I am in a clan, don't get scared it's a gaming clan, and there's a lot of guys that I talk to on a regular basis. Now, I know that we, as Christians, should take every oportunity we can to witness and share the Word. But I sometimes get scared that I might say the wrong thing or even lose friends. What kind of advice can anyone give me to help me be more confident and stronger in my witnessing?
Robert
Heyla, Robert! :-).
I'll give you my experiences regarding witnessing that have worked for me
. I'm writing this not only for you, but to other christians out there. Some of my advise goes against traditional aproaches, but I've found that its gotten the Word across faster than had I not followed these rules. Witnessing is one of those really touchy subjects among the masses... Or, rather, it is up here. Many Christians around here witness so BADLY that even the simple mention of God and Jesus can turn the softest hearted person into a slobbering beast. As christians, its expected that we do SOME witnessing, but believers have to learn to be GENTLE about the subject. Ramming it down people's throats is a VERY bad way to bring anyone to our faith. Think of the sales person selling a car.. who do you prefer more? The calm, friendly one, or the guy screaming in your ear? I apologize if I sound harsh. As I said, lots of bad preaching is experienced up here. These are the four biggest lessons I've learned. You may or may not do some of these and I apologize if I make it sound like you are **chuckles**. I was pretty bad at everything mentioned below.
1) Never presume people haven't heard about the word of God. Most have heard about him so many times that they've grown deaf to Jesus' salvation. This is especially true in the south USA (Note: Almost everything I've done regarding folks in the south USA has been through the internet, so that might change if you did it face to face.). Call it over exposure, if you'd like. Many
HAVE been to church and have grown tired of the petty bickering that many denominations are reknown for. Talk to these people. Don't preach. Ask why they've chosen the path they've chosen. These folks HATE to be preached to! LISTEN before you sing the praises of Jesus to them.
2) Never accuse a person of abandoning God if their faith is different from yours. Many still believe in God, just
NOT YOUR DEFINITION OF HIM. Suggest that your God is another path or version they should concider. Politely mention the benifits if they take Christ's way. Thinking of God or Jesus as another path to take may sound ridiculous to us, but to them, while you're hollering hell and damnation, they feel like a sales person is shoving another plate of self righteousness in their face.
3)
EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT OTHER FAITHS! This is
**THE** fastest way to lose a person's respect!! Your faith may say their beliefs are bad, but THEY don't see it that way! NEVER start telling others that they're worshipping the devil and the devil is confusing them. I've done outreach to the pagan community for years and this is THE NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT they have about our faith. Make sure you get the facts
**RIGHT** about a person' beliefs. Don't fall for the stereotypes because in most cases they are bitterly wrong and you end up sounding like an uneducated fool. We all know the stereotypes: Muslims are terrorists. Wiccans / Witches cast curses and they have orgies in the woods. Satanists saccrifice babies and drink blood. None of the above are true. Well, except for the bit about the satanists, but most of them aren't
that stupid and would be among the first in line to toss the offenders into the brig. Just because a person is of a certain faith
doesn't mean they're a mean, nasty, evil individual at heart. Just because you know one non-believer who did something questionable doesn't mean they're ALL like that. Think of it this way: How would you feel if everyone thought Christians were like the Klu Klux Klan (KKK)? How would you feel if people ran around screaming Christians belonged to a cult of baby killers? Research! **KNOW** who you are talking to. **KNOW** your audience! Earn their respect and you've passed one of the biggest hurdles in witnessing.
4) No need to say jesus' name fifteen times in one sentence
. You'd be suprised how important this is. I found that most non-believers' eyes rolled into the back of their heads and they started seizuring if I laid on the Jesus speak to thick. It bores them to death and they only laugh about you later. Few people take you seriously if the only topic out of your mouth is God Jesus God. Yeah, I know. Some folks are gonna rip a strip off of me for this, but honestly... do you have any idea how stupid we sound when the only thing we can do is quote the bible? Have an actual conversation with these people! Besides.. We don't have to praise God every time we open out mouths. You want to come across as a sane and cheerful person when witnessing, not a blubbering moron. Keep the number of references to bible and jesus to a minimum. Yes.. you want them to know christ, but you don't have sound as if you're selling God and Jesus as if they were wares in a pawn shop!
**Sighs** That's all I can think of right now. Over the years I've found that we have forgotten the love of Christ as he would have loved others. We need to sit down and listen to our audience. Riding our high horse isn't going to win many converts. We may not agree with non-believers and want them to know Christ, but we tend to close our eyes and ears to their problems far too often than we should. Remember as Christ said: "Do as to others as you would yourself" and "Love thy neighbor". Would you like a nice, pleasant conversation with someone, or have someone force feeding their version of Truth down your throat? Politeness and Tact has more punch than slapping them in the face with the Bible. :-)
Remember: BE GENTLE!
Good luck!
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