Five Tips for Sharing the Christian Faith

All Christians are called to share Jesus with others in this world.

Jesus told his disciples, "whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 10:32-33).

Jesus also told them, "Go and make disciples of all nations and teach everything that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19, 20).

This hub outlines tips on sharing your faith with others who do not yet believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The first tip to effective witnessing or personal evangelism is to be a living example. This means to be as much as possible practice what you preach. Moreover, Christianity is anchored by the qualities of grace and forgiveness; so to be an effective witness you need to display a gracious attitude to others around you. Now, this does not mean that you have to be perfect; for no one is perfect and to act like you are would be phony and counterproductive. Be real, extend grace to others, and ask forgiveness when you offend others. Effective personal evangelism begins with being a living example.

The second tip to effective personal evangelism or witnessing about Jesus is to build relationships with those who do not know Jesus. More often than not, when a person receives Jesus and begins attending church on a regular basis, they begin hanging around with other Christians and stop hanging out with non-Christians. After a few years, many Christians don't have any real relationships with non-Christians. However, Jesus commanded all Christians to be his witnesses to those who do not yet know him. This means each Christian should build relationships with others who do not know who Jesus is.

The third tip is to learn the basic tenets of salvation through Jesus Christ. The basic tenets of salvation through Jesus include:

• Eternal Life cannot be earned through man's good deeds, but is a free gift offered by God through his Son Jesus Christ.
• The reason humans cannot earn eternal life is because they are sinners and do not measure up to God's standard of perfection.
• Since God is holy and righteous he cannot accept humans as sinners and must punish them for their sin; for the wages of sin is death.
• To save man from eternal death, God sent his Son Jesus to die as a sacrifice in our place so that all who believe in his Son Jesus could escape the penalty of sin and have eternal life with God.

Along these lines attend an evangelism training program such as:

Evangelism Explosion Training or EE

Campus Crusade's Four Spiritual Laws

Share Your Faith without Fear

or The Roman Road

The fourth tip to effective personal evangelism and sharing your faith is to make a prayer list of those who do not yet know Jesus and pray for them every day. The only one who can move your friends and family members, co-workers and acquaintances to salvation is the Holy Spirit. Pray often that the Holy Spirit will prepare the hearts of those people to be open to good news of Jesus Christ.

The fifth tip to effective personal evangelism or witnessing is to prepare your heart and mind each morning before you go out and engage your daily routine. Read and meditate on God's word; go over the basics of the Christian faith; and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are many distractions in this life; we often get overwhelmed with the different things which happen throughout the day. Taking the time each morning to prepare your mind and heart will help you be ready to share when the opportunity unveils itself.

 The sixth tip for personal evangelism is to open your mouth and speak. In order to share the good news of Jesus, you have to trust God, open your mouth, and share the message. Lifestyle evangelism sets the stage for verbal witnessing, but some day some time you have to speak the words. Time is short, you never know when someone's life will end. Tomorrow could be too late. Have faith in God and share the good news of Jesus today. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.