DO WE MAKE “SPREADING GODS LOVE” WAY TOO COMPLICATED?

We had a Muslim family over for dinner the other night, which we do often. We had a great time! We know this family very well and get together often. We really love each other.

As we sat at the dinner table, we talked about new things in our life, funny stories, and shared with each other about our spiritual lives. Just all very real things that are in our lives.

When I was at the table, I was thinking about how easy it is to share God’s love and His story, but at the same time thinking about why more people do not do this. I truly think it is because we make it entirely too complicated! Now someone might say it is because of fear, but a lot of that fear stems from how we are trained or told how to share the story of God.

When we think of sharing God’s story, many of us think of having to share the 4 Spiritual Laws, the Roman Road, etc. Or we think that we need to take an apologetics class to defend our faith. Then we think we have to grab some tracks, be confident in explaining the tracks (I’m not!), and then go up to strangers and attempt to have a meaningful conversion (I am scared to do this!)

There must be an easier way! It is great to share with strangers, but if you only share the story of God this way, then it might show that you are not in relationship with people of other beliefs. Wouldn’t it be much easier to just hang out with people of other beliefs as a part of your normal life and befriend them and love them?  A missionary friend of mine said it this way, “You know the number one reason why it’s so difficult for Christians to spread God’s story? It’s because Christians don’t like to hang out with non-Christians.”

I believe training can be very good, but I think that we can put too much emphasis on it. For one, evangelism training often encourages us to only talk with strangers about God. Why? Because most of us are not in relationships with people of other faiths. And two, we end up leaving it the “ministers” or the ones “gifted” with sharing God’s story because in reality only a very small percentage of people are actually going to share like this, and as a result we leave 99% of people in the church feeling inadequate to do ministry. This should not be. Imagine what an impact we could have if we all contributed!

I hear all the time too that people simply do not feel equipped to share. Or maybe you feel like sharing is only for missionaries or seminary students. Why do we think like this? Did Jesus set up missionary schools and evangelism schools everywhere He went? Did Jesus pick the brightest scholars to join His team. No, He picked a bunch of normal random people with little or no education, and He lived his life with them. And then when He left this earth, He basically said, “Go, do what I have been doing.” It’s that simple.

You want to know the secret of being a great “evangelist.” It is being with Jesus! If you are with Jesus, then you will have no problem sharing His love and His story, because it’s not difficult to share something that is most important to you. It’s not difficult to share who you are. If God means that much to you, then sharing is just going to come naturally. Being with Jesus is the only prerequisite. And of course, hanging out with people of other faiths!

You do not need to get so caught up in “gaining” more spiritual or biblical knowledge before you feel ready to go share. Just love people. Tell them what Jesus means to you. Tell them how he has changed your life. If they are interested, then you can go through the Bible with them and learn more. Learn together!

I hope this encourages you that you too can participate in sharing God’s story.

For more information on volunteering or questions, use contact form below.