Sharing Jesus Without Fear
In our application with a missions sending agency, one of the things we lacked was some sort of formal evangelism training. After much calling around and begging, we finally found a local church willing to let us sit in on their Share Jesus Without Fear class this fall. We have been to one session, and have found the class enjoyable and engaging, and have been encouraged by the host church.
I sympathize with the author, Bill Fay. It's a tragedy how many Christians do not share their faith with anyone outside their church. And I have certainly been guilty of staying put, staying silent when I know we are surrounded by the lost.
But... I keep thinking it's not that simple. I mean, first of all, I don't come into contact with that many non-church people. Most of my friends are Christians, and most of those who aren't live out of town and I seldom see them. I spend most of my time at Church or at school, where everyone claims the name "Christian." I know my neighbors, but not well, since I'm rarely at home. And most of them go to church already.
So if I'm to share Jesus with someone who doesn't know Him, I have to do it with someone who doesn't know me that well, either. How do I do that effectively? (Maybe that's in a later class session, and we'll learn how this week) Do I just walk up to someone I see on the street and say, "Hey buddy, got Jesus?" I know my reaction when someone I don't know tries to force a personal conversation: not good.
Maybe I need to broaden my circle of friends and acquaintances first. I want to make an effort to spend more time with my neighbors, but it's hard right now. Maybe when school's done I'll be able to, but isn't that always an excuse? That we don't have time?
I think that's part of the reason I'm so anxious to go, to get out of the Bible Belt. It seems a lot easier to spend time with non-Christians, and to speak openly of Christ, when I'm surrounded by them - at least that's my memory of college. It just feels like, where I am right now, I have to force opportunities to share Christ, and I'm not comfortable doing that.
Can anybody back that up? Will it get easier, or is this something I need to work out now?
I sympathize with the author, Bill Fay. It's a tragedy how many Christians do not share their faith with anyone outside their church. And I have certainly been guilty of staying put, staying silent when I know we are surrounded by the lost.
But... I keep thinking it's not that simple. I mean, first of all, I don't come into contact with that many non-church people. Most of my friends are Christians, and most of those who aren't live out of town and I seldom see them. I spend most of my time at Church or at school, where everyone claims the name "Christian." I know my neighbors, but not well, since I'm rarely at home. And most of them go to church already.
So if I'm to share Jesus with someone who doesn't know Him, I have to do it with someone who doesn't know me that well, either. How do I do that effectively? (Maybe that's in a later class session, and we'll learn how this week) Do I just walk up to someone I see on the street and say, "Hey buddy, got Jesus?" I know my reaction when someone I don't know tries to force a personal conversation: not good.
Maybe I need to broaden my circle of friends and acquaintances first. I want to make an effort to spend more time with my neighbors, but it's hard right now. Maybe when school's done I'll be able to, but isn't that always an excuse? That we don't have time?
I think that's part of the reason I'm so anxious to go, to get out of the Bible Belt. It seems a lot easier to spend time with non-Christians, and to speak openly of Christ, when I'm surrounded by them - at least that's my memory of college. It just feels like, where I am right now, I have to force opportunities to share Christ, and I'm not comfortable doing that.
Can anybody back that up? Will it get easier, or is this something I need to work out now?
posted by Publius | 1:08 PM
3 Comments:
I saw you post on Wade's blog and came here to read.
Nice site and was interested to read "subversive."
Interesting transition from "rich, white bread, Master of Divinity to subversive, however I see a lot of that going on.
I remember when that was a bad word :)
Blessings,
Alycelee
Thanks for the kind words.
After attending the second session of SJWF, I discussed with my wife how appreciative we were of this course. We both like that its focus os outside the church. So many other evangelism courses seem to church-centric, ore recruitment for a Sunday school than sharing the gospel. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just that I'm not sure it's as effective in a world increasingly disillusioned with our church organization.
I don't think it's necessarily going to get any easier on the "mission field." It depends a bit on where you go, though. There are, I imagine, places where just being an American is a novelty, and people naturally ask you what you are doing, and relationships come naturally.
Here in Spain, we have to work at it. There are certain "methods," like language interchanges, that provide good opportunities. Also, I think that a good platform will help a lot in certain places for building authentic relationships.
I very much appreciate and affirm Alvin's comment above.
I am not familiar with SJWF, but am teaching the Willow Creek "Contagious Christianity" course here. I think it has a great balance, and approach to relation-based evangelism.
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