Sharing Your Faith
Biolans know a lot about their faith. Most have taken 30 or more units of Bible during their time at Biola. But according to a 2002 reader survey, 69 percent said they could use some help sharing their faith. They want evangelism to feel more natural and become more of a part of their everyday lives. So Biola Connections spoke with several Biolans who share their faith regularly and asked them how they do it.
Dorothy Scharer set a lofty goal this year — to share the gospel with at least one person everyday.
The day I spoke with the 55-year-old lab worker, she had just returned from an eye exam where she spent two hours sharing Christ with her eye doctor. The weekend before, she led two women prisoners to Christ through a ministry she helped start in her spare time.
At the lab where Dorothy screens cells for cancer, she shares Christ with her coworkers — many are Chinese Buddhists. Sometimes she gives them Chinese versions of the Jesus video or Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ. She also leaves things on her desk for them to "find", such as testimonies of Chinese who have come to Christ.
“I figure if I don’t tell them, who will? The Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons?” said Dorothy, a student in Biola's Christian apologetics program.
Thirty years ago, the thought of sharing her faith terrified Dorothy. Whenever she tried, she froze up. Turning conversations toward God felt forced and unnatural. She feared alienating friends and family or making them think she was weird.
So, what changed Dorothy from feeling hesitant sharing her faith to feeling confident?
Can I Pray For You?
The key for Dorothy was discovering an approach that fit her personality. It was something simple, yet surprisingly effective.
People have always gravitated to Dorothy when they needed someone to talk to. Unexpectedly, she began to hear a small voice telling her to pray with them.
“For a long time, I would shut it off, thinking, ‘Pray with them? Right in this parking lot or grocery store? I wouldn’t do a thing like that,’” she said.
For Dorothy, this simple question opened the door to countless conversations about God. Even some of the hardest people have been softened when she’s prayed for them. By taking the time to listen to those around her, Dorothy’s had more opportunities to share Christ than she ever thought possible.
Be Yourself
One lesson Dorothy learned was the importance of being herself when sharing her faith. But some Christians still struggle with this. Many have a mental image of a Super Evangelist who preaches on a soapbox and knows the answer to every question, said Josh Lingel, a graduate of the master’s in philosophy and religion program at Talbot School of Theology. Since most Christians don’t know the answer to every question, evangelism scares them, Josh said. So, they either don’t do it or, when they do, they change who they are.
Josh knows a few things about sharing his faith. In 1999, he received “The Sandy Ford Leadership Award in Evangelism” for his work in missionary and street evangelism. He said his best advice may sound simple, but it can make sharing your faith more natural: Be yourself.
“When we share Christ it’s easy to be tempted to change our personalities or pretend to know more than we do,” he said.
Josh tells Christians, if they don’t know the answer to a question, to say, “I don’t know, but give me a week and I’ll get back to you.”
“We need to realize that it’s OK to be limited,” he said. “Otherwise we have to be something that we’re not and that’s really hard to do. All God asks of us is that we be ourselves.”
Be Prepared
Being yourself doesn’t mean Christians don’t need to be prepared to share their faith. If they’re not, then when the opportunity arises they’ll miss it, said Ken Silva, a Talbot graduate and Evangelism Explosion’s U.S. Director for the Western States. Evangelism Explosion goes to churches in every country and trains Christians on how to share their faith.
The best way to be prepared, Ken said, is to master a simple, clear gospel presentation. Using tools — like tracts or memory aids — can help give us confidence. Ken developed his own tool in a video workshop titled Share Your Faith. The video presents an easy way to remember the gospel — by dividing it into five main points that correspond with the five fingers of the hand. Other organizations also provide helpful methods for presenting the gospel.
Another way to prepare is by learning about the worldviews of the people you’re sharing with. To be more effective sharing Christ with her Buddhist coworkers, Dorothy read Ravi Zacharias’ book, Jesus Among Other Gods. Many Christian books, Web sites and other materials are available explaining the different religions and philosophies.
