Generosity
Week 02: Sharing your faith
Sharing your faith with others is not a popular practice in our culture today, and for good reason. Modern evangelism is often weird, brash, and lacks any kind of beauty. We’ve all experienced the angry street preacher or door-to-door salesman. And this all makes us feel like this is the last thing we’d ever want to do. But what if it doesn’t have to be that way?
Not a sales pitch, but an invitation to follow Jesus. Many of us have encountered a cringy sales pitch for Jesus. At youth camp, we’ve been motivated to choose Jesus instead of hell. Or maybe you’ve been approached by someone and asked “If you were to die today, do you know where you would go?” In addition to being morbid, these approaches reduce following Jesus into a formula of believing the right stuff. Evangelism doesn’t have to be that way. What if it is just simply inviting people to follow Jesus?
Not a ticket to heaven, but an invitation to follow Jesus. A lot of modern evangelism is simply about going to heaven when you die. This approach reduces Jesus to a means to an end, not the end in itself. Let me let you in on a secret, the goal is Jesus. It’s intimacy with Jesus. It’s knowing Jesus. It’s following Jesus! Evangelism is just inviting people to encounter and follow Jesus.
Not a brash encounter, but an invitation to follow Jesus. Evangelism shouldn’t be a brash encounter. In fact, Paul writes “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (Rom. 10:15). Sharing your faith is supposed to be “beautiful”. It’s supposed to be “good news”. It should cause people to well up with emotion and joy! Following Jesus is supposed to be the most joyous and beautiful message available. [For a deeper dive on what the Good News actually is, check out this Bible Project video.]
01 – Be aware of the Holy Spirit. God is at work in the world all around you. You may not be aware of it. That’s okay, the place to start is to become aware of God’s activity all around you. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the people all around you that he wants to empower you to share your faith with.
02 – Be aware of people. One of the most remarkable things about Jesus was his ability to see people (Matt. 9:36). God has placed people in your life and has empowered you to share his love with them. These are the people you work with, friends, neighbors, family, or people you pass by every single day. Spend time each morning praying for specific people. Pray that God would give you an opportunity to share your faith with them. Pray that God would be working in their lives. Next, become aware of the opportunities God is making all the time.
03 – Share your faith. A great place to start is having someone over for dinner. It’s surprising how much of Jesus’ ministry was done through hospitality. Jesus seemed to be constantly sharing a meal with people as a means to reach them. Share you faith with them. Tell them that God loves, Jesus died for them, and they can follow Jesus. You don’t need to pressure or convince them. Just share your faith with them and invite them to follow Jesus.
Recommended reading: Generous Justice by Tim Keller + Simply Good News by N.T. Wright