Tips for Sharing the Gospel

Have you ever felt inadequate? Truly unprepared or unable to accomplish a goal or a task?  How about in elementary school when you went toe-to-toe in a spelling bee with the top speller in the class?  In middle school when you only skimmed the assigned reading material and then was asked to share your synopsis in class? How about in high school when you were selected to run the final leg in the 4×4 relay only to find out you’d be going up against the #1 rated 400m runner in the state?

These were all me.  In each instance, I truly felt I was not capable of delivering the expected result that my teacher, parents, coach, nor myself had hoped for. We’ve all had these experiences. Not a fun feeling, right?

Let’s switch gears and talk about the greatest goal we have as believers in Christ: proclaiming the Gospel. Jesus commanded us as believers to:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I command you.”
Matthew 28:19-20

That’s a pretty high bar. We, undeserving and wavering people, are expected to live out this command and teach others about who Christ is, why he had to atone for our sins, and how the security of knowing our eternal fate IS a life altering change.

How confident do you feel in living that out and sharing the Gospel?

Can You Articulate the Gospel?

The last couple of years I’ve had the privilege to sit and talk with a number of college students interviewing for a summer position here at Pine Cove. As part of the interview, we always ask them:

“What does it mean to become a Christian?”  

After a few of these interviews (some spot on with scriptural references, and others…well, not so much) it hit me that many believers struggle with telling others what Christianity and the Gospel are really about.

Seems easy enough, right? What would you say?  Maybe lay out the Romans’ Road?  What about sharing your personal testimony? Like many, you may be so overwhelmed with the question that you don’t know where to begin and start jumbling ideas and thoughts together, forgetting that God’s Word provides us with the answer. This was absolutely me the first time I was asked this question.

So how do you overcome this? For me, I have to prioritize and focus.

What I Focus On

1. How much time do I have to share?
   You could literally spend hours laying out what the Gospel is and how it has impacted you personally. From the three-minute Gospel to a full week at camp, you must prioritize what you want to talk about.
2. Keep the Main Thing the main thing.
   We are all born sinful – Rom. 3:23, Gen. 8:21, Psalm 51:5
   Christ, fully God and fully man, came to atone for our sins through his death, burial, and resurrection – John 1:1 & 14, 1 John 2:2, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Cor. 15:3-4
   Confess, Believe, Repent – Rom. 10:9-10, Matt. 4:17, Acts 2:38
3. Tell God’s story, then mine.

It’s not about me.  However, my story may allow someone else to better understand God’s love and desire for all of us to know him more.

Check out one of my favorite quotes of how we are to overcome our fear of inadequacy:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us….You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
– Marianne Williams

Do you ever feel inadequate about sharing the Gospel? What are your “go-tos” that equip you when asked, “What does it mean to become a Christian?”