By Ken Braddy
Sharing doesn’t come naturally. Spend a short amount of time with a group of preschoolers and you’ll hear the words “mine” or “no” as one child reaches for the toy another child is holding. Younger ones among us often struggle to share.
As we grow older, most of us mature and learn that sharing is a good thing, and we often enjoy it. We learn to share secrets with trusted friends, we share possessions with the needy, and many of us ultimately share life with a spouse.
As we mature in our faith, we learn that sharing Christ with others is a privilege given to God’s people. However, many of us struggle to share the gospel.
We hesitate. Our hearts beat fast. We don’t know how to start. We fear rejection. We hold onto the good news of Jesus Christ. The stakes are high. People’s eternities are in the balance.
How can we encourage members of our churches and Bible study groups to share Christ with friends, family, neighbors, and strangers?
Key #1: Pray for three people.
Christians know people who are far from God. Whether they’re called seekers, the lost, or some other term, these are people who have not asked Jesus’ forgiveness and have not yet trusted Him for salvation.
Every member of a congregation should be able to list three people they know who have not accepted Christ. The starting point for a person coming to Christ is often one catalytic believer who decides to pray for a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or a stranger. Encourage church members to pray for three lost people.
Key #2: Learn one gospel presentation.
Scripture tells us we should be ready to give a reason for the hope we have within us (1 Peter 3:15). It’s important for every believer to know one way to share the gospel when the time comes.
For some people, it might be a presentation they learned at church. For others it’s the Romans Road. For others still, it might be a one-verse presentation they’ve committed to memory. There are even smartphone apps with simple gospel presentations.
Help the members of your church choose a presentation, and help them become comfortable talking to others about Jesus using the presentation as a guide.
Key #3: Invite five people to your Bible study group.
Every believer can and should pray regularly for three lost people to know Jesus as Savior. But every believer should also go beyond praying and invite those people, plus a few others, to their Bible study group.
Open Bible study groups, such as Sunday school or life groups, expect new people weekly; they are designed to be places where people can drop in any time.
In a group Bible study, non-Christians get to know Christians up close. They’re exposed to God’s Word, and they receive personal study guides that will help them study and reflect on God’s Word for themselves.
Key #4: Share the gospel with at least one person.
While most Christians won’t be preaching to stadiums filled with people, any of us can sit down across the table from a lost person and in just a few minutes share the life-transforming message of the gospel.
Praying for lost people, learning a gospel presentation, and inviting people to a Bible study are wonderful things to do, but at some point we must verbalize our witness.
It helps to remember our role is simply to share the gospel. It’s the Holy Spirit’s role to take those words and bring about conviction in the heart of the unbeliever.
Church leaders often talk about the importance of evangelism and reaching the lost, but sharing the gospel remains a low priority in the lives of many Christians. Jesus made it clear how important evangelism is to Him when He told His earliest followers they would be fishers of people (Matthew 4:19).
It’s time for every believer to accept the challenge to share their faith as personal witnesses to the grace and forgiveness that has the power to transform lives. How is your church equipping people to share the gospel and unlock the Truth for those around them?
Read more from this issue at FactsAndTrends.net/FollowMe.
KEN BRADDY ([email protected]) manages the adult ongoing Bible studies for Lifeway and teaches Bible Studies for Life weekly as a group leader at his church in Tennessee.
