Last night we had our first (in some while) dialogue evening with our Muslim neighbours. It was less of an overt dialogue as we would usually do. Instead, we used the opportunity to ask those who were in attendance how they would like to see the events operate going forwards and what topics they would like to do discuss. We then opened the floor to whatever questions people wanted to throw at us. It didn’t follow our usual pattern of presentations from different perspectives followed up by Q&A.

In one sense, it could be viewed as a fairly disappointing night. There was no overt presentation of the gospel. Even with the Q&A, the particular question that dominated the time was not a particularly significant one so far as the gospel is concerned. Some of it even ended up being conducted in Arabic, which locked out half the room from even engaging. When we eventually got back onto English, the question was neither leading us much closer to the gospel nor to any significant or glaring issues with Islam. It could have been viewed as a bit of a washout from this perspective.

And yet, when we called time and sent everybody up to grab some food together, conversations began around tables. Those conversations, which started with the tangential questions about languages that dominated our plenary session, soon did lead on to gospel conversations. That question which was of limited value led to some other discussions that were of (probably) more evident value. Viewed from that perspective, the multiple more helpful conversations happened after the main session made the evening far more valuable than any single presentation could accomplish.

As I was discussing this was somebody afterwards, I made the point that what happens in the main session isn’t really the significant thing. In a sense, even though we didn’t discuss anything of any great value yesterday in the main session, it still served its function. That function is to get people through the door with an eye on having a discussion about our respective faiths. In a way, it doesn’t really matter what we say or do in the main meeting (within reason), what matters is the conversations that we might be able to spin out of it afterwards.

I was reminded (rightly) by the person that I was speaking with that those plenary sessions can still serve a more valuable purpose. We know we will present the gospel through whatever topic we pick, no matter how seemingly niche or abstruse. But that presentation might be the only opportunity some of the people in the room get to hear the gospel clearly presented at all. I hear that point and, naturally, want to present the gospel in that forum whenever I can. Thankfully, I can do that pretty much every time – last night was the strange outlier where I couldn’t, and even then we read John 1:1-18 both in Arabic and in English which wouldn’t have hurt any.

Nevertheless, I maintain – despite wanting to take that opportunity to present the gospel from the front every time – the key benefit of our meetings is not the plenary session. The key benefit is the gospel conversations that happen afterwards. The discussions where people can think more deeply about the things that are said and can ask questions freely, away from the glare of others watching on and feeling forced into offering performative polemics rather than thinking for themselves and exploring things openly. It is the discussions and the relationships that are where the value lies. The plenary session is a conversation starter, hopefully one with enough gospel content to get the discursive juices flowing, that serve as a warm-up for the discussions that will happen later.

That being the case, and given our long-term experiences of this kind of dialogue meeting, the key thing is ultimately this: just get people in the room. Once you have people in the room, you have a good chance of getting conversation going. If you can get conversation going, you have lots of ways into speaking the gospel to them. In a sense, it matters far less what specific content you offer in the main session from the front. That is the draw we use to get people in and to spark their conversation. What we really want is people in the room, having gospel conversations amongst themselves, addressing the real and direct questions people have about the Lord Jesus.