How to start spiritual conversations with friends who don't care about faith

Many of our evangelistic approaches assume that people have questions about the Christian faith. But how do we engage people who appear not to be in the least bit bothered? Andy Bannister shares one idea

“I don’t really care about God”.

One of my oldest friends, John, was one of the toughest people to start conversations with about Jesus. John wasn’t anti, nor hostile, he just was utterly disinterested in faith.

John had grown up in a Christian home but had walked away from his faith as a teenager. By the time I met him, he didn’t know what he believed—but that didn’t trouble him. During an early conversation, when I mentioned Jesus, John replied: “Look, I don’t care about God”. I pushed back slightly and he expanded: “Life’s fun! I’ve got the job I want, the car I want, the flat I want, the woman I want. Where does God come into it?”

I have other friends like John and perhaps you do, too. Friends, colleagues, neighbours, even family members, who appear not to care about spiritual things. Trying to talk to them about faith can feel like trying to nail fog to the wall.