Essentials To Sharing Faith (Part 2) by Dennis Hallaron

In Part 1 of this series, I shared how God challenged me to become more intentional about sharing my faith. I realized that although I had spent my life in church, I had never learned how to have meaningful spiritual conversations. Preparation became the first step. Before we can confidently step out, we have to sit with our own story. We must know why we follow Jesus, understand the grand narrative of God’s grace, and be able to articulate how Christ met us in our own lives. And, of course, the entire process must be deeply rooted in prayer.

Now we turn to the how.

What do we do when the opportunity finally comes? How do we actually share our faith?

To navigate this, I rely on Jamie Winship’s simple 4 “L” method: Look, Listen, Learn, and Lead.

Look: Build Relationships Before You Build Conversations

If we want to love our neighbors, we must first actually know them.

Think about the ministry of Jesus. He was famously called a “friend of sinners” because He chose proximity. He ate with tax collectors, spoke with outsiders, and built relationships with people long before their lives were transformed. He loved them first. Then he worked to influence them towards His Kingdom, not to win an argument, but because He loved them.

Like Jesus, we are called to build authentic relationships grounded in mutual trust and respect, and then point to His love and truth. That means being open about who we are, honest about our love for people, and clear that our hope, born of that love, is to lead them toward His Kingdom.

We should want everyone to come into the Kingdom, and we should be ready to help take them there, not closed off in our own small world. The Holy Spirit can turn any conversation or chance encounter into an opportunity to share the Good News.

For a long time, I caught myself saying, “All of my friends are in the church.” But after some self-examining, I realized that wasn’t entirely true. They weren’t all in church; I simply never talked about spiritual matters with anyone outside of it. I had bought into the lie that I wasn’t qualified, or that I would automatically offend them if I brought up my faith.

The truth is this: Sharing the Good News is not about the skills you possess, degrees, or specialized trainings. None of these things are required to make disciples where God has placed you. Remember, God has a history of using entirely ordinary people to reveal His extraordinary glory.

Introvert or extrovert, lifelong believer or brand-new convert, the call is exactly the same: look around your daily life, build genuine relationships, and watch for where the Holy Spirit is already at work.

We have been appointed by Jesus to go and tell others about the Kingdom. Part of the great commission is to go into all the world. We are meant to live a life on mission. It takes time, but nothing is more rewarding than faithfully following where Jesus leads.

You will never feel fully ready or qualified – neither did the apostles – so simply do your best to be prepared. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will tell us what to say, and I have experienced this again and again. I’ll be praying with someone, and my heart – through the Holy Spirit – begins doing the talking. I don’t consciously plan the words; they simply come. It is a beautiful thing to realize that the Holy Spirit can use me, and you, to do His work.

But you have to get into the game. If Jesus truly matters to you, He will come up naturally in your conversations. Jesus is with us, so you will not fail in presenting Him. Remember it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do the convicting.

No one has a more powerful witness than a person willing to take time for a spiritual conversation. Bearing witness is part of our calling.

I’ve heard it put this way: if someone discovered a cure for cancer and kept it to themselves, what good would that do? We would shout a cure like that from the rooftops, wouldn’t we? Well, it should be no different with the cure for sin. We aren’t meant to live a quiet Christian life kept to ourselves; we are called to let others know of this Good News.

So think about where you need to be sharing the Kingdom of God – the office, school, coffee shop, gym, home. Pray about it. Our world doesn’t simply need more people who know facts about God; it needs people who are falling deeper in love with who God is.

Listen: Listening as an Act of Love

Once we are in proximity with others, our first instinct is often to start talking. Most of us are quick to offer answers. Jesus often began by asking questions. The second step is simple: Shhhh. Listen.

Purposefully enter into conversations with the goal of listening deeply. Hear what is happening in their lives. Find out where they are struggling, what is causing them anxiety, and where they are placing their hope. This takes time and patience. It requires us to lay down our urge to immediately “fix” everything. When we listen without an agenda, we communicate a profound truth: we value them as a person, not just as a spiritual project. Eventually you learn that listening is loving. When people know they have been heard, they are far more willing to hear what we have to say.

Learn: Discover Where Someone Is Spiritually

To point someone toward Christ, you first have to understand where they are on their journey. What is their story? Don’t condemn them or try to change them. Let your genuine curiosity and care draw them closer to you, and let your relationship with God, in turn, draw them closer to Him. Never argue. Arguing does not change human hearts; it only builds walls.

Consider their spiritual identity. Are they unfamiliar with the Gospel? Do they know about Jesus, but have never experienced a personal relationship with Him? Have they walked away from faith?

