Witnessing or evangelizing or sharing your faith is hard for many Christians. Sure there are some who easily weave Christ in and out of conversations, but most of us struggle with it.
This month on the blog, we’ve been looking at how Christ’s death and resurrection unites us. We discussed that the miracle of Christ’s resurrection and the promise of His return unites Christians across a wide spectrum of cultures. We then spent a couple weeks analyzing how Christ has given us the Great Commission as a unifying means for multicultural worship of Christ.
The conclusion from these discussions is that Christ unifies us and that unity is begun by witnessing. No matter how scary that is, it’s undeniable. The Great Commission compels us to share our faith with others.
Now, there are good ways and bad ways to do so. Standing on a corner of a busy street with a bullhorn or carrying repulsive signs aren’t the greatest witness for the love of Christ. These images of witnessing-gone-wrong are the primary picture that most non-Christians–and some Christians–have towards evangelizing.
So what’s the alternative? If this is wrong witnessing, then what’s the right way to share your faith?
Often times, we make a bigger deal out of witnessing than it requires. We think that we need to go out on the streets or to a prison or to some far away land to share our faith. We then do that for an hour or a week or a month and return home to our regular lives. The two–witnessing and our regular life–never really meet in between.
As a result, we end up in monocultural churches where everyone is just like us because that is our safety net. It’s our comfort zone to be around people who look like, act like, and think like us.
Witnessing doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, separated from our everyday lives. This doesn’t mean we have to force a mention of Christ in every single conversation we find ourselves in on a daily basis.
Instead, look at witnessing as creating relationships. Look at witnessing as Christ’s urge to get you out of your everyday comfort and to step out to become friends with someone you normally wouldn’t have.
Witnessing doesn’t mean you have to lay down the four spiritual laws to every new person you meet right away or else. Instead, witnessing is fostering a long-term relationship with someone because they are loved by God. We shouldn’t view witnessing as a means to an end. That is, we shouldn’t see witnessing as either a chance for us to gain another crown in heaven or for us to be seen as influential in our church or even for the sake of witnessing.
Witnessing or sharing your faith or evangelism is helping others to know their identity in Christ. It helps others know that they are created for a purpose and that you see that in them and that there is a greater relationship available for them with Christ.
We must lead by example of course. The only effective witness is one who truly loves Christ and is led by the Holy Spirit. And when we are effectively led by God, we find ourselves in relationships with others that would normally never have happened.
The unity found in witnessing opens our hearts up to surround ourselves with everyone, even people that are the complete opposites of us. That’s what unity is. We find common ground with others despite our differing beliefs. Unity is not finding someone that believes the exact same as we do.
Spend some time this week thinking about how you can be a better witness for Christ. Don’t worry about stepping out right away. Instead, take constant evaluations of your day and who is around you. Write in your journal the many people you consistently come across throughout the week that you’ve never gotten to know. Write down times spent that was wasted and think of different things you could do to further the kingdom of Christ.
Once the first week or two are done. Spend a weekend in prayer. Then, when you feel ready, take a simple step to engage someone new once a week. This will start slow and that’s okay. Take your time. Love is patient.
When we take time to cultivate relationships, we’ll find ourselves interacting with many who are different from ourselves. As a result, our churches will become more multiethnic and the worship experience will be ever closer to Christ’s ideal.
Check out this multicultural worship video and let it stir you on towards more of a love for Christ as well as more of a willingness to witness to others.
