Christy Klippel, a campus staff member at Purdue-Calumet, does conversational evangelism on campus every Tuesday afternoon. Recently, she started a conversation with a student who was sitting at the table sponsored by the Social Justice Club in the university commons. After a while, another person came by the table. Mary, an instructor in the sociology department, said that she hated the Bible because it supported slavery. Christy agreed that people have sometimes used the Bible to justify slavery, but told Mary that a more in-depth reading of Scripture shows that God does not want anyone to be enslaved.
Though Mary was not convinced, she did appreciate Christy’s careful presentation. They talked more about the ethical implications of some social behaviors. Then before she turned to leave, Mary invited Christy to speak to the sociology class about deviant behavior in society.
Later, Christy prayed about this invitation, and the next Tuesday she went to the class. Christy spoke to the students for an hour about how different Christians respond to deviant behavior in society. Christy gave a short presentation of the gospel, indicating that for a Christian, deviant behavior is another word for sin, of turning away from God. After her presentation, Christy answered questions from the class. How do we know the Bible is true? If I die today, will I go to hell? Aren’t Christians intolerant? Christy graciously answered the questions and even found help from a couple of Christians in the class. After class, Mary thanked Christy for coming and invited her speak at another class.
The next week, when Christy went to campus to do evangelism, three students came up to her, and one said, “You’re the person who spoke in our sociology class.” Christy started a friendship with the students as she answered more of their questions about the Christianity.
