Keeping It Simple — Tish’s Story

Tish has been on our Response Team for two years now. I would say she’s an expert at what she does. On almost a daily basis, she talks with people online about Jesus. She has led many people in the decision to make Jesus their boss and has prompted many others to take time to explore God more for themselves.

I asked Tish to write down a few thoughts from her experiences. You might be surprised to hear what she shares.

I’ll let her tell the story…

When I first started chatting to people online I found it really confronting because I got to see the words I was choosing to use. I was shocked at how harsh I was, and at times, I was downright weird! I would read back over the conversation and realise how much of what I was saying was actually distracting the person. To make things worse I noticed that I wasn’t being a good listener — people were opening up and sharing their experiences but instead of acknowledging them, I bull-dozed along with a goal in mind.

I think somewhere in my head I thought if I just got them to say a salvation prayer I had done my job.

This kind of mentality is dangerous and ineffective. It skips past the part where God is wanting to form a personal relationship with the person. I needed to keep it simple — my job was to introduce people to Jesus. After a while, I found I had improved, and talking with people online wasn’t such a hard thing. It got me thinking about the way I spoke though; was I any different when chatting to people face-to-face?

I’m not sure I’ve figured out the answer to that question yet, I think it’s a work in progress. I know our words don’t have to be fancy and sound spiritual to make an impact. I know people need to know they can be themselves in front of God and just be real with Him.

I’ve learnt to listen more and I have become less ‘preachy’ and more relational. People aren’t searching for religion, they are searching for relationship.

Whether you are interacting with someone online or face to face; when we are genuine and honest, simple and not fancy, quick to listen, and slow to get to the end, we can make a real difference in people's lives.

Why not try out your skills and strike up a conversation with someone online? See how you go with keeping things simple. Allow yourself to read over what you shared and see if God is revealing anything to you about how you chat with the people around you.