Good news! You've got cancer

C.J. Wilson

Apr 9, 2020 — 2 min read

"Sharing the Gospel is like telling people you have the cure for cancer. It's good news! But the bad news is you have to tell people they have cancer."

I can't remember when or from whom I first heard this idea but I was thinking about it today. Since I first heard it expressed, I've learned a lot more about marketing and storytelling.

One of the points Don Miller makes in Storybrand is that you should start with a problem. Without a problem, a story isn't interesting.

There is an enormous difference "I make website for businesses" and "Businesses are throwing away money because they either don't have a website at all or their current one is unprofessional. I make websites for businesses." is enormous.

Following that logic, telling people the have "cancer" should be a good thing, right? I'm sure you know it's not.

Join the conversation in their head

Another classic marketing principle is to join the conversation in a prospects head. You want to start where they are so they agree with your first statement.

Sometimes deliberate controversy can work but it's a high risk strategy, the more we know about selection bias, the more we've seen that people will just ignore evidence that contradicts what they believe. Starting with a statement they agree with is crucial.

That's why, telling someone they have something worse than cancer often doesn't work. We don't want to believe it, especially as the treatment might be expensive (your whole life), and there might not be any obvious symptoms.

What do they agree with?

Although people may not agree that they need to repent, it's easy to see that there's something wrong with the world, that this isn't the way it's supposed to be. And if we're being honest, we know that we help contribute to this mess.

As Christians, we believe this mess comes from sin. Actions large and small that are out of alignment with the way we should live.

While most of us haven't committed atrocities like Hitler or Stalin, I doubt a single one of us could claim that we'd done everything right all the time.

Even these small mistakes can snowball, where one slightly rude rebuff can hurt the recipient and cause them to be rude to someone else. Without reconciliation, forgiveness and grace things just get worse.