We visited a restaurant recently, one in which you can make a reservation only if you’re a member of their “club”. To join the club, one simply needs to provide an email address. Then, you’re in.
As we walked into the restaurant, a couple was in front of us and we listened as they were told the wait to be seated would be about 20 minutes. They stepped aside, we checked in and were seated within three minutes. Even though I didn’t know the now waiting couple, I felt compelled to share the knowledge we had about the online membership providing the privilege to make reservations and sparing them of future waits. Why?
These were strangers to us. Never seen them before. It’s just that I knew something that was good news that was shared with us earlier, and now I wanted to be the bearer of this to others.
So why don’t I feel compelled to share the Good News about Jesus in the same way? This is way better news, the best news ever!
Here’s a couple of common objections to stepping into this:
I don’t feel capable: Without a Master of Divinity degree or decades of bible study and memorization, I don’t (yet) feel ready to have a conversation with someone about faith, especially a stranger.
It’s awkward: How do I bring this up? What if the other person is offended? What is the context in which I would do this?
Maybe I’ll offend them: Yes, true, Maybe. We use the “maybe” to create a stop sign in considering having a faith conversation with most people.
I agree and often have the same thoughts and feelings as stated above. After 25 years of living a life following Jesus and working in ministries dealing with the public and people unknown to me, here’s a few thoughts:
People in relationship with you: A bit juxtaposed to the account at the beginning of this post, I most often like to know and be known a bit by someone before entering into a faith conversation with them. It might be only a few conversations, such as with a new co-worker, that I would hope establishes me as a thoughtful, caring person with good intent.
Making a test statement: Sometimes, I might make a faith type statement in response to someone which may help reveal more about them and their beliefs. For instance, if someone says, “My mom just got out of the hospital and she’s going to be fine” I might respond with “Praise God for her healing!” This sometimes opens the door for each of us to step through, knowing a little more about each other’s core beliefs.
Pay attention to facial expression: Now, even with strangers, I’ve done this many times. More than once, I’ve had a wait-staff at a restaurant with a pained expression on his or her face. I may ask if they are ok and if there would be anything I could pray for them about. There is a remarkable number of times the answer is “yes”, then I might ask if I could do this quickly on the spot. Afterward, I would share where we attend church and ask them to join us.
In summary, the main thing in sharing the gospel (the “good news”) is to make the decision to follow the Holy Spirit promptings to step into this and pray for the courage to do so. Decide today to no longer use reasons to create your own “stop sign” rather decide I’ll listen to God’s voice when he asks this of me and trust him to provide the courage and the words.
Your decision to do this just may change all of eternity.
Richard Bahr 