Charles Brammall on speaking with purpose (and giving away books).
When a non-Christian friend asks, “How was your day?” Take the opportunity to answer gently with something that raises God, like “I went to the Lunchtime Christian Group at my school.” Or “God was very kind today – he gave me all good classes.”, or “he helped me with some VERY difficult students.”
Or if they ask, “What did you do today?”, say something like, “Some friends came to church with us, then we had them over for lunch afterwards,” or “We had a planning meeting for our church’s mission trip to Uralla in country NSW.” This way, they will at least realise that you’re a Christian.
A friend of mine devised a lovely mantra for being a Christian: Being Creative with Everything Except the Truth. This includes thinking creatively about ways you can “gossip God” and bring Him into almost any conversation. Another tagline I like is from Ray Galea, Senior Minister of Fellowship Dubai International Church, one of my great mentors: Talking the Mystery out of Christianity.
If you work in a place where it is allowed or appropriate, put Christian books with interesting covers around your desk at work. As people notice how you’ve personalised your desk, ask about books. For example, I have The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlin, What God Has to Say About Our Bodies by Sam Allbery, a UK minister who experiences same-sex attraction, Gay Girl Good God – The Story of Who I Was, and Who God’s Always Been by Jackie Hill Perry, Hope Beyond Cure by Dave McDonald, and The Moon is Always Round by Jonathan Gibson, a great children’s book about explaining stillbirth and God’s care to a child.
Also, Nothing in My Hand I Bring by Ray Galea is about the differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant beliefs.
If you’ve been chatting to a non-Christian friend about something significant, photocopy a chapter from a book that you think they’d be interested in and say something like, “I was thinking more about our conversation the other day, and I thought you might find this chapter interesting. So I photocopied it for you.”
I was chatting to a non-Christian colleague at school the other day about some of our kids who are transitioning, cross-dressing, gay or non-binary, and she was saying it worries her because of her own daughters. So I gave her the chapter from The Secular Creed called “Trans Women Are Women”.
Also, a lady at the dog park was saying how she thinks Jesus might have been mad, so we chatted about how I also thought that was one possible explanation. But that the other options were that he was a liar and knew very well that he was making vexatious claims or that he was who he said he was- the all-powerful, eternal, international Ruler (i.e. LORD). I told her about the chapter “Lunatic, Liar or LORD” in Josh McDowell’s More Than a Carpenter (based on CS Lewis’s schema), and I am going to photocopy it and give her a copy.
More about the Books Charles Brammall mentioned
The Secular Creed, Rebecca McLaughlin, The Gospel Coalition, $21.96 Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by Cyndi Logsdon in Themelios/ Gospel Coalition
What God Has To Say About Our Bodies by Sam Allberry, Crossway, $26.99 Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by Dan Reid at Living Out
Gay Girl Good God – The Story of Who I Was, and Who God’s Always Been by Jackie Hill Perry, Broadman & Holman, $24.99 Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by Jon Coombs, Gospel Coalition Australia
Hope Beyond Cure by David McDonald, Matthias Media, $12.99
Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by Adam Scott, Gospel on Repeat
The Moon is Always Round, Jonathan Gibson, New Growth Press, $27.99
Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by David Ould,
Nothing in My Hand I Bring, Ray Galea, Matthias media, $19.99 Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by Dave Miers, Gospel on Repeat,
More Than a Carpenter Josh McDowell, Authentic Media, $9.99
Available at the Wandering Bookseller
Reviewed by Tim Challies, challies.com,