Would you consider yourself evangelistic? Honestly, not many would. In our extremely skeptical world where there’s an abundance of worldviews, trying to get someone to repent and believe in Jesus is a daunting task. With us this week to talk about evangelism in a skeptical world is Dr. Sam Chan. Not only does Sam help us see how things like contextualization, cultural hermeneutics, and storytelling can help your evangelism, but he also shares with us some of his own stories. And for those who have a fear of evangelism, Sam provides some good advice. Don’t miss this important conversation.

 

Who is Our Guest?

Dr. Sam Chan is a cultural analyst, theologian, public speaker, author, medical doctor, and karaoke buddy. Sam was born in Hong Kong, grew up and lives in Australia, studied medicine at the University of Sydney, and did his PhD in Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Chicago, USA.

Episode Links

Sam’s book (that our conversation was based on) is called Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How To Make The Unbelievable News About Jesus More Believable.

 

 

Also, check out Sam’s blog – espressotheology.com.

 

 

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Isaac:

With me today is Dr. Sam Chan. Sam is a theologian. He’s a preacher, author, evangelist (not done), ethicist, cultural analyst and medical doctor. It’s great to have you with us today, Sam.

Sam:

Good to be here, Isaac. Thanks for having me.

Isaac:

Absolutely. I should let our listeners know, if you’ve been listening with us for a while, that Sam is our first Australian guest. I just want to say, Sam, that’s a big privilege.

Sam:

Oh, it’s a pleasure and we’ve worked out, because of the international dateline, I’m in the future. I’m actually tomorrow. I’m one day ahead of you.

Isaac:

That is incredible. My brain does not fathom that.

Sam:

I know. You should ask me what the share market prices are going to do tomorrow.

Isaac:

That’s true.

Sam:

I can tell you whether they go up or down. I know. Wouldn’t it be good if it did work that way?

Isaac:

Too bad. Too bad. Sam, let me just ask first. I don’t really know you. A lot of people might not know you. Who are you? Maybe a little bit of a short testimony.

Sam:

Yeah, sure. I was born in Hong Kong. But as a baby, my parents moved to Australia, so I grew up in Australia. But then I did graduate and PhD studies in Chicago at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, went back to Sydney and then worked teaching (you guys call it seminary) theology, ethics, preaching and evangelism. Somewhere in that journey, I also was a doctor before I went to seminary.

These days I’m bi-vocational. I spend time in Christian ministry giving talks about Jesus, especially to the non-believing public, but also, I work one day a week as a doctor, as a surgical assistant. All I do is hold the leg for the surgeon to operate on. A trained monkey could do what I do. The nurses look at the surgeon and think, “Yeah, I can see how that took six years of medical school.