In search of ... elevator speeches

"So, what do you do?"

There it is.
The most common question strangers ask of each other and the moment of opportunity.
Your time starts now.
Is this going to open a God / gospel conversation?
Or close it?

Especially an opportunity for those of us in full-time ministry or ministry-related roles, nevertheless, there are perhaps even greater opportunities here for Christians who rightly understand their roles as Christ's servants / ambassadors / ministers to be a 24/7 gig. That is, your day job is your hobby / what you do to pay the bills. Your real job and passion is as a servant / soldier in God's kingdom / army.

Now, first thing to remember is this 15-30 second window (in an elevator, at a party, at your kids' soccer game, at the coffee shop, etc) should not be an inaudible grunt or a verbal assault. That is, we Christians can either shut down in our timidity, or over-play it in our nervous enthusiasm and shut down the conversation anyway. It's usually an informal situation. People are not asking us to verbally assault them with 45-60 seconds of blather.

Here's my definition of an elevator speech: a progressively revealed conversational answer that you deliver in such a way that people want you to keep talking.

Let me correct a common misconception straight away. In most situations you don't really have 30 seconds.
You have three seconds.

Now you may be thinking - "There's nothing substantial I can say about what I do in three seconds!" And my answer is - "Don't try."

Remember, it's progressive revelation. You say one sentence. You may or may not get permission to say your second sentence. You say your second sentence. Permission? Yes/no. Maybe a third sentence. And so on.

After each sentence, listen carefully. You may get permission to go on, or you may get that look or tone or body language that communicates "Mmm, you're done." If you get the latter response, reply courteously by asking what they do, or rounding off the conversation in a personable, friendly manner.

1. WOW!
So start conversationally. Say a little bit that gets their attention - this is like a headline that is interesting and different - and wait for their non-verbal Scooby Doo response - "ar-rugh??!" They are then giving you permission to keep talking. For example:

Them: "So, what do you do?"
You (for non-full-time ministers): "I'm a part-time accountant, and a full-time Christian (worker)."
You (for full-time ministers): "I'm in Christian education." (And this is not just for Christian teachers, but Bible teachers of any stripe" )
You get the picture"

2. HOW
Then say the second sentence. How you do what you do to benefit people:

You (corny but cute): "I'm kinda like a lifesaver, but on dry land."
You (cryptic and curious): "I stop people from getting burnt" / "I help people to avoid a fate worse than death."
You (straight): "I help people know God better / understand the Bible better."
They may comment on it or Scooby Doo again.

3. NOW
If you get to this stage, you now have permission for a longer-form explanation. The aim is to give them enough for them to follow up on later if they are interested, not buttonhole them. A really great way to do this is to insert them in a story:

"Now / Say for example, you know, when you" I can assist in / prevent that from happening ."

"The other day, someone asked me about

, and I was able to help them discover that

If the person is still in conversation, offer your business card, or offer to catch up for a coffee to chat further, or whatever. For example, "Hey, really enjoyed chatting. Maybe we can catch up another time when we've got more time than an elevator ride" "

Try it, and tell us how it goes.

So, what do you do?

Andrew is Sydneyanglicans.net's resident digital scholar and the pastor of the Asian Bible Church (ABC), a congregation of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. ABC, it's easy as 1-2-3, do-re-mi"