Any or responses to these letters can send them to this email: alwaysreadyforchrist@gmail.com
I have been giving tips on how to share your faith in my previous posts. Today I’m going to give some instructions on how to start your journey in sharing your faith. I’m still going to share the the different styles of Evangelism from Mark Mittleberg’s book, “Contagious Faith” in my next post but this post I’m going give you some simple instructions to start out without knowing your style yet. I encourage you to go ahead and start sharing your faith then later you find out your style and be more effective.
You can get off bench and start now. But Kevin how can I be ready?! Ok, I’ll help you. Jim Warner Wallace in his book “Forsenic Faith” compared Christians who share their faith to first responders like the firemen, policemen, paramedics, and even doctors and nurses in the ER. First responders have special uniforms which helps us know what they are capable of doing in special situations and Christian’s special uniform is the image of Christ. The image of Christ helps you in sharing your faith. Non-believers are more willing to listen to Christians who live out their beliefs.
I believe every Christian has a unique personality created by God to reach certain people that other Christians can’t reach. You have certain people you can share your faith with that other Christians cannot. What I mean is that you have a certain message for some people then other Christians may have different message to the same person. Greg Koukl says in order to have a harvest there needs to be some gardening and a lot of Christians are gardeners and each Christian aka gardener has a message for nonbeliever to get closer to Jesus. There are some Christians who are good at harvesting nonbelievers to accept Jesus Christ in their hearts. In John 4, when the Samaritan woman brought the townspeople with her to Jesus, Jesus said to the disciples “you about to reap what you’ve not sowed”. Also Jesus also told them that the “Sowers and Reapers will rejoice together!”. If gardening is your thing is gardening then keep doing it then you celebrate with the harvester later especially in heaven. If you are a harvester then don’t get frustrated with a gardener because remember there has been several gardeners working on the person before you came along.
Secondly, first responders have special training and learn things to update their skills. Sharing your faith is no different because while the gospel message hasn’t changed however the way of presenting it has changed considerably. Back in the 60’s, 70’s, and the 80’s, being a Christian was looked upon favorably but since the 90’s it has become more less favorable. A Christian to be effective in sharing their faith need to learn how to communicate the gospel differently to different mindsets people have on Christianity.I have given several tidbits in other posts. I have conveyed to the church leaders and Pastor Daniel the need to equipping and training of the church members to help the church grow. In the future there will be some special workshops and classes to help equip and train you. Like first responders do they get dispatched so now I'm dispatching you with these instructions.
Here some Dispatch Instructions:
1. Pray for all nonbelievers, former Christians, and Christians with doubts
2. Pray specifically for nonbelievers you know
3. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and ears for opportunities for spiritual conversations
4. Remember it’s not your job to convert rather it’s God’s responsibility through the Holy Spirit. Your job just to deliver your message even without telling the gospel
5. You don’t have to get the gospel in every conversation
You can follow these instructions without knowing the 5 styles of Evangelism. You don’t need to worry about making a mistake because the Holy Spirit can work through your mistakes. You need to live out your faith and keep working on your character to be closer to the image of Jesus Christ. Okay I’m finished now. Go get off the bench and share your faith then work on being more effective!
Kevin J Garrison