In many ways, the practice of sharing the gospel is the art of conversation. Though some may be more gifted than others, there are many simple ways to start and build great conversations. Today's guest shares his experience starting conversations with strangers and the tools he's developed to help us all gain traction in our evangelistic efforts.

Stephen Caldwell trains people to build and deepen relationships with others. In his program called Traction, he teaches people how to perceptively listen and ask probing questions during conversations that are spiritually or existentially focused. The book for Traction is titled Making Inroads: How to ask questions to better understand others. He has gained his experience by using the Socratic Method teaching English, serving as a chaplain during a year of clinical pastoral education, study of and participation in Ignatian spiritual direction, and both practicing and training others in consultative selling and non-directive coaching. He has developed, practiced, and led Traction since 2002.

Here at Solas we love partnering with Christian Union groups on university campuses across the UK. Today we speak with a student from Lancaster University where Andy spoke at their mission week this year. So what is a mission week? What sort of topics appeal to students? And how would you convince a history student that Jesus really rose from the dead? All that and more in this episode of PEP Talk.

Lena Dacca is a history student at Lancaster University, and recently served on her Christian Union’s committee as the Mission Week Coordinator. She is an aspiring historian and evangelist, and is especially passionate about sharing the gospel in a way which points people toward both the evidence for Christianity, and the transformative love of Jesus.

This week we have the return of Clare Williams, who contributed three chapters to our book, Have You Ever Wondered? She explains how contemporary questions around race and social justice so quickly point to the gospel when you take the time to wonder about their importance.

Clare Williams is the founder of Real Questions, a platform which explores the intersection of race and faith within the Black British context. She is also a speaker and tutor at The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Prior to her work in apologetics, she was an English teacher in London secondary schools for ten years. Clare has a degree in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, and Masters in Leadership (2012) and Culture, Diaspora and Ethnicity (2021) from the University of London. She is now a doctoral student conducting research in Sociology at The University of Westminster.