How to Share Your Faith: 7 C's for Authentic Evangelism

Struggling to share your faith with others? Discover the seven C's for authentically  communicating your faith in this  episode. I discuss how to engage in genuine conversations without confrontation while keeping Christ at the center. I  explore how to be good neighbors and friends through honest and open dialogue while making Christianity intellectually and emotionally compelling. Our goal is to invite others into a relationship with Christ, not just win an argument. Evangelism is hard. But these seven C's make it a bit easier and more authentic.

0:00 Introduction
0:37 1 Conversation
1:29 2 Curiosity
2:30 3 Conviction
3:38 4 Compassion
5:39 5 Christ
6:41 6 Candid
8:32 7 Compelling
9:23 Conclusion

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Episode Transcript

JC Schroeder (00:00):
Evangelism is hard .
Some people are just naturallyand spiritually gifted to share
the gospel, but for the rest ofus, sharing our faith is super
scary and difficult.
I am not an evangelist so Ireally understand and resonate
with this, but I have learned afew things along the way that I

(00:23):
think helps.
Here I'm going to share sevenC's to make sharing our faith a
bit easier and effective.
I'm JC Schroeder and this isBite Size Seminary.
Number one conversation.
All we're doing when we'resharing our faith is having a
conversation with someone.

(00:44):
It's not a sermon, it's not athesis or an argument.
Conversation, not confrontation.
You're chatting with a friend.
You can keep it casual.
It doesn't have to be some deep, dark, difficult thing.
It doesn't have to be long oreven super in depth.
This can really, i think, helptake the pressure off of having

(01:09):
that conversation, because it'sjust a conversation.
I don't have to have like 15really well-reasoned and
articulated points, like I'mtrying to win some debate.
I'm just sharing my ownexperiences and thoughts about
Christ and my relationship withhim and hearing what thoughts my
friends have.

(01:29):
Number two is curiosity.
This segues, i think, well withthe previous point, since we're
just having a conversation andnot a debate and this is my
friend that I'm talking to.
I am genuinely going to beinterested in their thoughts,
perspectives and experiences.
I'm curious to hear what theyhave to say, even if it totally

(01:54):
disagrees with my ownperspective.
When I'm self-centered ordefensive, it's not going to
help the gospel or myrelationship in any way.
This being curious is whatmakes a good neighbor and a good
friend.
It also allows you to hearpotential objections to

(02:18):
Christianity and gives you somemore things to talk about and to
respond to.
Be curious, not in a creepy way, but in a kind and friendly way
with the friend that you'retalking with.
Number three conviction Beingin a conversation and curious
doesn't mean that we don't liveand talk without conviction.

(02:39):
We don't want to shy away fromthe truths of the gospel.
Part of having a goodconversation and friendship is
being honest.
Right, if you're not everhonest with your friend, that's
not a great friendship.
We have to lay out.
This is where I stand.
This is what the Bible says.
You can, in a very gentle, kindway, push back on something

(03:02):
that your friend says like thisI hear what you're saying, but
I'm not really sure thatlogically works.
Or you could say something like.
Have you thought about thisother aspect that maybe makes
your view kind of problematic?
That's not what I'm saying.
You can push back of it, butyou want to do this kindly,

(03:24):
compassionately.
We'll hit that in just a minute.
We can state with convictionwhat the Bible says, but our
conviction is not enough.
We also need compassion.
Number four is compassion.
Think about this for a moment.
We are representing Christ.

(03:44):
We are His ambassador.
What an incredible privilegethis is that He would task us in
this way and that we have thiskind of God.
He treated people withincredible compassion.
The God who created all theuniverse treats us with

(04:06):
compassion.
He sat and ate with taxcollectors and sinners, people
on the extreme margins ofsociety, people who no one else
wanted to be with.
Jesus was with them and heshowed incredible compassion.
He shielded them from shamefrom others and honored them
with his actions and his words.

(04:26):
We want to embody his concernand attitude for others.
We want his vision for othersto be our own vision.
We are not trying to win anargument, we're trying to win
the soul.
Having compassion comes out inour view and attitude toward

(04:51):
people and about people.
It also means having the wisdomto know when to stop talking
just like no more, you're done,let them all that over.
Or how to phrase a difficulttopic so that it can be received
well.
There are just so manytheological cultural issues that

(05:12):
are swirling around in ourworld.
Christians, we speak with justsuch venom and vitriol.
It's just disgusting.
We do not represent Christ well.
We don't want to move from ourown conviction and the
conviction of Scripture, but weneed the compassion of Christ.

(05:36):
We speak the truth in love.
Number five Christ.
Perhaps one of the mostimportant things to keep in mind
is to keep Christ front andcenter.
We are sharing about our Savior, how he saved us and how he can
save our friend.
We're not there to get on somesoapbox about our hobby horse

(06:00):
theological issue As importantas talking about how to read
Genesis or Revelation, howimportant that can be.
We don't want that to distractfrom the person and work of
Christ.
You may need to talk aboutthose particular topics or about
other questions and concernswith other theological issues,

(06:24):
but we want to be wary ofgetting sidetracked.
The focus is on Christ.
He is the one who saves, notwrite theology about a whole
host of issues.
It's Christ.
We want to invite people into arelationship with Christ.
Number six Candid.
This topic, i think, is a hardone for us, but I think it's

(06:46):
also really important.
It helps to undergird severalof the previous points that
we've already talked about.
We need to be candid about thedifficulties and complexities in
Scripture and in Christianity.
Remember we're having aconversation with our friend and
our desires.
We want them to be open andhonest with us.

(07:09):
If we're being defensive andwalled off, that does not foster
a conversation or relationship.
If you get a hard question,don't do the whole song and
dance thing.
You just give a lame answerbecause you really don't know.
Just say you don't know.
Also, follow that up withsaying I'll look into it.

(07:31):
You actually go when you lookinto it and you come back with
here's what I found.
Something like that.
Not everything in Scripture issuper nice and tidy or has a
quick, easy answer that everyoneshould always know.
There are really difficulttopics and questions questions
about slavery, war, women in theBible.
These are tough topics, right,there are really good answers

(07:55):
out there.
But we don't need to have thispersona that we know everything
or nothing ever confuses us oris perplexing.
The central aspect ofChristianity is that Christ died
for my sins and was raised fromthe dead.
Being honest about yourthoughts will again be an act of

(08:15):
a good neighbor and friend tothe individual that you're in
conversation with.
It helps give credibility thatyou're actually honest and
actually thinking about yourfaith.
Be candid in your conversationand in your thinking about
Scripture.
The final C is compelling.
We have the greatest God anyonecan ever conceive, yet we talk

(08:41):
about him like he's a mathproblem instead of him being the
greatest person in story ever.
We want to show how wonderfuland beautiful God really is,
talk about his grace, talk aboutChrist's humility and
compassion.

(09:02):
Reason plays a role in aperson's conversion, but there
is also emotion.
We don't want to manipulatethose emotions, but we do want
to show how Christ is andChristianity is intellectually
and emotionally compelling.
God loves and wants us, and Godloves and wants them.

(09:24):
Hopefully, one or two of thesetips will help make our
evangelism a bit easier and moreeffective.
Remember the Lord is notlooking for superstars or
perfection.
Isn't that comforting?
I take a lot of comfort fromthat.
He just wants us to share himwherever we go in our lives and

(09:47):
our speech.
He empowers us to do this and Ipray that Christ will be at the
forefront of our lives and ourrelationships.
Thank you so much for watching.