FOUNDATIONS
There have been times as I’ve stepped out on this journey that I have felt nervous and uncertain doing so. It is to be expected! Reflecting on this made me realise that there are three “foundations” that, when solid, help the whole experience of faith-sharing more profound and gratifying. You need to know..
1. YOUR INVITEE
First, try to be considerate of the other person before anything else. Be discerning in the Holy Spirit about who you ask. Not everyone will want to have a conversation like this and that is more than ok. Give the other person a genuine, no pressure, guilt-free choice to decline. No-one wants a forced and awkward conversation! If they say yes, make space for them to share their own beliefs, actively listen to them and take a curious interest in their thoughts too. Naturally, there may be one or two points you really want to convey about your faith. However, listening to them and their questions will help you to understand their point of view. I cannot tell you how much more interesting, exciting and engaging it has been to try and shed light on people’s questions about faith, rather than to try and get my own point across. Try to meet them where they are at rather than drag them to where you are.
2. YOURSELF
It takes an inner sense of security and God-given peace to take even the first step on this journey. You will be sharing something of yourself in sharing your faith. Having a strong sense of your identity as a loved child of God will take away a lot of the nerves around doing so. Being secure in this peace will help you set the tone for sharing. From the start, grounding yourself in this will comfort you if you receive a ‘no’ to your invitation. In the conversations, it will mean you can take a moment to pause, without rushing ahead, before you respond to an unexpected question. It will help you to slow down and listen to what the other person is saying without needing to fill silences. It will give you strength to be open and vulnerable. There is a difference between having this quiet confidence and sliding into arrogance. Arrogance is where you refuse to listen. Quiet confidence means that your beliefs have conviction while still wanting to understand the other person.
3. YOUR GOD
It is impossible to know everything about God. No-one can keep the whole Bible in their heads. You will not be able to keep every angle to every theological argument to hand. What you can do is express your connection to God. Every one of us will be able to share even a little something of what brought us to faith. So when I write you need to know your God, I don’t mean you need to be able to recall facts, tidbits or Bible passages off the top of your head. Don’t get me wrong, these things are often useful when responding to people’s questions and they help provide insight. However, more than this, I mean you need to know God’s heart for you. It doesn’t matter if this is your first day as a Christian or you have known Jesus for decades. Being able to speak of God’s love for you, and what this has meant for you, is all you really need to be able to share.
Nb. It may sound trivial but I really deliberated over putting God at the bottom of this list. It felt like I was going against every teaching I’ve ever had that told me to put God first. One way to justify this to myself was that, at the bottom, it was representative of Him being the deepest, strongest foundation.
In the end, I decided it didn’t really matter and I followed my instinct. It felt more helpful and in line with how the process chronologically unfolds; start by considering the other person, prepare yourself, then come to the deepest foundation No matter how it’s written down, God is in the whole journey; in discernment with Him, grounding yourself in Him and then putting Him at the centre.