If you grew up in a Christian home, or have attended a church for a while, you have probably come across someone saying that it is a good idea to be able to verbalize what the Gospel is. I remember doing this exercise before going on a missions trip in high school. I think we had a list of colors and each color represented a different aspect of the gospel (Black - we are dead in our sins, Red - Jesus died to rescue us from our sins, White - Jesus' blood has made us white as snow, etc.).
Whatever way you want to learn to share the gospel is fine, but it is definitely something that you should do! Obviously it helps when you are witnessing to someone. You don't want to come across sounding like a bumbling idiot when you are talking about the most important topic ever! =) It is also a good exercise because it makes us slow down and actually think about what we believe.
Mark Dever's Gospel in a Minute
A few years ago, my husband heard Mark Dever speak about trying to put together a gospel presentation that would only take one minute to share. We thought this was a neat idea.
I've heard some people try to come up with the fewest amount of words possible to convey the gospel message (I sinned, Jesus died, etc.), and while that is an interesting mental activity, its helpfulness is really limited.
Other people have such a complicated gospel presentation that it leaves room for so many rabbit trails and you have a hard time getting around to the main point.
So, my husband and I were really interested in this "Gospel in a Minute" idea. Is it going to fully explain and defend every point of Christian doctrine? No, but it's amazing just how much content you can get into 60 seconds!
It's been a while now, so I don't remember exactly, but I think my husband took what Mark Dever wrote out and tweaked it. The 9 Marks website shows the basic outline with verses to back up each point. Dever has written a book, called The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, that also cover this topic. Also, here is a youtube video of him talking through the gospel (though here it takes him 1 minute and 50 seconds!)
Our Gospel in a Minute
Here is what my husband came up with. Like I said, it is very similar, just tweaked. We slowly memorized this as a family and often review it before bedtime. It's so wonderful to have this kind of things rattling around in our children's brains and nourishing their souls. We reference it so often in our daily conversations and it provides such a great jumping off platform for deeper discussions.
The one and only God, creator of everything,
who is holy, made us in His image to Know Him and glorify Him.
But we sinned, we rebelled. We cut ourselves off from Him, and there’s nothing we could ever do to earn our way back to Him.
But in His great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever believe in Him.
And then He rose from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us has been satisfied.
He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness.
If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God.
FREE Gospel in a Minute Printable!
Recently, my husband mentioned that he thought it would be nice to have this Gospel in a Minute printed so we could have it up in our home. I thought it was a great idea, so I decided to create a version that was pretty enough to have setting around =)
I got it printed on a 16x20 canvas from CanvasFactory.com and have it sitting next to the 5 Solas print that I got from them last year.
I heartily encourage you to memorize this or something like it with your family! If you would like this GOSPEL printable (or the 5 Solas one for that matter), you can get them for free just by entering your email address here (or click below). An email will be sent to you with the links to download the images. The file can be used as a background on your computer or other device, or it can be printed as a picture, any size up to 16x20 inches.
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