Best Ways of Sharing Your Faith.
As you know, there are many excellent ways to share the gospel with non Christians. Let's start by acknowledging that using the internet to share our faith is not better than many of the other ways.
A very respected and prolific evangelist of the late 1800s, Dwight L. Moody
was approached by a critic who said he didn't like the way Moody evangelized. To which, Moody responded, "How do you evangelize?'' The critic said ''I don't evangelize.'' Moody said ''It is clear you don’t like my way of doing evangelism. You raise some good points. Frankly, I sometimes do not like my way of doing evangelism. But I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.''
Any time a believer lays out the good news message to one or more unbelievers, it is called evangelizing. So, I would like to point out that in most cases whatever way a person truly evangelizes is better than not evangelizing. In addition, I am in favor of any style or media of honestly evangelizing that is effective in turning people to Jesus. Jesus commissioned all believers to evangelize. By this He asked every one of His followers to inform people of the gospel; if the hearers believe in Jesus, then the power of His death and resurrection will be applied to them. It will give them forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The label ''evangelist'' applies to any Christian who communicates this to any non-believer.
The goal of an evangelist is not necessarily to bring the unbeliever to Jesus in one dedicated try. The apostle Paul, said that the process of evangelizing might include only planting seeds, or watering seeds another has planted, or reaping the harvest. But it is God who powerfully backs up our work to bring the person to a heartfelt decision. -1 Corinthians 3:5-9. I think Paul may have been alluding to the use of seeds and harvesting based on the Parable of the Sower in which Jesus explains that we planters, scatter seeds yet not all the people will be receptive or even let the seed grow a little, but those He called ''good ground" will receive the seed and watch it grow and grow. -Matthew 13:3-15.
Multiple forms of evangelism can be combined. The more we evangelize, the more we gain wisdom on how to combine forms in a fluid way. I can think back to when I first became saved. It involved many people saying similar things to me in a way that made it feel more comfortable. When I say multiple methods can be combined, it doesn't mean they should normally be put together into a short space of time.
It is important for any person sharing their faith to know and understand the Bible's statements about it. Even though that is true, I have found that many new Christians are more productive in leading others to salvation in Jesus than most Bible scholars. It is true even if a person does not possess thorough knowledge about it.
When the new-birth experience is fresh, and in stark contrast with the past, more enthusiasm, zeal, and motivation are likely to be present. I try to think like a new "babe in Christ" when I share Jesus with others. Jesus did tell us to become like little children -Matthew 18:1-5.
No model for evangelizing is appropriate for every situation or every evangelist. Therefore, we need to start with who we are and what we know, then grow from there. Perhaps we can eventually grow into a Spirit-sensitive approach.
It is human to think about combining the best aspects of the most effective current models and even try to create other models that work even better. hat may be something to reach toward some day, but not necessarily to start with. One place we can start would be to style the form and content of our approaches around the needs, personalities, and settings of the recipients.
When I was a new Christian, I had been told that Jesus came into my heart with the Holy Spirit when I accepted Him as my Savior. It then occured to me that if God knew everything about everyone, then He could help me share Jesus with someone by giving me insight into key areas about the person that I should focus on. Quite often, these were areas of need, worries, emotions, or insights He would bring to my mind.
The best way to learn how to share our faith in person is to seek the Lord for His guidance in each situation of potential sharing. Then step back, take a breath and listen. In fact, that is the best way to do anything worthwhile. Listen to the person, and listen to God. Proverbs 3:5-6 is the best reference for this: ''Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.''
In personal evangelizing listen to the person and listen to God. When we are in that posture and wait on the Lord in His presence, we can be assured that He is in favor of us sharing the good news to someone who needs to hear it. The things we might not be sure about are who to share with, who to accompany us, what words to use, when to venture out, where to go, how to approach, and whether the timing is right for the listeners.
We musn't expect God to make every point clear to us each time. If we sense anything from Him at all, we should pursue it as a first avenue to explore. For example, if a person's name or image pops into your mind, perhaps it is someone worth getting in touch with.
Above all, we should love the people in a godly way, whether it is one person, a crowd, or thousands who we have never met. Most non-Christians are clueless about how much Jesus loves them, all the time, 24 hours a day. Hearing this can be unimaginable to them. But it is a major point of the gospel message. Pray that God would help the listener be brave enough to accept God's love for them. Many time the barrier is shame. Remember, when Jesus died on the cross for us, He died to remove our shame as well as forgive our sins.
Some people are like fruit ready to be picked. Others are unripe, and it would only hurt them to try and yank them off too soon. God's Spirit can help provide us with discernment to know who is ripe.
