Evangelism — sharing your faith — is all about getting to know people and discovering where they are in their spiritual journey. Sometimes, the situation calls for giving a sermon. But most often, evangelism is a conversation.

It starts with caring about people enough to ask questions and really listen to the answers. It’s about being humble and developing trust. It means setting your own agenda aside and becoming genuinely curious about the other person’s thoughts about God. It’s about helping people move closer to Christ, little step by little step, until they’re ready to say, “yes” to him.

If you would like more opportunities to learn to share your faith, consider becoming an online mentor.

If it’s really that simple, why do so many of us struggle with introducing the people we know to Jesus? One of the biggest reasons is that we’re afraid. We get nervous, worried that they might ask us questions we are unable to answer and thinking that we need to know all the answers before we start. And so we decide that we really should leave evangelism to the experts.

But Jesus didn’t leave it to the experts.

In Acts 1:8, he says, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

No way was the Gospel going to spread to the ends of the earth if only a handful of elite disciples strapped on their sandals and started walking. The message had to spread from person to person to person.

Sharing the message of Jesus is a commandment he has entrusted to each and every one of us. When was the last time you had a real conversation about Jesus with someone? If it has been awhile, what’s holding you back?

updated September 2019

Photo Credit: Lev Glick