Everyday Spiritual Conversations (Week 1) – ASK, DON’T TELL!

Evangelism, comes with all sorts of expectations and connotations, doesn’t it? Some of us literally run for the hills at the thought of speaking to others, particularly strangers about Jesus, our vocal cords literally constrict at the thought of saying “I’m a Christian”.
There are many reasons behind why we might find spiritual conversation difficult yet when we know Christ as Saviour it can be the most natural thing for us to share our stories and our faith. We might call this creating Godspace. A space and a place where God works and we’re available to God the Holy Spirit to work through us.

Why is this a matter we need to discuss? Because to be prepared, to have a spiritual conversation with those who don’t know Christ and prepared with the right responses delivered in appropriate ways, is what we are called to do, as part of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20.

We are ambassadors of Christ to a lost world, we have the Good News, grace known to us becomes grace we pass on. When we are the recipients of God’s grace, by salvation in Christ, why wouldn’t we want to pass that on?

Doug Pollock from Athletes in Action and author of “Godspace” claims there are at least 10 conversation-killers, Unbelief being one. Because nothing else we talk about will matter if we fail to believe that God’s heart is for the lost, and we are ambassadors of truth; we carry a message of hope, love and grace in the world.
The Holy Spirit can open doors of opportunity every day – when we are willing and available.

What we’re asking in this series is how do we get past the fear, how could we get ourselves engaging more in everyday spiritual conversations with people, friends, family members and people we meet randomly. My hope is that we’ll see spiritual conversations, not as scary, intimidating things but just a normal part of everyday Christian living.

While we all want to see people we love choosing to accept Christ’s forgiveness, the journey towards faith for many happens one step at a time. Our job is to encourage and help them in taking those steps.

It’s a different spiritual climate today, isn’t it? Where once our culture may have been predominantly ‘Christian’, this is not the case anymore. The strategies of the past aren’t necessarily received as well today. But we can learn a lot from the model of Jesus and engage in everyday spiritual conversations.