REBEKAH WRITES: How do I casually evangelize to the people in my school within normal conversation? I don’t want to talk about God so much that they reject it or change the subject. And how do I evangelize without losing relationships?
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I drove home and went to bed thinking about this very question last night, and haven’t yet come up with an answer!
This is such a good question. I have asked tons of my public schooled friends what their best tips are for things like this. The overwhelming response was… (drum roll please!) “Make it second nature to talk about God.” Now, you might be wondering, “Great, but my question was how I can do it without basically scaring them off.”
My friends have given me all sorts of tips. After you get a good grade on an assignment, test, etc., say something like, “Thank You Lord!” or “Praise God!” Make it a habit to talk about things you have been praying for. Say something like, “So God answered my prayer and helped me get through the homework last night. It was so tough!” Or, “I’ve been praying for you recently.” If they ask why you have been praying for them, respond honestly. “God has really laid it on my heart to pray that you will have peace, joy, etc.”
Other tips include talking about friends from church. Seriously, this works really well for my friends. They say that they will talk about some really fun activity at church or with their friends from church. People will get really interested in stuff that sounds fun or exciting.
Hopefully this all makes sense and will work for you! If you need more ideas, just ask. I am always asking my friends what works for them. God Bless!!!
I love these tips, Rachel! I try to lead by example and live like Christ, but I have realized recently that I don’t actually speak about Him verbally as much as I should.
Such a great question. And how awesome that you want to share with your friends! I’m a little homeschooler 🤓 but I might have a couple general tips.
I would say that living your life to show Christ is one of the biggest things. If your friends see you talking about Jesus and church one minute and flirting like a crazy girl or cussing up a storm the next, they see you as no different then they are. You want them to see that you have something they don’t. Also, just meet them where they are. Relationships are messy. Being in a close relationship with someone can hurt, but it is so vital.
I think one of the best places to start is to just ask God for opportunities. Ask Him for the courage to use those opportunities. Finally, ask God to open their hearts and draw them to him. There’s no formula for evangelizing to your friends, but if God knows you are willing, I believe He will help you along the way. Great question by the way!
Don’t go into it expecting your relationship to be the same, it might be that way but pretty often people will act like they hate you just because they hate God. So be ready and willing to lose them in sharing the Gospel. And definitely pray for opportunities, and words to say.
If you get a chance there’s a sermon series by David Platt called “threads”that you should definitely listen to.
When I first came to Christ, I was way over the top with trying to “save” everybody…
I had heard that verse about “being ready to give an answer” and so I took it upon myself to hammer some pepole over the head with the “answers” I thought they needed.
And then…
God had me reading that passage of the Bible one day and I looked at it more closely and saw THIS: (pay special attention to the CAPITALIZED words)
… but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense TO ANYONE WHO ASKS YOU for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it WITH GENTLENESS AND RESPECT,
You can probably see what in those capitalized words changed everything for me.
Also, a few years ago, a friend of mine and I entered into a discipleship relationship with each other and the two biggest things I got out of that experience were these two scriptures:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”
And…
“the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”
When it all comes down to it, it all boils down to God’s love and how intensely we are pursuing it and how effectively we are expressing it. Is it by faith? Are we walking with Him, resting in Him? Are you letting Him love you and transform you by the renewing of your mind?
It changes everything. It is supposed to.
We are, in Christ, filled to overflowing with every spiritual blessing, and as we realize that, we can walk as people who are bursting with joy, with His peace and love shed abroad in our hearts. Yes, some will walk away, because they love the darkness. You pray for them…
However, others will be drawn to the beauty that is rising in you AND THEY WILL “ask for the reason for the hope” they see…
For them, you also pray.,.and then, since they “ASKED”, you may, with gentleness and respect, give them the same answer that is ” the only Name under heaven, given among men, by which we will be saved”
Hallfelujah!! ❤
Of course, all this done in love, in the context of relationship… because that is the way He rolls! Because He loves people! And He is all about teaching us to do the same! 😉
I love this question! In fact, this is what my husband and I do as a career! We are full-time missionaries to high school students with Cru (aka Campus Crusade for Christ), and every day we teach teens how to share the Gospel with their friends and peers on their campuses 😊
I love the suggestions others have given to this question, and I would agree. Your lifestyle should definitely reflect the Gospel first and foremost. For the most part, this will be evident in in how you love people well. Are you honoring and respectful of your teachers? Are you considering the needs of you classmates (not just your friends) before your own? Are you kind to those you may not get along with easily? Are you looking for ways to befriend the social outcast? All of these things reflect the heart of Jesus in action 😊
But I would also encourage you to be bold and brave! There are so many students at your school who are hurting, and they have no idea who to talk to about it. Many of them have awful home lives and heavy doubts about their personal worth. And you have the key to life, my friend! You have the Holy Spirit living inside you just as much as your youth pastor does, and He will equip you with every word to say to those He has you share the Gospel with. Sharing the Gospel doesn’t have to look perfect! It just takes one brave son or daughter of God stepping out in faith in obedience to the Lord. Certainly pray for Him to give you opportunities. And then when one opens up, begin building a friendly conversation with that person. And we often teach our students to ask their friends, “Has anyone ever told you how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?” A personal relationship? We often find no one ever has. Then our students verbalize the Gospel to their friends. Even a 15 minute conversation can change someone’s life!