We can grow into openness to supernatural guidance, which is like undergoing training and personal development by God. Few people start out knowing all there is about sharing their faith. But those who let God raise them up over time in this gift, ability, and art may develop a lifelong love of sharing their faith. For me, in the beginning I did not know what I was doing in evangelism, but my pastor was extremely good at it. He was an inspiration for me to accept that evangelism should be part of my life, and I should hone my skills, overcome fear, and learn the Bible well enough to answer questions people had.
I have never felt like I was particularly good at evangelizing, but I knew that God wanted me to help save lives in the best ways I could. I literally believe that evangelizing is life saving. Saving a human from spiritual death is more crucial than saving a person's physical life. This statement has strong logic. Saving a human life is good, but they will someday die anyway. Saving a person into Heaven means they will never die. That is why I am writing these things, because I feel better doing this than becoming a fireman or paramedic.
What Are The Best Reasons to Share Our Faith?
Ask God to give you a love for others, so strong that it is enough to open for them the door to eternal life and abundant life here on earth - that is a most pure and selfless reason to share our faith.
Consider this scripture: ''and those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the heavens; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.'' - Daniel 12:3
This was prophesied by Daniel about people who would live far in his future. I'm pretty sure that would include us today. It is probably the verse that motivates me more than any other. Maybe it will touch your heart as well.
When a person has a boss who tells tells them to do something as part of their job, then keeps reminding them, eventually they take the boss seriously.
These things can keep us healed and motivated: feeling good about our methods, loving people, and flowing with the Spirit. Sharing our faith with others is a healing thing for us to do. The more we share, the more spiritually and emotionally healed we become in the area of sharing our faith. The more healed we are, the more effectively we can share.
We are all different from one another. I have shared my faith in many ways. Currently I am having a lot of fun sharing the gospel through social media, so I know there must be others who would like to make this site a jumping-board into evangelistic activity. At the same time, we can be most effective if we do not limit ourselves to exclusively online evangelism. I also highly encourage business people to share in businesslike ways with their peers, athletes to share in sport-loving ways, pastors to share from the pulpit, and the list goes on. The best ways of sharing our faith are the kinds that have the most positive impact on listeners, as well as on the speakers to sustain their efforts. Most of my evangelism has had something to do with music, which I very much enjoy. Each of us deserves to experience the adventure of finding out which ways are best for them.
When I was trained as an evangelist, the first thing my teacher taught us was to put together our "testimony". This means the steps that took place leading to our born again experience. He had us all write out our testimonies, hone them, wordsmith them, and make different versions that were short, long, and medium length. Later, when I joined an evangelistic rock band, I was given a spot to share my testimony to a large number of listeners during many of our concerts. People like a good true story with ups and downs, leading to a happy ending.
The testimony I came up with started by saying that on my high school campus I walked up to a group of people standing in a circle as teenagers like to do. One young man was holding a Bible and speaking. He was a medium height long-haired student who loved to talk about Jesus and how wonderful it was to follow Him. I laughed and kept walking. Later I ran into him as he was leading a Bible study to students sitting in a circle on the grass. I took him aside and asked if his parents made him carry a Bible to school and tell students about Jesus. He said his parents weren't believers in Jesus. I was shocked. If there is a little true entertaining drama in your testimony, it will keep the listeners' attention.
During this band's time, many thousands of people came forward at the end of performances to receive Jesus. Since then, the Lord has brought many opportunities for me to evangelize, perform, preach, or invest in the lives of people to bring them to salvation. Ever since I read "the great commission" in Matthew 28 verses 18-20 I have taken it as a command to all believers to put the authority of Jesus at the forefront, go, make disciples, and know that Jesus is with us always.
This still motivates me to do just what He asked. The key is to give myself grace as I walk through life, knowing He is patient, kind, and forgiving of me. Jesus always allows us to return to following the great commission without fear of failing or feeling a sense of disapproval while we become preoccupied with other things.
Here are some passages from scripture that can awaken and motivate us to fulfill our Master's desires for us to share our faith.
Matthew 28:11-20, Matthew 24:14, Mark 8:35, Mark 16:15 Luke 24:45-47, John 3:16-18, John 14:6, Acts 4:27-31, Acts:20:24, Romans 2:16, 10:14-15, 15;19, 16:25, 1 Corinthians 9:16-17 & 22-24, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Philippians 1:3-6, Colossians 1:3-6, 26-28, 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-16, 2 Timothy 1:7-10, 1 Peter 3:15-18, Revelation 14:6-7.
If you take some time to read all these passages, you will better understand what God keeps telling us to do, and why.
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