Does being trained to share the good news help?

When I first became a Christian, I was a bit of embarrassment to my then unsaved wife Desiree. She would tell you herself that she thought I had “lost it”. I was under massive pressure at the time, but in it all I had the joy and realisation of what Christ had done for me at Calvary in my heart. The thing was that I wanted those people who I knew to have the same experience as me. God is good and through my bumbling one to one preaching, family members and friends came to know Jesus as their saviour.

I suppose my career of speaking and training helped me somewhat in what I had to say. But I am very thankful to the Holy Spirit who used me and my obvious enthusiasm as I tried to explain what had happened when I met Jesus. Thankfully now I am able to make a better job of it through practice and experience. I still love and enjoy sharing Jesus as much as I did many years ago.

I meet many Christians who don’t share their faith on a regular basis. I have discovered that are a number of reasons for this. I will mention just a three of them:

Fear: Some people are just scared of messing up, or are worried about offending people.

Witnessing is for leaders and evangelists: Well anyone who thinks that
will be certainly mistaken. We are not all called to be evangelists, but we are
all commanded to be witnesses for Christ.

They don’t know how to present the Gospel: Well people can learn how to
present the gospel easily with a little time and practice.

We are not in the process of selling Jesus Christ, but having a well prepared plan with a prayerful attitude asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and help will produce amazing results. After all it is the Lord who gives the increase.

I have heard that over 90% of professing Christians don’t share their faith on a regular basis. If that is true, then that is a concern.

What percentage do you fall into?

If you fall into the larger group, perhaps your reasons are listed above or you have your own. Jesus said “Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”. It’s a promise isn’t it? He said “He will make us”. If we are following Him, then it makes sense that we should be doing
some fishing doesn’t it?

My boss from years ago used to say “Do what you fear, and the fear will disappear” It’s a true statement indeed.  Recently, I ran an evangelism training course in a small church. On the last day we went out onto the streets to speak to people. Some of those who attended the course were a little fearful at the thought of doing something like this. Well, that day two older ladies invited some people to a gospel meeting that evening. They accepted Christ when an invitation was given. They are now regular attendees of the fellowship and are in the process of being discipled. Those older ladies are now out on the streets in their community every week as well as witnessing one to one. Their faith level has risen dramatically!

I would say that it's a good thing to have a well prepared plan, and even better that that the Holy Spirit with you as you witness, rather than to do nothing at all. What do you think?