In my first blog about God Space I talked about the “WHY” behind sharing the gospel. In this one, I wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about the “WHO” and the “HOW.” The WHO is pretty simple, right? Everyone in our lives who doesn’t know Jesus as their savior and is living a life apart from Him. Ok, covered the WHO and I think the HOW will explain a little bit more about which WHO to focus in on.
I’ve talked with some people lately who are asking the question, “How do we start the conversation with people about Jesus in a meaningful way, and not just scratch the surface. That’s the key…not just surface level. It’s easy to say, “Well, just ask them if they know who Jesus is” or “What do you think happens to you when you die?” I’m sure you’ve heard a variety of questions like this. Not bad questions to ask but there are some steps to take prior that are important.
- Pray for Opportunities
You have to be willing to have God act when He’s ready, not when we feel we’re ready. That starts now. “God, bring into my life people who don’t know You. Let me be a vessel for your Word to be known to them. I cannot change their heart, but You can.” Can be very simple, but this is the first step in knowing who God wants in your life in which a potential impact can be made for His Kingdom.
2. Build strong relationships, built on trust
This could be a very long blog in itself so I am going to keep it very high level. Before you can make a true impact on someone’s life and have them take what you say seriously; there needs to be a relationship built that exists outside of just you trying to share the gospel with them. So, ask yourself some questions, “Can you be comfortable hanging out in environments that have a lot of ‘unchristian-like” things that are happening?” Jesus was. “Will those people see a difference in how you act and live your life?” Jesus was just a little different 😉 “Can you actually love and care for people who are far from God?” Jesus did. “Can you be patient and wait for the opportunities that God presents for you to share the gospel?” Jesus was. Now don’t get me wrong, we are mere human beings and far from perfect like Jesus. But if there is someone to learn from about how to share the gospel in the best way possible…Jesus is a pretty good starting point.
3. Listen, don’t tell
Don’t get me wrong, there is always a time for telling someone about the Good News of the gospel. But first, it starts with listening. Ask questions and understand their story. Don’t ever be judgmental or pushy. If/when it comes time to share a little bit about the gospel, let them come to their own conclusions without trying to force our views on them. The goal is not to trick them into becoming Christians, our job is to let God work in their lives so that they may come to know the truth and grace that exists in a relationship with Him.
4. Share your experiences
Once we have prayed for those people to be in our lives, we’ve built a relationship with them and have listened to their story; don’t hide the things that have had the biggest impact on you. Whether that be life experiences, challenges, resources, whatever; share those things and it will just create more room for good, deep conversations. We just released a podcast episode called, “What is Truth?” Podcasts are obviously very popular in today’s culture, which is one of the reasons why we do the podcast. We can share it with unbelievers and have a simple way to approach a conversation about Jesus.
5. Pray for God to do His work
We started with prayer and we’ll end with prayer. We prayed for God to lead us into these relationships and conversations, now we pray that He takes control and does His work in His time.
I summarized most of this blog in my own words with some thoughts from the book God Space, so please take it with as much of a grain of salt as you want. But here is a quote from God Space that I liked as we wrap up that is talking about how we know if we’re being successful in sharing the gospel, “Taking the initiative to make Christ known in practical, doable, authentic ways and leaving the results up to God.” Just start taking some of these steps in your life today if you’re not already and then leave the rest up to God. I am stumbling my way through God’s purpose for me in my life when it comes to all my relationships and the work He’s doing through me. I have a long way to go, but the good news is, we’ll never be enough, but Jesus is.