If you look at the front of your weekly bulletin, you’ll see that our strategy for making disciples is simply connecting people to God and other people, growing in our faith and knowledge of Jesus, and serving like Jesus. Unfortunately, we have over-complicated God’s plan for sharing his gift of salvation through Jesus.
Throughout the centuries, the church has made it more difficult to share the Good News and, therefore, more difficult for people to respond to it. Too many people find it too difficult to share their faith and to lead others to salvation through Jesus, when the starting point is simply sharing what God has been doing in our lives.
We all have existing relationships, some good, some bad, but each one is an opportunity to share God’s love. Sure, it might be intimidating to share your faith with a coworker or even a friend or family member, but don’t we usually share things that excite us? It’s easy for us to tell someone about a new restaurant that we have found or a good book that we’ve read, but we find it difficult to tell others about how God has been working in our lives from day to day.
First Peter 3:15 lays out the simple process of sharing: “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” The first step is to be passionate about your relationship with Jesus; figure out what it is about your life that Jesus has changed and get excited about it. Second, tell someone about what Jesus has done that has made you so excited. Third, be careful that in your excitement that you don’t miss the other person’s needs. Many times this process happens without planning, especially when we have our lives focused on God; we experience God’s transforming love and we just can’t help but show it and then people ask us about what’s going on. Be prepared to share it!