Even if you don’t seem to be having any effect, don’t give up. If they are willing to talk, continue to meet. Almost every Mormon who became a Christian relates how it took them a long time, even many years, to believe in Jesus.

There are several different ways you can structure these discussions to make them last longer.

• Each time study a specific Bible story or section of Scripture: We recommend taking small chunks since most Mormons are not accustomed to thinking about or studying Scripture. A common aspect of LDS culture is using a verse without thinking about it. Therefore, you might have to help them by showing how you use context to understand a passage; how you think about how it applies to you, etc.
• Sooner, rather than later, you will need to talk about the relationship of faith and works. This could be a subject of several discussions. Review the Faith and Works section of our Witnessing Scenarios for examples on how to do this.
• Each week study a key word like sin, grace, atonement. Both the Bible Dictionary in the LDS Bible and articles on churchofjesuschrist.org are good resources to understand their definitions. You will be well-served to know those definitions before you discuss them so you can be prepared to give biblical passages addressing them.
• Study a specific book of the Bible: many Mormons have never done this. The danger here is reading it too quickly without really getting into in-depth discussions.
• Study specific Bible topics: the challenge is that this usually requires looking up several different verses making it easier for them to be pulled out of context.
• You could suggest discussing specific articles from churchofjesuschrist.org. Be sure to pick an article dealing with the major topics of sin and eternal life. Within our Witnessing Scenarios, you’ll see a few example articles and guidance on how to approach this technique. Here’s an example using a popular LDS article, The Miracle of Forgiveness.
• Study a book together: for example, you could read through God—The Ultimate Humanitarian. Its chapters are brief and conducive to this approach. It also addresses topics important to Mormons without ever mentioning Mormonism.