[featured_image]Every person has a story – a unique story of their life history, including their spiritual journey. To understand their journey, you need to know where they have been, where they are and where they are going. By understanding their story, you can be prepared to share your story in a way that they can relate to – and ultimately tell God’s story of grace and forgiveness.
Asking good questions – and really listening to their answers can build a bridge to sharing about your faith. You can take almost any element of a conversation and utilize it to turn the conversation toward spiritual matters. (Note: That’s what Jesus did with the woman at the well in John 4). There’s almost no limit to the ways this can be done. With a little planning and practice, almost anyone can master this.
Here are a few illustrations:
Business – Those in the marketplace commonly ask each other, “How’s your year going?” Rather than give a standard reply, why not answer with something like this: “Well, financially, okay; family-wise, pretty well; and spiritually, things are great. Which one do you want to talk about?”
Relocations – When someone moves into a new home, it’s natural to discuss whether they’ve found good places to shop, dine out, or get their car repaired. Why not add a query concerning whether they’ve found a good church? Even if they tell you that they weren’t looking, it’s a natural lead-in to talking about faith-related topics.
Hobbies and Spare Time – When you talk to someone about your hobbies and spare time, it’s easy to include some ministry-related activity that you enjoy. For example, if you work with the sound system at your church, you could say, “Well, on the weekends I like mountain biking and working with sound equipment.” The automatic response of many people will be to ask for details. Similar approaches could be used in almost any area.
Music – If you listen to the lyrics of songs, you’ll discover many songs raise spiritual issues, even if it might have been written or performed by a non-believer. Talking about the lyrics can lead into talking about the answers you’ve found to the important questions they raise.
Sports – There are incredible opportunities to talk about many well-known athletes that are Christians. If you follow sports, it’s pretty easy to refer to a recent game or event and tell friends about a particular athlete on the team who’s a believer. This will often expand into a wider discussion about what that means.
Shared Struggles – When you find you have areas of difficulty in common with someone, it’s the most natural thing in the world to tell that person how you’ve been helped by wisdom from the Bible, caring Christian friends, or prayer. This can be effective whether it’s a major crisis or relatively minor problem. It could be a lack of communication in your marriage, questions about disciplining your children, or a need to manage food, time or finances.
This list could go on and on. Just take the topics that you frequently talk with people about and, like the examples above, figure out creative ways to ease into conversations about your faith and your grace story.
