“If we were able to rewrite the script for the reputation of Christianity, I think we would put the emphasis on developing relationships with nonbelievers, serving them, loving them, and making them feel accepted. Only then would we earn the right to share the gospel.” - Andy Stanley (from UnChristian).

I appreciate Andy’s focus on each Christian’s need to establish Christ-worthy relationships with nonbelievers, indeed, with everyone, believer or not. And I think he is reacting to a very real issue of our reputation.

Some of our poor reputation is certainly deserved. We often don’t live the Christian life well enough for anyone to observe it! Maybe we don’t even tell people we’re trying! We can’t share the gospel if we: Don’t fortify ourselves with the Word. Don’t ask God for opportunities. Don’t give ourselves away to someone else. Don’t take a risk by offering to actually help someone else who is in trouble or hurting, not worrying about what will happen next! If that’s Andy’s point, then “relationship” means relationship first with God that empowers a person to have a fine relationship with anyone they know or meet. Hardly any of us pray enough for opportunities to share the gospel that the Lord wants to give us!

But I disagree with Andy strongly on one point: We need not “earn the right” to share the gospel! Every believer is told to share the Good News – it’s a simple message of grace and faith, and every one of us sinful servants is charged to take that message wherever we go and share it. Sharing the gospel is a command given to us by our King, and we need to learn how to do it so that it is in keeping with His Word and can be heard and understood by the non-believer. Nowhere does the Bible say we are to accost people with the gospel. Neither does it say we have to “earn” the right to share the gospel.

Our King might expect someone to, “Take the train over there and give the message to those folks at your office.” He might say, “Kindly think of your office as a mission field where I have sent you, and forget going to some foreign place. I’ve had to send some folks from the foreign place to your town! Where were you? You know more about the people in your office than those folks I’ve sent from the foreign place.” We need to learn the message and go where we have already been sent, use the talents we have been given, and think about how to share the gospel with our friends so it can be heard, without driving them nuts and gagging them with platitudes. We can learn that from Paul, actually. We really have to trust the King to decide where we are sent and who will hear us when we get there. Here are some proven tips for sharing Christ in the workplace from You Can Tell It! a way of sharing the gospel that is used by thousands of people all around the world:

1. Prepare for the BEST not the WORST. Most of the time, what we worry about never even happens. On the basis of John 4:35 and 1 Timothy 2:4 we have every reason to be optimistic about our earnest and loving attempts to share the gospel with someone who knows us.

2. People respond DIFFERENTLY. People are at different stages of spiritual readiness to hear the gospel. Recognize that God may use us to do some “sowing” of the gospel message and for others we may do the “reaping.” (John 4:36-38)

3. God holds us responsible for CONTACT not CONVERSION. Relax! Evangelism is sharing the good news of Christ with the intent of seeing the person trust Christ for their salvation. Whether or not the person DOES trust Christ for their salvation is God’s responsibility! God asks us to bring Christ to the lost (share the message), not to bring the lost to Christ (John 6:44)! Just think about presenting the gospel clearly and simply. Forget counting converts – it’s really not our job. God is a God of grace. His love for us is not based on our performance! It’s based on His Son’s performance on the cross. For that reason, if you blow it, God does not think any less of you than if you led 100 people to Christ. You can develop your understanding of how to share the gospel knowing that you have God’s message and you are the messenger.

Your first assignment is to look at the two videos on our page marked VIDEO. Those are a very short, and a medium length gospel presentations. You can watch them in your pajamas at home! Pray for someone you know that you would like to tell about your love for Jesus and His impact on your life and salvation. Pray that God will give you a private, comfortable way to talk with them about the gospel.