3 Essential Tools for Sharing Your Faith

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." -Psalm 96:3

When I first started blogging, the title of my blog was called, "Adapting Witnessing Patterns," with a tagline taken from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 stating to "Go and make disciples." Witnessing and sharing my faith has been a priority for me and Matthew 28:19-20 has been my life verse since I was a boy. I have firmly believed that we need to step it up, using whatever means available to share our faith with those who have not heard the good news found in Jesus Christ. It has to be a priority and it has to be a passion. It has to be imperative and be a defining point of who we are as Christians. 

Many of us firmly believe this and yet we still find the concept of witnessing and sharing our faith to be so difficult in practice. We believe that Christ is King and that he laid down His life for us. We believe that He rose again and through His sacrifice we are given salvation and forgiveness. We believe that He indeed does forgive us and grants us the second, third, fourth, etc. chances that we desperately need. We believe that Jesus is the answer for us and for our families, our friends, our coworkers, and all those that we come into contact with and yet sharing our faith is so often so hard. It's rough. We don't know what to say; we don't know what to do. 

In tackling this difficulty of where to start off from for many of us, I am reminded of three major resources that I pray that you can use to help you share your faith with those around you. These resources are very easy to get your hands on and to access right away, allowing you to start conversations with the people around you from multiple angles. Some of these will be easier than others, but it is my prayer that through looking at these three, you will be challenged in the way that you currently share your faith right now. 

The first is simple. It's called YouVersion. (www.bible.com)

YouVersion is a completely free Bible app that you can access online, as well as download onto your smartphone or devices. No cost at all and just to name a few points on the program, there are multiple translations, reading plans, resources, notes, videos, and groups that one can access and share from. Just looking at the resources available through this one app that can be downloaded so easily, one can start so many conversations, come together with reading plans, invite a friend to join a group event, and so on and so forth. Our church uses this app so much, with having live events on Sunday mornings that people can follow along with right on their phones. There is so much here and it gives us so many opportunities right on your phone, tablet, or computer. 

The second is one of my personal favorites; Hollywood. 

I am an avid movie fan. I love movies a lot, and in 2014 we have had three major films (one upcoming entitled Heaven is for Real) released around the themes of Christianity and Biblical Narrative. In fact, as I write this blog post, the three films are the 9th, 11th, and 18th highest grossing films of the year in the United States (http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014&p=.htm). The films, Noah, God's Not Dead, and Son of God, have been very successful at the box office, not only as Christian films, but for attendance overall. These films have the potential to start conversations, to be seen by those who don't have a faith background, as well as to be a catalyst for audiences to see more films released by Hollywood created around Christian and Biblical themes. 

The third asset that has become more and more exciting has been music. 

Christian music in the last few years has jumped leaps and bounds. Last February, PBS released a special on Christian music and specifically talked about a number of artists who are passionate with their faith and have been incredibly successful in the mainstream market. These artists: TobyMac, Skillet, Lecrae, and Chris Tomlin have had multiple RIAA Gold albums and singles, sell out concerts and tours, have won Grammys and other awards, and yet have not taken a step back from being proactive in speaking and singing lyrics that point to God (The article itself can be read here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/02/08/february-8-2013-mainstream-christian-music/14681/). This is a great resource for us as believers. We can recommend artists, not just these ones, but artists that speak and live out faith with those around us. So often, I've heard people say that they don't like Christian music because it's not as good as secular music, and these artists and others like them have not only voided out that stereotype, but blown it away.

It all comes back to us and living out what we believe. As I previously stated, I pray that we take advantage of these resources that are so accessible to us. They are all right here in front of us. Let us make a priority to take advantage of them as we prioritize sharing the gospel with those around us. 

Jesus has to be more than a cool person to us and when we recognize not only that but how important He truly is we begin to prioritize more and more the need to share Him with others. 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20

What other resources do you use or would you recommend to others wanting to step it up in sharing their faith? I would love to hear your thoughts, as well as your thoughts on this blog post itself. Please feel free to drop a comment below or to hit me up on Facebook/Twitter: @solidschultz. Thanks for reading and God bless!