Preparing to Share Your Faith

Tests and term papers in school, reports and projects on the job, assigned tasks on a church or club committee--whatever your sphere of life, it's hard to make it through successfully without some type of preparation for all that is required of you. But what about all the faces that surround you as you go about your daily schedule--faces representing persons with needs, questions, hurts? How can you be prepared for the responsibility of touching those lives?

First, let's look at your objectives. Is your major goal just to get through the course...to draw a paycheck...to serve your term on the committee and get it over with? Or can you look a bit further and see that God has eternal purposes in putting you in those situations, that he has called you to be "on mission" now--and what better place than with those whom you see consistently? It's surprising how geometry or budget conferences or priority planning can bring "fellow-sufferers" together!

Christ's command to "Go ye into all the world" can well be translated, "As you are going..." To be on mission day-by-day requires that we "Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15-16, NIV).

BE PREPARED IN RELATIONSHIPS

Openness to others is a key here. Don't wait for the other person to take the initiative to speak to you! Pray about natural ways to begin relationships, then find a common ground with people. After beginning relationships, keep a few of them growing by continuing them outside of the group setting. Study together, meet for coffee, make a tennis date, take advantage of between-tasks time with people.

The quality of your relationship with the Father will determine your sensitivity to other people and to the opportunities that arise. Don't be afraid to grow deeper with God and to allow him to reach out through your life.

BE PREPARED IN YOUR LIFE-STYLE

This involves honesty and integrity in your daily life, but even more than that, a positive attitude and positive words about your tasks, your associates, and life in general. Diligence in your individual responsibilities is a witness in itself (see Col. 3:23-24). Let the Father's perspective pervade all that you do.

BE PREPARED WITH YOUR WORDS

You have opportunities to share your faith in the community and the workplace as well as in personal relationships. There must be a balance in presenting your views without seeming on the one hand narrow or dogmatic, or on the other hand too broadminded, too eager for acceptance, to the point of being wishy-washy. Make positive statements about your beliefs. Ask intelligent questions and be open to others' comments. Take advantage of speeches, conversations, presentations, etc. as an opportunity to share your faith honestly and openly, not defensively or "debate-style." Be alert to the comments of others which express a need or concern; these might be an open door for talking about the things of God. Be thoroughly familiar with the plan of salvation and be ready to back up the points with scripture, but don't just parrot a formula--make it personal.

POSTSCRIPTS

Above all, pray for opportunities to share your faith with specific persons around you, and be natural. God wants you to share that special something he's doing in your life, in your unique way. As you go about your daily business, look around you. Are you "on mission"? Are you prepared?

One of the best resources for preparation is “On Mission Magazine” published by the North American Mission Board, SBC. To order call 1-888-239-3990.