It’s also helpful to learn to respond to people’s objections to Christianity. These will vary depending on the person you’re talking with. Jeff Morton — a Talbot graduate and missionary to Muslims in Orange County, Calif. — has learned to answer two of the most common Muslim objections: the Bible has been changed, and the Koran is the perfect Word of God. By becoming an expert on these two topics, he’s been able to go much further in his conversations with Muslims.
Of course most Christians won’t be able to answer every objection a nonbeliever raises. But we can all learn basic responses to a few of the most common ones. [See “Handling Objections”.]
But Christians who struggle making intellectual arguments shouldn’t let that stop them from sharing their faith. On the contrary, most Christians were led to Christ by someone who didn’t give sophisticated arguments, but whose love for the Lord was attractive. Every believer can share what Christ has done for him or her. In fact, a personal testimony can be one of the most powerful tools for sharing your faith, according to Ted Martinez who teaches the evangelism class at Talbot. In the class, he helps his students prepare a brief, well-stated personal testimony.
Ken encourages believers to remember that the ultimate goal of evangelism is to get someone to hear the gospel. “The gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, not our clever arguments or great answers to difficult questions,” he said.
Overcoming Nervousness
What do Christians do if they want to share their faith but feel nervous? Carly Waterfield, a Biola senior, admits she sometimes feels nervous when sharing Christ with strangers. Then she has to remind herself that it seems bolder to us than it does to them.
“It’s not like they’ve never heard anything about God or religion before,” she said.
Recently, while she was in line at Starbucks, Carly struck up a conversation with a young woman. She seemed open, so Carly asked for permission to ask her questions about her religious beliefs. Many people were listening. Carly started to feel uncomfortable for bringing up religion in front of so many people. But she kept talking.
Still, she suggests that Christians who are nervous about sharing their faith with strangers should go with someone who does it naturally — or do what she did and take a class from a ministry like Evangelism Explosion.
Although we don’t have to take a class to share our faith, it does help to practice, according to John Lewis, a lawyer and graduate of Biola’s organizational leadership degree program. Before becoming a lawyer, he feared speaking in public. Now that he’s developed his own style, he enjoys it. In the same way, the more he’s shared Christ the more natural it’s become.
“It’s going to be awkward for a while,” John said. “You’re just going to have to get through the rough period until you get your style.”
Josh tells missionaries, “Learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.” After all, Carly said, if we want to share our faith we have to be willing to take a risk.
“You just have to make the commitment to take whatever comes and go for it,” Carly said.
Look For Where God is Already Working
Even so, for some Christians the thought of sharing Christ with a stranger is overwhelming. But Ken said there’s another way. He asks God to bring people into his path who are open and searching for Him.
Ken said one of the best ways to gauge if a person is open is by paying attention to their responses during your conversations. For example, if you casually mention that you took your kids to youth group last night and they say, “I used to go to youth group,” then there is an opening. But if they ignore comments about your faith, then they may not be open at this time. The key, Ken said, is to pepper our conversations with references to our faith and then watch for signs of interest.
“I’ve learned to just look where God is working and those are the people I share with. If a person isn’t open, then I don’t push it,” Ken said.
Besides partnering with God, Christians should also work together with other believers, Ted said. He reminds his students that the Great Commission was given to the Church, not just individuals. As a Body, each Christian has a different function. When God’s drawing someone to Himself, He may use many believers to get the job done.
Be Intentional
Despite different giftings, Ted said all Christians have the responsibility to share their faith. He believes the best way to do this by is intentionally developing friendships with people we hope to share with. In fact, “intentionality” is the theme word of his class.
Ted knows the importance of developing relationships first-hand. It was a coworker who befriended him who first introduced Ted to the gospel.
“As we grow older in the Lord, our sphere of influence is decreasing as far as the number of people in it who haven’t heard the gospel yet,” Ted said. “So we have to go out of our way to cultivate genuine relationships with unbelievers.”
