When to share Christ

18/03/2020  by

When to talk to someone about God?—when you ask a question and they are responsive

Interacting with Christians from all different places is a joy to me. I love to help Christians learn how to have natural conversations about God with their friends, family and people they meet.

 

I’ve learned that many Christians struggle to know when it’s appropriate to bring God into a conversation with a non-believer. On one hand, Christians enjoy a beautiful and personal relationship with God, who has transformed their life, and they want others to experience God in a personal way too. On the other hand, they respect the personal views and beliefs of others and don’t want to unnecessarily offend people. So… when should you talk about God?

 

There are many circumstances when Christians can openly and naturally talk about God. One of those times is when you ask a question and people are responsive.

 

What do I mean by that? I remember a conversation I had with a tradesman when we were on a job together. We talked about all sorts of topics and what we looked forward to on the weekend coming up. He had a family birthday party on, and I shared I was also heading to a birthday party and then to church on Sunday. I asked him “What’s your spiritual belief?”. He replied, “I’m not into any of that,” and quickly changed the topic. It was obvious he wasn’t open to speaking about God, so I didn’t pursue it.

 

On another occasion I was having a conversation with a lady when I was travelling home from work. She shared how she was heading home for the weekend to take care of her disabled son and how tough life was for them as a family. I shared with her how I was going to spend the weekend and mentioned that I enjoy hanging out with friends at church on Sunday. I asked her “What’s your spiritual belief?”. She began to share with me her experience growing up with religion around her but that she never pursued church. However, she believed that there is more to life than what she was experiencing.

 

This lady was open and responsive to talk about God and for the next hour we spoke back and forth about Gods love, the heartaches of life, the reality of our experiences and the hope we can have when we personally know God, the one who hold the future.

 

You can enjoy natural conversations about God with people who are responsive simply by asking a question. What question could you ask?

 

Take a moment now and ask God to give you questions you can ask. Ask him to help you recognise when someone is responsive. Then trust him with your conversations!

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04/03/2020  by

When to talk to someone about God?—when they comment that there is something different about you or about another Christian

I recently sat beside a fascinating man on a plane trip in America. His background intrigued me and my genuine interest in his story led to question after question. After some time, he began asking me about why I was traveling and what I did.

 

As I shared with him about my ministry of helping Christians do a better job of sharing their relationship with God with others, he talked about how much he rejected about the Christianity he had seen. But he also referred to a Christian friend in his life. He talked about how God had really changed her life and that always kept him from discounting Christianity as fake.

 

Immediately I knew that God had given me a starting point to talk with this man about the difference between religion and real Christianity (a relationship with God). I was able to share about my encounter with God and how I had been religious before that but didn’t know God and how God had then completely changed my life.

 

The conversation lasted for the several hours of our trip. I knew of a good church in his area and encouraged him to check it out. He said, “I’m open to that now.”

 

God used that encounter to take him several steps closer to Christ.

 

Whenever someone makes a comment about how there is something different about you or another Christian, take it as God’s invitation to speak about him to that person!

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19/02/2020  by

When to talk to someone about God?—when you have been praying for an open door and God brings them across your path

In all likelihood there are people in your life that you have never talked to about God. You see them often, maybe at work or in your neighbourhood. Maybe they are family members. You know that God wants you to be his witness and you would love for those people to experience a relationship with Jesus, but something holds you back.

 

What would I say? What will they think? They probably would be so uncomfortable. People don’t want to talk about God.

 

Here’s the thing you need to realise: it’s not up to you to open the door for a spiritual conversation, nor to open their hearts to God. Only God can do that.

 

That’s why it’s so important to pray about these things! Stop right now and pray that God will give you opportunities to have meaningful spiritual conversations with these very people. Pray for them by name and ask God to open doors to talk about him with them.

 

But don’t stop there. There’s another important step that we so often miss.

 

We pray for open doors, but then when God opens them we don’t walk through them. The fact is, when you start praying specifically, by name, for people in your life that don’t know God, God will bring those people across your path.

 

When that happens, you should immediately recognise that God is most likely about to answer your prayer. As you talk with that person just ask them about something a little deeper than the surface-level and trust God to move the conversation towards spiritual things.

 

Don’t worry if you don’t get to share the gospel message. If you have a meaningful conversation about God, then invite them to have a Bible study with you to learn more about God. Get hold of theLifeWorks videos and simply watch a video with them once a week. Print out the discussion sheet and talk about the video. Trust God to open their hearts to him.

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05/02/2020  by

When to talk to someone about God?—when your relationship moves past the surface to personal issues

One of the best opportunities to share the gospel is when you have a friend that you can talk to about personal issues that are happening in your life – it can be a wide-open door. But how can you tell when is a good time? How can you know that you are not going to alienate your friend? What should you talk about?

 

I think you probably know how to tell when a friend moves from the acquaintance zone to the friend zone. It’s when you stop talking about the weather and you start talking about the important things that are going on in your life – whether they be good or bad. It’s when you feel comfortable sharing with them about your struggles and also your triumphs. It’s when you no longer just talk about superficial things, but you really share what’s on your heart.

 

Why is this a good time to talk about Jesus? It’s simple! When you are talking about personal things, a natural part of that will be talking about the person that is most important to you. To talk about what they are doing in your life and how they are helping you. Your friend will expect you to open up and talk about what, and who is precious to you. In fact, if you don’t, they probably won’t open up either and you will never even move to the “friend zone”!

 

I know from experience that it’s almost impossible to talk about difficult or joyful times in your life without talking about your Father in heaven who was with you through them. It is one of the central themes.

 

So we have established that when a relationship has moved past the surface and to the personal level is the perfect time for you to be sharing about Jesus with your friend. But what can you talk about? Well, what has Jesus meant to you? How has he helped you in difficult times? Talk about those times, your struggles and triumphs. Be vulnerable! How did Jesus help you in those times?

 

The most important thing to remember is to be genuine and honest. People in this post-modern society we live in come to truth by way of experience. Show them your relationship with Jesus. Let them see what he means to you and feel what he has done for you. This will be far more powerful than any fact or figure that you can ever tell them.

 

And last but very much not least, pray, pray, pray. Remember that it is not you, nor your fancy words that will convince someone they need Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. Only he can draw someone to himself. So pray that God would use you in your friend’s life, and then open your mouth as his instrument and see what he does!

 

If you don’t have any non-Christian friends, here’s a helpful blog on how to step out of your “Christian Bubble”.  https://afci.com.au/how-do-i-get-out-of-my-christian-bubble/

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