Writing evangelistic talks for a Christmas event
A harder task for women
You’ve been invited to speak at a Christmas evangelistic event, it’s a week to go and you still have no idea what to say.
Women across the UK are giving talks at events like this, but to give your first talk, or your ‘once-a-year talk’, to a huge audience, mostly full of guests and without regular practice is hard. On top of this because of illness or caring responsibilites women are often asked to do a talk with little notice. So the first thing you need to do is stop and pray and text some friends and ask them to pray too.
Clarity helps authenticity
Most of us are aware that a key way of ruining authenticity is by covertly delivering an ‘evangelistic talk’. This is titled, ‘bait and switch’ by Sam Chan, it is inviting non-Christians into our churches for a particular reason, for example making a wreath, candle painting, and then “surprise- you get a Bible talk instead.” (Evangelism in a Skeptical World by Sam Chan, p.187). We want to avoid this, by being open and honest about the fact there will be a talk; yet we want the talk to be relevant to the culture while sharing Jesus. Get in touch with the organisers and check what has been advertised about the event and your talk.
Avoiding the gear crunch
Many Christians are comfortable using a Bible passage to tell the story of Jesus. But often we’re in situations where we can’t just make the jump to Jesus from the current conversation. We want to naturally and smoothly move from a topic to the story of Jesus, but it can often feel like a crunching of gears as we change from 1st to 5th in one go.
Chan’s book is so helpful. We're going to take his advice and work through how to get a topic based evangelistic talk ready for your upcoming event. In chapters 8 & 9 he unpacks and suggests ways of practically engaging the culture through thinking about your audience and your context. Here are the four steps to help you prepare your talk.
Step 1: Move from the Topic to a Big Idea;
“For the sake of clear communication, all talks should have a single, coherent, unified “big idea.” (Chan, p 195). In an expository talk, we typically use the Bible passage to generate the big idea. But how do we generate a big idea for a topical talk? We move through a sequence…” (Chan, pg 194).
Topic – Issue – Argument
Work through the poinsts below and use this table and points below to brainstorm and work out a clear idea for your talk.
Start with your topic
As you think about a topic, firstly think about who will be coming to the event; Men, women, children, retired, working, parents, carers.
What are the themes that our culture can’t stop talking about at Christmas time? If you’re struggling, then watch a few of the Christmas adverts for inspiration. Some topics you could consider are; Christmas traditions, family, home, nostalgia, and Christmas experiences.
Define the issue
When you think about your audience, what are the issues that they have with your topic? As I’m getting ready for a talk next week (yes, I was asked last minute and I’m not ready!) I’m thinking about the conversations I’ve had about Christmas with my friends. This is what some of them have said recently…
“I’m really worried about money this year, how will I afford Christmas”
“I want to create the perfect Christmas for my loved ones, but I am so busy and tired”
“Now that I’m thinking about it, how do I cope with Christmas and all the family tensions?”
“I’d like to run away or hibernate”
“I don’t want to think about Christmas, its only November”
“I’m not looking forward to it, my family have had a huge argument and aren’t speaking with each other”
So what are the issues that your topic will bring up? Chan says “A topic alone will not make a talk interesting. So we need to convert the topic into an issue. What’s the existential or emotional connection someone might have to that topic? What problems does it create? What’s culturally relevant about the topic? Where does the topic meet the felt needs of real people? Especially those in your audience” Sam Chan (pg195).
Argue for a point
This is where it will become really clear if we are writing a talk that will jar. Maybe you’ve got a great introduction, but no idea how to connect it to the Christmas message? Or you’ve got a Bible passage that you feel is relevant but no idea how to connect it to Wreath making!! At this point if the following doesn’t help you, it might be worth revisiting your topic.
“Now that we have our issue, we need to think about how to argue toward a point. This is where the true skill of topical speaking engages. We have to come up with a point to argue for, but how do I know if I have a good point? We know we have a good point if it 1, answers the questions raised by the issue 2, has an obvious opposite point, and 3. Can be supported by appeals to evidence and stories.” Sam Chan, (pg 196).
The big idea
Then finally because this is an evangelistic talk, it's time to brainstorm a big idea. This ‘Big idea’/point is the big idea of your talk. It’s the 10 second elevator pitch, the unifying, organising principle that will give your talk coherence.
Step 2: Outline a Bird’s-Eye View of the Talk.
In this step, working out an overarching structure or outline of the talk is a great way to go. It may be the usual introduction, body, bridge, conclusion.
Introduction (⅙ of your time); Tell a winsome, self deprecating story that will:
Get our audience’s attention
Set up the topic
Raise the issue
Promise an answer (your point, but don’t reveal it yet)
Give an outline of the structure of your talk
Body (3/6); Bit by bit reveal your point.
Bridge (less than ⅙); The bridge sums up everything you have said so far; the topic, the issue, and the point we have made as an answer to the issue.
Conclusion (⅙); apply the point with a story that either illustrates or is an example of the point you have made
Step 3: Explore the Logical Sequence of Ideas in the Body of the Talk.
In this step, Chan encourages us to create a connection with the audience (resonance), point out a deficiency in their worldview (dissonance), and then link to the Gospel as the fulfillment of this lack.
Step 4: Flesh Out the Body of the Talk.
Now that you have the structure of your talk and the logical sequence of ideas, Chan suggests you ‘flesh out’ the ideas and play with how you can communicate it. He suggests you do this in five ways; state the idea, illustrate it, explain it, give an example and give an application.
We have further training and sample evangelistic talks on our Passion for Evangelism Youtube channel here.
Listen to a talk on the theme of home.
Listen to a talk used at a Christmas pottery night.
Have a read of some sample scripts
Read some top tips on “Making your talk more accessible for internationals/English non-native speakers”.