32 top tips for giving better apologetics talks

Preparation

1. Know and interact with the three best arguments against the Christian position

2. Pray hard

Content

1. Refer to the Bible, maybe use a passage from the Bible.  Demonstrate that it is your authority.  Show that you are not speaking on your own behalf but seeking to represent Christ.

2. Take people to the cross

3. Don’t try and say too much and introduce too many ideas.  What you have to leave out have ready to introduce, in condensed form,  in the question-time

4. Work hard on the introduction – engaging and demonstrating an ability to resonate with the ‘problem’ being addressed. Show them that you ‘feel’ the problem.

5. If there is an ‘authority’ on an issue try to cite him (as long as you understand him).  e.g. Dawkins on atheism, Singer on ethics,

6. Don’t cite Christian authorities by name who would be unknown to a non-Christian audience e.g. Stott, Keller, Schaeffer…

7. Don’t be defensive about Biblical truth – our role is not to defend God but rather to show the truthfulness and reasonableness of what God says.

8. Never apologise for what the Bible says but do admit to personal struggle in accepting what the Bible says e.g. gay friends,….

9. Always admit  what we do not know because the Bible does not tell us

10. Always admit what you don’t know because you haven’t thought about it.

11. Trust the Lord by speaking clearly of what we do know even if you think it will push people away from the gospel.

12. Expect to be misunderstood and be patient

13. Have in mind a variety of listener

Communication

1. Show why this is a necessary and important issue for them to resolve for themselves not just an issue to see Christians squirm over.

2. Make clear the limitations a 20-25 minute talk place on addressing the issue at hand. Tell them what you do hope to achieve in a single talk.

3. Watch out for the crunch of gears between ‘prosecution’ and ‘invitation’ – we don’t want an apologetic talk with 2 ways to live bolted on the end

4. Show them that you love them, however you can.

5. Help your hearer to see that they need the gospel to be true if they are to make sense of life. Show them from practical examples why that is so.

6. Don’t be aggressive, antagonistic or hostile to your audience even if they are all of those things to you.

7. Don’t attack the man eg insult Richard Dawkins but do show the folly of his thinking

8. Don’t give them reason to dislike you – only the gospel

9. Invitation needs to be clear – exactly what do you want them to do in response and why.

We must learn the language of our audience. And let me say at the outset that it is no use laying down a priori what the ‘plain man’ does or does not understand. You have to find out by experience…You must translate every bit of your theology into the vernacular. This is very troublesome…but it is essential. It is also of the greatest service to your own thought. I have come to the conclusion that if you cannot translate your own thoughts into uneducated language, then your thoughts are confused. Power to translate is the test of having really understood your own meaning.

C.S. Lewis – God in the Dock

Question time

1. Listen well to the question: thank them for it (no matter how stupid)

2. Take your time in answering a question, if necessary ask for clarification

3. Be prepared to offer a challenge back to the questioner.  E.g. Our answer may leave us with unanswered questions but what alternative explanation are they putting forward

4. Don’t enter into a to-and-fro with a single questioner but invite them to talk with you on your own afterwards.

5. Have a clear finish time and stick to it, but stay around as long as you can afterwards

6. Always have literature available and plenty of it. Explain which would be helpful for who,  Try not to have too many different books that would overwhelm or confuse.

7. Don’t let the questions set an entirely new agenda – try and draw Q&A back to the topic under consideration as set out in the title.

8. Remind people of what you said, briefly, in the talk as you answer questions.