What is the Faith Pyramid?

Before reading this second introductory post, I recommend you read my post: What is Apologetics?

The Faith Pyramid strategy is the child of two parents: evangelism and apologetics. As Christians, we should learn how to share our faith from multiple angles. Can the gospel message respond to any worldview and handle difficult questions? Of course it can. But "we are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV). So the real question is, "Can you, personally, respond (on behalf of Christ) to any worldview and handle difficult questions?" Hopefully, the Faith Pyramid (FP) strategy can be a valuable tool in helping you become a better ambassador.

There is a foundation and three strategic levels to the Faith Pyramid strategy:

Foundation: Truth is knowable - The 

Level 1: Belief in God - A basic belief in the Creator God is the starting place on the journey to trusting in Christ. If you are sharing with someone and they don't believe in God (or they have significant doubts about His existence), converting them to theism first should be your focus. Generally speaking, giving the "message of God" from Scripture to an atheist or agnostic will often fall on deaf ears, since they do not believe in God in the first place. Trusting the Bible's message (at the very least) presupposes a belief in God. That being said, God can do whatever He wants, so exceptions to this rule are always possible. Nevertheless, you don't even need the Bible to prove God's existence to an atheist or an agnostic! Romans 1:20 states, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (NIV). This is called "general revelation." All of creation has God's fingerprints on it. History has God's fingerprints on it. You truly can convince someone of God's existence through observation and reason. For the training and knowledge on accomplishing this in an evangelistic encounter, see

Once this basic theism has been established (which is already held by a vast majority of the world), you can then move on to convince them of the truth of God's "special revelation" - God's word.

Level 2: Trust in the Bible - After a belief in the Creator God has been established, it's important to point them to the correct view of God. A mere belief in God isn't enough - "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder" (James 2:19 NIV). The issue, in this section of the FP, is that there are numerous places people turn to in their quest to discover exactly who God is: The Bible, the Qur'an, the Book of Mormon, the Watchtower publications, the Internet, television, and much more! Obviously, as Christians, we need to point them to the one true source of discovering who this Creator God is: the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. The Bible is His special revelation to us, not written merely by men, but by His Holy Spirit. Assuming the person you are sharing with already has a belief in God, they must now be convinced that the Bible is their best source for learning how to know Him personally. The challenge here is that many people have flat-out wrong views about the Bible's origin (specifically the New Testament books) and it's reliability to reveal accurate history (including the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection). If the person you are sharing with has erroneous beliefs about the trustworthiness of the Bible, giving good reasons why we can trust the Bible to reveal truth and God's revelation should be the goal in "conquering" this level of the FP. In short, you are arguing that Christianity is worth their attention. This can be achieved one of two ways:

1. By showing that the Bible is, indeed, both a reliable source of history and a book of God's revelation;

AND/OR

1. 2) By making the case for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus rose from the dead, then Christianity is true, and the Bible is trustworthy.

Once the foundation of a belief in God's existence has been established, along with the view that the Bible is the greatest source for discovering who God is, it is time to appeal to the message of God's word - the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ.

Level 3: Faith in Christ  - The presuppositions of God's existence and the trustworthiness of God's word are already held by the person you are sharing with, so the third layer of the Faith Pyramid strategy is all about the gospel message. Who is Jesus? Why did He come? Why do I need to be saved? What does it mean to be a Christ-follower? In essence, you can often [insert any evangelism paradigm here]; however, some difficult questions might still need answering. Eventually, in the third layer, it becomes time to ask, "By faith, will you make Jesus your Lord and Savior - both the Leader of your life and the Forgiver of your sins?" If they respond to God's call, salvation has come! And the pinnacle of the Faith Pyramid has been reached...

Pinnacle: Assurance of salvation - The pinnacle of the Faith Pyramid is not the end but only the beginning of a new journey - a journey to become a fully-developed follower of Jesus. As Paul said, "I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" (Philippians 3:13-14 NLT). Once we become an adopted son or daughter of God, our purpose is to be conformed to the image of Christ, so that we can become more nearly fit to dwell in God's Kingdom. Jesus said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things..." (John 14:26 NASB).

The greatest way to reach people for Jesus Christ is to reflect Him in the way that you live your life. This gives the ultimate credibility to your words. And when do we look more like Jesus than when we are caring for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the oppressed?