One thing that frustrates me more than anything else is being misunderstood! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.!
As Christians, we are called each and every one of us to share our faith. Whether through word or deed, however we do it, it's essential that we do. But I know from experience that it's not always easy.
Last year taught me many things about sharing faith. The most important lesson I learnt was that being human is so essential in ministry. I also learnt how important it is to meet people where they are. When talking to other people about my faith I've often had to water it down a great deal or often had it watered down for me! lol learning to swallow our pride is a hard lesson to learn but if we're to be any good sharing our faith we ought to have a little humility and accept people where we find them.
I don't know whether you've been watching Celebrity Big Brother this week but Stephen Baldwin has quite literally become the 'Big Brother House Evangelist', it's quite funny actually! Despite me taking the mick out of him whilst sitting on the sofa, he has actually made an impact in there. In one day he managed to change Heidi Fleiss' outlook on life. She was a prostitute in America who was well known for running a successful yet illegal prostitute ring and through a conversation with Stephen she seems to have realised that she is of value and worth, and that she is loved by God and this lead to her to deciding that she would never go back to working like that again. Apart from this he even had the whole house saying grace before dinner and doing Bible study! Now, it's not my method of evangelism at all but I do thank God for Stephen's witness and pray that the Spirit may speak through him.
At the top of this post is a picture of me and a very close friend Muzammil (Muzie), we were classmates in my first year at Sixth Form but our class was split up last year and we are now all in different classes! When I first started at the Sixth Form, me and Muzie instantly "clicked"! I was the preacher and he was the dedicated Muslim. We often share "sacred ground" in the Sixth form common room and have what we call "Religious talk" lol. It's a blessing to be a Christian in a Sixth form and have the opportunity to show people how two people of different faiths can get together and not have a heated argument and it's also great to show that the Church and those who serve within it are actually human! That we're not all life-less Bible-bashers and homophobics. But that actually we're not totally different from those around us!
Gracious God,
In this world which is so diverse and so complex,
so confused and so full of darkness,
so full of un-truth and deceit.
We ask and pray that you would help us bring your love and your light
to the people and the situations in which you place us.
Make us fountains of your love and your truth so that in your power and through your Spirit, we may make a change in this world and make it once again your Kingdom- creation healed.
In your name,
Amen
2 comments:
Jarel, I think you're spot on about the importance of being human in faith sharing. I find it scary stuff - I'm often not sure of whether I've done or said the right thing and it can make me feel very vulnerable. But if, through faith, we can say with Paul "it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me" (though I perhaps see that more as a journey of transformation than Paul did) then being true to ourselves should mean Christ gets a look in there somewhere!!
PS: great to have a Timothy to balance the Methuselahs
Thank you Rachel! Indeed faith sharing makes me feel vulnerable too and I have to say that feeling of vulnerability has often been enough to stop the faith sharing happen!
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