints.us. Randy Newman is also on Twitter (@RandyDNewman). 

Advance Praise

“Let Randy Newman teach you how to be a more effective ambassador for Jesus in the twenty-first century by doing more listening than talking, by validating the other person as being made in the image of God, and

by respecting their spiritual journey.”

~ Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ and Professor of Christian Thought Houston Baptist University

“Distilled out of 20 years of personal evangelism, this book reflects both a deep grasp of biblical theology and a penetrating compassion for people — and finds a way forward in wise, probing questions. How very much like the Master Himself!”

~ D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“Questioning Evangelism steps outside the boundaries of evangelism as usual and tackles the tougher issues of our modern day.”

~ Mitch Glaser, President of Chosen People Ministries

About the Author

Randy Newman is the Senior Fellow for Evangelism and Apologetics at The C. S. Lewis Institute in the Washington, DC area. He is also an adjunct faculty at Talbot School of Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary and Patrick Henry College.

After serving for more than 30 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, he established Connection Points, a ministry to help Christians engage people’s hearts the way Jesus did. He has written four books and numerous articles about evangelism and other ways our lives intertwine with God’s creation. He is a frequent conference speaker and specializes in helping people of different backgrounds dialogue about issues of faith.

He and his wife, Pam, live in Annandale, VA and have three grown sons, one delightful daughter-in-law and a stunningly adorable granddaughter. Randy blogs at www.connectionpoints.us.