A few weeks before I spoke with him, his neighbors’ 24-year-old-son, Chris, committed suicide. Ted had developed a friendship with Chris a few years earlier and had shared the gospel with him. Because of this, he was able to comfort Chris’ non-Christian parents with the possibility that he was in heaven.
“Of course, his parents were so grief-stricken that it wasn’t the right time for me to take the conversation any further than that,” Ted said. “But it provided them with the opportunity to explore the possibility further if they wanted to.”
Ted also intentionally befriends those he does business with, like the owner of his dry cleaners, Mike. Ted started a friendship with Mike by expressing interest in his Armenian background. He casually mentioned that Armenia was the first nation to be declared a Christian nation, which became the basis for more spiritual conversations. Now when they run into each other at the supermarket, they chat.
“It’s an on-going thing right now and I’m still looking for another opportunity to bring the subject up,” Ted said. “But we have already talked about Christ and the need to know Him. That wouldn’t have come about had I not intentionally made it happen.”
Listen, Love and Respect
Still, some Christians avoid sharing Christ because they feel pressure to “close the deal.” They think that if they don’t lead someone through the Sinner’s Prayer then it hasn’t been a successful encounter. So, they either avoid evangelism altogether or they become pushy and turn people off.
Johnny Karls, a Talbot student, was one of those Christians. He was so focused on getting people to make a decision that he failed to really listen to them and show them love and respect. Since Johnny’s learned to focus on loving people rather than just getting results, his evangelism experiences have been more positive. He shares what he’s learned with the evangelism class he teaches at Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, Calif.
“I think we are to be part of the process of lovingly sharing the Good News in a way that draws people toward Christ instead of pushing them away,” Johnny said.
Recently, he was able to share the gospel with an auto mechanic who was delivering his car. From the beginning of the conversation, Johnny asked for permission to share his beliefs. The man was very open to the gospel because Johnny didn’t force it on him, but presented it courteously, with genuine love and respect.
“I think, as Christians, we sometimes upset people because we’re obnoxious and our goal is to just get words out,” Johnny said. “We need to approach them with love and compassion and actually care about them. Then they’ll be willing to listen.”
Be Patient
Yet even when people do listen, some Christians can still get frustrated sharing their faith because they don’t see the fruit of their labors. Ramesh Bozorgzad, a Talbot student, has shared the gospel with many people, but only a few have prayed to receive Christ. She sees her ministry as planting and watering seeds, rather than harvesting.
Recently her 10-year-old cousin surprised her by asking Ramesh questions about Jesus. Apparently one of her cousin’s schoolmates had been sharing Christ with her. She hadn’t seen Ramesh for over a year, but knew Ramesh was a Christian because she had always been open about her faith.
“We would be shocked to learn how our words will lead somebody down the path to salvation,” Ramesh said.
Or as Jesus put it, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows — how, he himself does not know.”
The potential influence of one Christian cannot be overstated. Like the coworker who shared the gospel with Ted Martinez — with seemingly no fruit. Little did he know that, nine months later, Ted would remember those words, receive Christ and go on to become a pastor and seminary professor.
“I encourage people not to be discouraged if they haven’t prayed the Sinner’s Prayer with thousands of people or 10 people or even one person because their words have the potential to lead many people to Christ down the road,” Ramesh said.
Be Available
The Biolans I spoke with said a lifestyle of evangelism isn’t that hard, but it does require availability. To share eternal life requires intentionality and a willingness to sacrifice time and comfort.
Yet Ramesh believes these are small sacrifices next to the thrill of participating in, what she says, is the most important and exciting enterprise in the world.
“I have an immense sense of joy and satisfaction after I’ve shared,” she said. “That’s a selfish reason for why I do it.”
Ken said if you’re available to share Christ, then you can begin by letting God know.
“Tell Him, ‘God, I’m begging You. Give me one soul for You this year,’” Ken said. “‘Lead me to someone who is wide open and I’ll study, read a book, do whatever is necessary to learn to share my faith effectively.’ Do you think God will answer that prayer?”
© Biola University 2005