Any or responses to these letters can send them to this email: alwaysreadyforchrist@gmail.com
Today, I’ll focus some simple things that can prepare you to share your faith more effectively. I know I have pushed the need for the knowledge of evidence in Christianity which I still believe can help in sharing your faith especially in this “no absolute truth” culture however that is one of the tools that can be used. There are other things that are important as well.
Firstly and probably the most important is Prayer! In that definition of Evangelism, I posted in previous letter it mentioned joining the Holy Spirit in its work and understanding where person is in their spiritual journey. How can we “be in tune” with the Holy Spirit? Prayer can help. When praying about sharing your faith, you need to ask specifically for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and your ears. We need to see the opportunities then act on them and we need to learn to listen and do less talking. I’ve said this before, I believe God has appointed certain people in our life’s path to share whatever we need to share to help them in their spiritual journey towards Jesus. We need to ask to have our eyes open for those opportunities then be able to listen for clues from the other person. We also need to pray to have the right attitude and words to say when it is time to speak. In last post, I said you don’t have to be perfect which I meant but I also believe you need to be prepared as much as possible and praying helps in preparing to share your faith. God wants all to come to Him but not everyone will believe in Him. God knows who will or won’t believe in Him however we don’t know but if we pray then share what they need to know then we need to leave the results to God. Prayer can motivate us to do our part.
Secondly, we need some humility when sharing our faith. We need to project an attitude that we don’t have it altogether but that we are like them human prone to making mistakes and don’t have all the answers. I don’t think I have all the answers just because I study a lot evidence on Christianity. It’s ok when sharing your faith to say, “I don’t know.” Sometimes Christians can give off an air of arrogance when they appear too confident in their faith which turns off the non-believer to listen more. Sometimes Christians unintentionally look arrogant when they do most of the talking. One time, Sean McDowell asked a group of atheists what are some blind spots when Christians share their faith and one of them said they need to do less talking and more listening because they want to talk about their beliefs but not listen to mine. If we show respect by listening more then our “gardening” becomes more effective. If a non-believer asks a good question or makes a good observation, it’s ok to compliment them on it. If we sincerely listen, then they are more likely to listen to us. I told a story of Sean McDowell in a previous post of him getting a rude treatment from a Christian audience when he role played as an atheist so how do we expect a non-believer to be receptive to our beliefs if we’re not being respectful to them. We have to remember each person is made in the image of God and God pursues each person so if we view non-believers this way then we honoring God when we treat them like we want to be treated. God can use you in His pursuit of non-believers if you prepare yourself by praying for opportunities and have wisdom on how to approach each opportunity then use your listening skills to ascertain to proceed forward. Do you want to be used by God?
Most Christians today think non-believers don’t want to talk about spiritual matters but a survey was done a few years back which showed that 4 out of every 5 non-believers would have a spiritual conversation with a friend however 80% of professing Christians think it’s their responsibility to share their faith but only around 20% do try to have several spiritual conversations in a year while the other 60% don’t at all. That’s an alarming statistic. There is a hunger in the world find a higher power or purpose and meaning to life that the secular worldview that cannot answer or fulfill. The next few posts I will have more tips on Evangelism.
What’s Your Projection of Jesus?
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