Thoughts From The Cottage
Dear Friends
Have you ever thought about writing the story of your life? Maybe you think that no-one would be interested. Maybe you think it would be too much work. Maybe you think that your life has not been interesting enough. The truth of the matter is that when we have conversations with people we talk about our life, family, holidays, health, difficulties, joys and so on. We find that some people only want a synopsis whereas others want the full story but most want something in the middle.
In our Talking Jesus course we have reached the session about telling our story. In it we are encouraged to think about the people we want to share our story with and then prepare it with them in mind. It should not be our whole life story but should concentrate on the recent past. The language should be simple and jargon-free focussing on the difference God has made in our lives. Furthermore we need to remember that it is a conversation not a sermon. We will have to respond to questions and not just pick up the story where we left off. To help us the course booklet suggests that you identify:
- your audience, the five people you are already praying for
- an example of God’s work in your life
- what happened that made you turn to God
- the difference God has made
then you rehearse your story and look for opportunities to share it.
This is an intentional approach to faith sharing, not a reactional one. It involves going to people rather than waiting for them to come to us. Some of us will be uncomfortable with this approach but it is the only approach that will see sustained significant growth in church attendance as more people come to faith and then join the pool of people sharing their faith.
The biggest resistance to this approach to evangelism is us, ourselves, not those outside the church. If people know that we are people of faith then they will expect God to feature in our lives and in our conversations. They will not be surprised to hear us talk about prayer, worship, faith or Jesus. In fact they may be more surprised if we do not do so! The big questions are how we get over our lack of confidence in faith sharing and how we avoid being lured into a false sense of political correctness by those who tell us we must not say or do anything that causes offence and hence cause the dilution of the Word of God. Try and watch the BBC interview with Father Martin McGill to see what difference can be made by an individual speaking out for what they believe. In it he said “But I’m also very conscious that as a baptised Christian, there is a prophetic role. It’s part of my call.” Notice, he did not say as a ‘priest’, he said as a ‘baptised Christian’. That is a challenge to all of us who want to change the world and regularly pray ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth’.
Ian Ring
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