EMILY WRITES: I have been struggling with talking to people about Jesus because I am afraid I will do it wrong or somebody will make fun of me. I have been slowly working through it, but any of you who have gone through it, please give me your suggestions.
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Honestly, you will mess up, but that’s where God’s faithfulness shows. Thankfully all you have to do is talk. He does the heart-work. So trust him to do the saving, be faithful to do your job as a follower, and go get some of them for Jesus.
As for people making fun, they probably will. But there’s a cost to following Jesus, and whether that means awkwardness or martyrdom, he’s got it rigged for His glory, and your good. Be ready to sacrifice, He’s worth it.
I feel dumb telling you to do something that I don’t do very well either, but looking at the Word I know it’s not an option. So let’s both work on it, and I hope this helps!
First off, You (and I) might be rejected, might be persecuted, will have to trust God, will have to die to self (i wrote that n my bible during a missions trip and thought of it). With mistakes, I was telling the gospel to some kids and I forgot to tell them that God loves them, created them, and is holy which was a main part of the source I was using. I also once almost forgot to raise Christ from the dead. So mistakes happen but ask yourself this: Would you rather avoid mistakes (that will most likely be forgotten) or tell someone something that will change and save their life? Would you rather avoid judgement from your peers or risk judgement and be used by God to bring his children home?
I’ll admit, it’s scary. But worth it (i need to take my own advice heart too). Something that helps is to have a relationship with that person. You don’t have to know them for years before you share the gospel; i don’t mean that. But if they have a respect for you (even if earned in a day), they will be more likely to listen.
So the last two comments were really good in my opinion. I want to tack on that in the long run, in the big picture, it doesn’t matter if somebody makes fun of you. Believe me, I know it’s not fun to be made fun of and ridiculed. But if you save a life for eternity in the process, then it’s completely worth it!! Yes, you will mess up sometimes. Nary a Bible lesson that I’ve taught to kids, for example, has gone right (one time, I quit right in the middle and had to get my other team member to take over, because I failed. That hurt. And though he didn’t mean it to hurt me, he kept bringing it up afterward). But I haven’t stopped. And I’m not going to. Even though it was extremely embarrassing for me, I’m not going to stop just because I made mistakes and made a fool of myself in front of 12 kids and my teaching partner. Same goes for witnessing. Don’t worry about being made fun of – keep the big picture in perspective. Don’t worry (too much) about doing something wrong. You won’t do it perfectly every time. Maybe you’ll never do it perfectly. But if you even make so much as a positive impact and shine your light for Christ, then it’s so worth it! Hope that helps!
Honestly, I don’t think I have an answer. I’m as scared as you are. Though I think a good way to help alleviate a teeny bit of the ‘what if I do it wrong’ thing is to get some good resources. I LOVE the Knowing God Personally booklet: you can get it in paper, or it comes in a really cool app! (You can get it here: http://www.godtoolsapp.com/) It’s a super simple, straightforward way of presenting the Gospel. Though you might not want to use it all the time, it’s certainly handy.
Ultimately though, it’s just down to trusting God. Which I need to work on as much as anyone. I guess the two most important things are prayer and an eternal perspective. And when you do initiate a spiritual conversation, remember that it’s your role to take the step of obedience, and leave the results to God.
Who changes people’s hearts? You? Me? No! Only God can do that work in a heart. If it is God’s will for a person to accept Christ as their Savior and accept the gift of salvation offered through Christ, then it will happen whether or not our words are profound or miserably fumbled through. Its important to be well versed in Scripture and in knowing how to share the gospel, but Scripture says “all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6). So we WILL fumble! But that’s okay…God is there to catch us!
As for being teased, my guess is: You will be! Being a Christian isn’t exactly “cool” nowadays…But again, why does it matter?
“If we live to please others, we aren’t living to please God. A choice has to be made.” (Galatians 1:10). Who are you serving? you are serving the Lord!! It doesn’t matter what people think of you! God will reward you for serving Him. You may experiences difficulties here on earth, but the reward of Heaven and being with our Savior is WELL worth it in my opinion….
I’ll just leave you with this awesome quote from Carl Kirby.
“You don’t convict, or convert, you converse.”
We don’t have to worry about changing hearts, we just have to be willing to be used by God. I’m thankful God can use even me, with all my fears and failures, to lead people to Him. I don’t know if that helps you at all, but that idea was always very encouraging to me 🙂
One thing that helps me is praying for the Holy Spirit to give me courage and the words to say! He always will if we take that step.
This summer I went to a camp that teaches Christians about evangelism and I went to a class called Listening Evangelism. The guy taught us that the best way to tell someone about Christ is to first establish some sort of relationship with the person. He told us that the best way to speak to people with the goal of leading them to Christ is to talk about them. He said to ask a lot of questions about them and if we had anything to say about ourselves it had to relate directly to what we were discussing and we need to keep it 3 seconds or less. And after just talking to them about anything, then tell them a Bible story and ask them questions about it afterward. If they seem ready talk to them about salvation, but if they’re not ready set up another meeting and repeat the cycle again. This will help ease your own nerves as well as the person you’re talking to.
Look up Tim Keller, he has some great thoughts on these things. A month or two ago my youth group did a study on one of his book/dvd sets. I came to realize a key thing.
1. We’re not there to share our story, that’s for a stage, but to listen to other’s stories. People don’t like to listen anymore. It’s either too boring or we don’t have time. Listening, like a few other people said, shows people you care. And if you care, then you’ll have a better chance at softening their hearts. Relationships are what matter at first. Nobody wants to listen to a stranger tell them what they can and can’t do.
Also, facts don’t change hearts. Show the facts later, listen now, share your story next, and then you can move on to facts and stuff.
Sharing Jesus with others can be scary. But like Kirk Cameron said, If you had the cure to cancer, wouldn’t you share it with everyone? We have the cure for life, shouldn’t we share that? 🙂
I struggle with this too! It is never easy to get over, and honestly, I don’t think there’s a way to get rid of shyness, but I do think there are ways you can practice being bold as a constant habit.
I recently went to a leadership and apologetics training camp called Worldview Academy. In the middle of the week, we did a evangelism practicum to random people in the downtown area of the city. Being an introvert, I was nervous talking to people about Christ because I was worried about saying something stupid, irrelevant or just getting straight up rejected.
I remember in my devotions that morning how I wrote in my journal “Lord, help me to do well.”, but in my heart I knew that what I meant was “Lord, help me not to say anything stupid. Lord, help me look good.”
Later that day after the evangelism practicum, I realized that I shouldn’t pray “Lord help ME do well,” but rather “Lord whether it goes well, or if it goes poorly, I pray that YOU will be glorified.” His work is not based on my performance. Pray with God as the focus, not you. Live with God as the focus, not you.
I have recently stopped asking God to help me do things, and it’s amazing how my perspective has changed just by doing that. It helps me remember that God is the One who does things through me, and apart from Him I can do NOTHING (John 15).
Hey Kate! Sam shared with me your update on Max the other day. That’s super awesome!! I hope you can continue to reach out to him and help him in ways he needs to be guided in!
How have you been doing?
Oh really? That’s so nice of him:) Yeah, there are more complicated things going on with him and I since that happened, but other than that, he’s been better. Thank you so much for praying, and please continue to lift him up to our Father:) How are you, my snark shark twin?
Definitely!
I’m doing pretty good! Extremely busy, but good.
It is the hardest thing. I understand. But honestly there is no reason to be afraid 🙂 because the bible has the answers. It is completely true. So even if people come up with questions you don’t even know how to begin to answer, give them your pastors number 🙂 just don’t wait until u have all the answers. Also, pray for boldness and courage.
This was and still is pretty hard for me. One thing that helped me was to talk about my fear with my mom or dad. Another thing that helps is knowing that there’s know reason to be afraid. Like @Emma Grace said, the Bible has the answers. One thing that encourages me is reading my Bible, and praying.
I’ll bet @trent_blake:disqus could help with this! 😉
I have had the same problem since i was a child. I was shy but i have overcome it. I just think that any person that smokes or something it is always hard to talk to them but they think that the craziest people will also be on fire for Christ when they get saved. I just stopped focusing on the problem and started focusing on Jesus and just loving on people. Hope this helps,
Hey, there are some key evangelists I would like to share. I listen to them all the time. They speak the gospel and are amazing. #1Clayton Jennings # 2 Joshua fuerstien #3 living waters (Ray comfort and Kirk Cameron) #4 full of eyes.
These people are very encouraging and often give me the courage to walk boldy into another day with the gospel ready.
Also, I’m always looking for people of God that I can learn from. If anybody else has people like that I would love to hear about it.
Is full of eyes the guy who puts Christian songs with awesome animation? If its who I’m thinking they’re great. Have you ever heard of David Platt’s sermon series called “Threads”? My youth group went through it together a few years back and it’s still a huge blessing to remember some of the things he talked about. Actually, David Platt’s just awesome.
Yeah it is! Rant they amazing!? I love the one “all I have is Christ”.no I haven’t!i love davidplatt and I’ve read a book of his. He does radical right? Well, I’ll have to look it up! Thank you!!!
Ooh I didn’t know there was one of All I Have is Christ, I love that song! “Set your eyes” is my favorite so far. Yeah, I think he did. That’s a great book. 🙂
Yea! I love that song too… He does an amazing job!
Good! I’ll have to look it up.
Wow!!! My brain almost exploded with all the great comments everyone has posted so far. To order my scattered thoughts I will make a bullet-point-like comment;
Context: I live in a Christian bubble where not everyone is Christ-like (although there is a great number of Christ-like people).
My answer: For me, being bold was not presenting a gospel almost all my acquaintances know, but living it. Granted, this task is nigh on insurmountable, and I cannot even count how many times I´ve messed up. It is HARD, one of the hardest things that I´ve attempted. Ever. But I´m slowly getting better; not through anything I particularly did or said, but through God´s unfailing grace.
Controversial opinion: maybe just living a Godly life demonstrates a livable relationship with God, which for me, is what it´s all about (obviously after having someone share the gospel with you).
First and foremost, evangelism isn’t about you. It’s about worshiping and glorifying God. So before we do anything, we need to prepare ourselves with the right perspective of evangelism.
The point of evangelism is to make disciples/worshipers (see the Great Commission in Matthew 28). God is seeking and gathering worshipers, and the way He chose to do so is through His children – us (John 4:23). God is looking for people to send out (Isaiah 6:8). We are His servants (Revelations 22:9). We are His slaves (Romans 6:22). We are His messengers. We are His ambassadors. We do our Father’s bidding no matter what. We have the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Simply put, it isn’t about what we think, want, desire, do, etc. In fact, if we are His children, His thoughts will be our thoughts, His desires our desires, His will our will, and His actions our actions.
We’re here to change, save, and preserve the world.
Second, since this is a command from God, and we are fallen creatures, we cannot simply and go out into the world and evangelize in our own power. We need God’s help, God’s power, God’s Word, and God’s BOLDNESS!
So before you evangelize PREPARE by:
1. Praying
We need to ask God to prepare us, to give us the words to speak, to take our fears, and to work through us that others might be saved. Prayer has power. Prayer is power. Pray before, during, and after evangelizing.
2. Memorize Scripture
God commands us to let the word of God to richly dwell within in us (Colossians 3:16). Most of the time you are not going to win people into heaven through pure logic and deductive augments. In the end, the power of the Holy Spirit has to work in the heart of the unbeliever, and one of the way He does that is through His holy word – the Bible. I say memorize Scripture because it will aid you in finding scripture verses to share with others. In addition, it would enable you to evangelize without a big, black, attack Bible which can being very intimidating to some people.
3. Learn about other worldviews
It’s best to take some time to obtain a general understanding of some of the main worldviews, or religions, out there, so that you know what their beliefs are and how to approach them. Also, it shows people that were aren’t an ignorant people speaking for a cause we don’t understand.
4. Ask questions
I have gone to a Christian Leadership Camp called Worldview Academy (worldview.org), and they not only teach about servant leadership but also worldviews, evangelism, and other countercultural topics. On Wednesday, they actually take all the students to go out and evangelize in groups of three or four. We are equipped with nothing other than our minds, God, and a track. This year’s was called “What Happens When You Die”. (Note, the tracks very from year to year.) So we would go up and ask people that question. Then from there we would merely ask questions about their beliefs and let the weight of reality fall on them.
The four killer questions we are were “What do you mean by…?” (clarification), “How do you know what you are saying is true?” (appeal to authority), “What difference does it make?” or “So what?”, and “What difference does it make?”. So you can use those questions to help you out.
When they begin to question you or say, “I don’t know,” that is an opportunity for us to share the Gospel. There are so many evangelism resources out there. Go and use them.
Thirdly, persecution is 100% guaranteed because we chose Christ, and the world hates Christ so you bet they are going to hate us. But, but, but…we can rejoice in our suffering because we did the right thing, we stood up for Christ, and we proclaimed the Good News (Matthew 5:12). (Read this article by Tim Challies on Five Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution: http://www.challies.com/articles/5-reasons-to-rejoice-in-persecution). In the end the worse you’re probably going to get is loss of popularity, loss of friends, a “bad” rep, name calling, getting cussed out, etc. But you’re not going to get tortured, thrown to lions, stoned, beat with sticks, whipped, hanged, killed, spit on, beat up, or crucified. And if you are…rejoice.
Last but not least, God loves and cares for us. He doesn’t want us to have fear but to have peace beyond understanding. And He freely offers that, we just need to go humbly before Him and ask Him for it. God is with us. How encouraging is that.
In conclusion, get the right perspective, carefully prepare, trust in God’s power, and preach boldly.
That’s our job and the rest is up to God.
So be BOLD. Be STRONG. Be COURAGEOUS. And DO HARD THINGS!
Jesus instructed us to “Go into all the earth and preach the good news.” Period. Jesus gave his people very few “missions” and one of them is to evangelize. This is what Jesus has to say about the difficulties “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.…” There will be people who try to discredit you and make you look foolish. We are not preaching our own message but the message of our savior. It is hard when we come across people like that but I have found this passage in Joshua to be very encouraging “I will be strong and courageous. I will not be discouraged; for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go.”
That’s a question I’ve asked myself. To you, and me, I’d say believe God’s Word and walk in who God’s made you to be with the power, boldness, and authority He’s given you. Plus, do things that are out of your comfort zone. Over time I think we both may become more bold. Hope that helps!
Here’s a scripture God gave me, ‘ But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.’ – Jeremiah 1:7. 8
right on the money!!!