Sin and Suffering

Christianity and Buddhism have fundamentally different formulations of the human problem. Christianity tries to answer the problem of sin, while Buddhism tries to answer the problem of suffering. At the University of Florida (and probably elsewhere) I think people are more concerned with the problem of suffering than with sin. So what does Christianity have to say about suffering? Might "suffering" (at least in some cases) be a better starting point for Christian evangelism than "sin"?