Many believers try to share a deep, discipleship-level message before they even know if the person they are speaking with believes in God. Before you can help someone take their next step toward Christ, you have to find out where they currently stand.

The church’s calling is to bring people into maturity, some call it discipleship or sanctification. Our job, one person at a time,  is to help move someone one step further toward believing in Christ.

Lead: Stepping Into Spiritual Discussions

When the Holy Spirit nudges you and the time feels right, you can gently lead the conversation toward more direct spiritual questions about their personal beliefs or their relationship with God. The best way to do this with respect is simply to ask for permission. It shows that you value their comfort and honor their boundaries. 

If you struggle to make this transition, here are some questions that can open the door to a spiritual discussion:

“I’ve really valued hearing your perspective. Would it be okay if we had a brief spiritual discussion about that?” (If they say no, respect the boundary completely.)

“Do you have any spiritual beliefs?”

“Do you believe in God?”

“Did you grow up with any kind of faith tradition?”

“Who is Jesus to you?” The big guy in the sky versus my Savior tells you a great deal about their relationship with Him.

‘Do you believe in heaven or hell? If you died today, do you know where you would go?”

“If you found out that what you currently believe wasn’t entirely true, would you want to know?”

“Could I share a little bit about what I’ve come to believe and how it changed my life?”

If they say yes, speak only of what you know firsthand. Don’t try to change the person in the image of your own understanding, your culture, or your view of a Christian’s duties. Instead, love them and tell them what Christ wants them to know: “Jesus loves you, and He wants a relationship with you.”

Never argue. It isn’t what we do, even though for some of us it’s the hardest thing to resist. Arguing doesn’t come from the Spirit, only truth from Scripture and the story of what you know to be true.

Become a servant. When you enter a place, ask God: “What do you want me to do here?” 

Use your faith to help someone walk into belief and into the Kingdom. Explain why you are a Christian. Use your story, God’s story, and your own experiences, knowing you don’t have every answer, but that you have found something to be true.

Be real and authentic. Canned lines and too many examples can sound like you’re forcing something on someone. Be confident that God has something planned for you to do. Walk in the confidence of our King, trusting that He has put you in contact with exactly the right person He wants you to share your faith with. Know that God has sent you into this time and this place. You can feel it.

You should be able to walk into a room and have people sense that you belong to the Kingdom, and that you can lead them into it. Love them. Bring healing where life has not worked for them. You lead people by sharing the healing you yourself have received and by telling them the Kingdom of God is near. The good news of the Kingdom can lift what distresses them, reveal where they’ve been hurt, and redeem the parts of their life that aren’t working. Show them, through your own story, how God healed your distress.

5 Keys to Natural Spiritual Conversations

To keep your conversations organic and meaningful, keep these five principles in mind:

1. Take Initiative: Too often we wait, lose the opportunity and think to ourselves “I wish I had said something”. The non-spiritual person will rarely bring up faith first. We must be willing to initiate the discussion.

2. Keep it One-on-One: Deep, vulnerable spiritual conversations happen best in private, quiet settings, not in a crowd.

3. Engage in Dialog, Not Monolog: Talk with them, not at them. Ask questions and let them respond.

4. Offer Truth in Doses: Ask God for sensitivity – when to speak and when to back off and wait.

5. Watch for Split-Second Opportunities: Often, a transition point appears in a fleeting moment.

When you sense the Holy Spirit’s prompting, be intentional about steering the conversation from an everyday topic to a deeper spiritual conversation. A few ways to get there:

– Bridging: Use the current topic as a bridge to a related spiritual one – just as Jesus used physical water to talk about living water with the woman at the well.

– Questioning: Similar to bridging, but instead of a statement, you invite a response by asking a question. “Physical fitness is important to me as well but so is spiritual fitness. Do you ever think about the spiritual side of life?”

– Inviting: Invite them into your community, whether that’s a small group, a church event, or a casual service project you think might resonate with them.

– Ending: Pivot to what comes next. For example: “I believe God is reaching out to you right now. It’s no coincidence that we’ve met and are talking about this. He’s using me to let you know that He loves you and wants a relationship with you.”

Living a Life of Purpose

When we do what God made us to do, it is deeply freeing. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom – and that is where our confidence comes from. No matter what happens, nothing can take away the peace and joy we experience while doing what God created us to do. Nothing is as freeing as that.

How great is our God! Let’s go forth, Church, and be what we were made to be.

A note from the author: I have had the privilege of sharing these and other how-tos about sharing our faith with others. If you would like to learn more feel free to get in touch with me at the contact in my bio. We can continue discussing how to approach certain folks when you don’t know where they stand in their faith journey. I can also share a few tools that you might find helpful in walking people through Scripture.