If you want to hear stories about the teenagers we know who have shared the Gospel, I would be happy to tell them to you. And if you would (or anyone else!) would like me and my husband to explain how to verbalize the Gospel to your friends, email me and let me know! [email protected]
How honoring it is to our God that you desire to share His Name at your school 😊
I think this is a great question and can be rather hard to answer sometimes, but very important. About a year ago I started wanting to evangelize to the people around me. So I started being over-the-top-Christian; using God in almost every sentence and basically throwing my Christianity at everyone I met. The result; it pushed everyone away. People disliked my style of evangelizing so much they started to avoid me. When I realized this, I started to scale back, and it works so much better. I have learned that hard way that the last thing you want to do is throw your Christianity at people; it just alienates them. First and foremost you need to show your faith by simply being the best you you can be. Be kind and polite; listen to other people and always be willing to help. That kind of person draws others to them and makes them more willing to whatever you have to say; like telling them about your faith.
Also, don’t just start out a conversation saying something like “I’m a Christian”. Don’t put it forward as if it is something that others aren’t; bring it up in conversation casually, like saying “at church on Sunday my pastor was talking about (whatever the conversation is about at that time)” or “God is so __”. Act as if being Christian is completely normal and ordinary (a lot of people see it as being weird and uncommon) and just continue with the conversation as if you hadn’t mentioned your faith at all. This might seem rather odd, but it lets them know you are Christian and may spark later conversations about it; which is exactly what you want. Having them bring it up themselves is VERY important so they don’t feel like you are throwing your faith at them.
Wow, that was long… Hope it helped!
I have several articles coming out on this subject soon! This is something that has been very heavy on my heart lately. Check out toocomfortableblog.wordpress.com 🙂
Also, the book Tactics by Gregory Koukl is absolutely INDISPENSABLE when you are wrestling with this problem. I bought my copy on Amazon and it is an easy but important read.
Just a quick thought, don’t feel like you have to share every aspect of the gospel at once. Hopefully you’re working in the context of a relationship, so you’ll have at least this semester to build on it in your conversations.
Don’t use this as an excuse tho…
I realize it’s not easy to broach this topic at school, especially when there is so much oppression from the school administrations, generally speaking. As Christians, we need to revert back to the Word given to us in the Bible. If you don’t already have one, a study bible is an extremely useful tool, as is biblegateway.com for its search capability.
When the Word is emblazoned in your heart, owning it, and sharing it should make life a little less troublesome in this vein. At the minimum, re-read the Sermon on the Mount, and extract the nuggets of wisdom Jesus bestows upon us all.
Mt 5:10-12 should be your revitalization! Pray, and ask Him to put the words in your mouth.
“10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” He said this would be the way it’d be, which we still need to take comfort in.
“Hate the sin, and not the sinner” is a phrase I’ve often heard.
Mt 6:27 is also a reminder why worry is of no use! God Bless!
While ultimately you want friends coming to Christ, be wary of setting your expectations too high. Remember, Jesus knelt to wash the feet of his disciples, baffling them, but of course, He had His higher purpose. Approach cautiously with minimal, if any, expectations. He works in mysterious ways!
Jn 13:16-17:
“16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Even though I am a home schooled MK,{missionary kid}, here in South Africa we go to a music school, and my sister and I are apart of their orchestras. There, we are continually are coming across with great witnessing opportunities. I have found that if you slowly start witnessing, only pieces at a time, that it is easier that way. Like start with a favorite memory verse ect. if the right situation comes up. Then as you get to know that person you can start moving on to bigger topics. Hope that helps.