Talking about Jesus can feel weird or uncomfortable. Maybe you struggle to find the right opportunities to share, or feel that you lack the necessary knowledge. Perhaps you don’t want to cause tension in your relationships or be perceived as “pushy”.
Life is increasingly feeling like a warzone of competing worldviews. This is an intimidating landscape to navigate when you’re attempting to share Jesus with people you care about. So what’s your gameplan? How do you go about sharing Jesus?
Here’s a simple 3 step approach to help set you up for sharing Jesus…
1. Pray — Be a Christian
The starting point for authentic evangelism is a current, honest and intimate relationship with Jesus. Think about it – if you don’t know Jesus well, it will feel weird and forced to share about Him. In any relationship, familiarity comes through communication, and life with Jesus is no different. Our modern idea of prayer can often be reduced to a one way conversation with God. But when it comes to being a disciple of Jesus, your prayer life needs to be more than that.
You need to know His voice to respond to opportunities to share the gospel and navigate conversations. You need to be familiar with Him to know how to call out lies that dress up as Him. You need to be familiar with Him to talk about Him to all kinds of people, and to respond any time, any place to questions about Him.
2. Connect — Be a friend
It may be stating the obvious, but you can’t share Jesus if you don’t have meaningful relationships – or at least a connection point – with non-Christians. There’s no judgment here – it’s just a good question to ask. Many of us are passionate about our faith and open to sharing Jesus, but because of our passion, we’re serving at church and running small groups or organising events and before you know it we’re stuck in a Christian bubble with no friends outside of church.
So if you’re looking for a way to share Jesus, find non-Christians in your everyday life. Focus on where you are already personally connected and start by intentionally growing natural friendships with these people.
3. Respond — Be a messenger
When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit through prayer, and connecting well with the people in your world, you’ll start to see natural opportunities to share Jesus. The Holy Spirit is already working in the hearts of people around you. Staying connected to Him and responding to what he asks you to do takes the pressure off of you.
It might look like being ready to pray with someone, telling your story, explaining the gospel, or inviting people to church. You might get asked why you’re different, or a conversation might suddenly turn towards topics like God and faith. Perhaps you’ll see someone that needs help, or the Holy Spirit will challenge you to do or say something. It could be anything! Participating in someone’s journey towards Jesus is a super exciting way to live.
If you’re struggling to make a start sharing your faith, begin with these simple steps. Build an authentic, honest relationship with Jesus, meaningful connections with non-Christians, and a prayerful willingness to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit.