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Sharing Your Faith- 4- Now What Do I Say?
By Dan | August 6, 2008
Last week we started talking about getting the ball rolling, getting over the hump and actually starting conversations related to faith.
Well that’s wonderful, but sometimes even after that happens we encounter problems. Sometimes we’re worried that after such a conversation starts, we won’t know where to go with it. You’re worried that the person you’re talking to will ask a question you can’t answer or bring up a difficult subject. Worse yet you imagine scenarios where you might accidentally say the wrong thing or stumble around making little or no sense. How embarrassing!
We don’t need to live in fear of these possibilities. We just need to be ready.
First, be prepared (it’s not just the boy scout motto). As a Christian, you should think a little about where conversations with nonChristians might go. If it’s hard questions you’re afraid of answering, then think through them a little. Recently Messiah has been doing a sermon series on the hard questions like, “Why does a good God allow evil?” and “How can I be a sinner and a saint at the same time?”. You can always check out our latest one at our website. Just scroll down the homepage and view last week’s worship. But you can also talk to other Christians about these kinds of things, and one of the best ways to be prepared for conversations with nonChristians is to be ready to share your personal experience. I’m not talking about a completely canned personal testimony, but you should be able to speak about the ways God has worked in your life and why a person would want him involved in theirs.
Secondly, get comfortable speaking about faith-related topics. How do you do this? Well, the best route is probably to get involved in groups such as Bible studies where people are regularly discussing faith. If you are active in participating in such a group, then you’ll start to feel more comfortable speaking about everything from Abraham to baptism to God’s working in your own life.
Third- Get excited about faith. I don’t know if this strikes you as obvious, but if you’re not truly excited about faith, it’s going to be hard to communicate to others why they should want it it their own lives. Think about the reasons you’re happy to be a Christian and research the topics of faith that interest you most (whether it’s theological topics like the Trinity, Christian music, or something fun and light hearted). Then you’ll be ready to discuss things with others that truly do excite you.
Finally, be ready to tell someone that you will have to get back to them. There are going to be situations where you simply don’t have a good answer. Rather than pretend to know, you might posit a few possiblities and then finally say, “That’s a great point. I’m not exactly sure how I’d deal with that. Do you mind if I think about it a little or talk to my pastor and get back to you?”. MOst people will accept that.
Has anyone here ever hit a wall or felt awkward in a conversation about faith? What did you do? How do you prepare yourselves for conversations about faith?
Topics: Sharing Faith |
August 6th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Don’t be afraid! Just pray,” Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into? Please be with me and help me think and say the right thing”. Well,maybe that’s not the right start, but know with God standing next to you, your on the right track to guide someone to Him.