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Writer's pictureSteve Boots

How to Win Friends and Influence People...for Christ

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Romans 1:16


How to Win Friends and Influence People, written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, is one of the first best-selling self-help books. The book was a result of a fourteen-week course in which he taught principles on how to better yourself by bettering the people around you. While there are some good ideas presented in the book to help someone make more money, I think some of those same principles apply to helping Christians win souls.

One of Carnegie’s first ideas is to become genuinely interested in other people. That point is vital for Christians to grasp if they are to be effective in winning people to Christ. It is hard to have a desire to see people saved if you don’t even care what happens to their soul. Imagine those people spending an eternity in a torturous hell – that should help you develop a genuine burden for their souls. It is easy to see people in their physical conditions of helplessness; but when you look at people in light of eternity, it will give you a burden to see them won to Christ. Think of it this way: If I don’t tell them how to be saved, then they will likely never know how to get to Heaven. If I truly care for those people, I will do my absolute best to make sure that they have an opportunity to be saved.

A second principle that would help us win souls is to call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. We certainly should not hide the truth, and I am not suggesting we compromise; but many people are just genuinely misguided. If they knew the truth, they would believe it. However, because of how they grew up or other circumstances, they are still in darkness. Jumping down someone’s throat and calling him a horribly wicked person will only make him turn away from Christianity. Befriend him and kindly share the truth, then let the Holy Spirit do His work in convicting in his heart.

On the flip side, we should not let the world’s low view of other religions keep us from doing our duty in winning souls. Many people run when they see a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness coming. Fear of being lumped into the same category with them should not scare us away from delivering the truth in love. We have been given a job – to win souls to Jesus Christ. Let us use every advantage we can to help them come to the Saviour.



Read also: Romans 1:13-20



Quote of the day: “Our great object of glorifying God is to be mainly achieved by the winning of souls.” - Charles Spurgeon



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