10 Ways NOT to Share Your Faith

1. Stand on the corner and scream “REPENT!” at others. If it didn’t work for Jeremiah the prophet, it won’t work for you.
2. Break into a public high school and shove gospel tracts into the lockers. Trust me on this. I’ve done it…seriously.
3. Wear a “Ready to die…ask me why” T-Shirt. I’ve done this too. It’s not effective, but it did scare people.
4. Go into a bookstore and secretly slip gospel tracts into all of the New Age/Witchcraft books. Have I done this? Maybe…okay, yes.
5. Put gospel tracts in the hands of the manequins at J.C. Pennys. While it looks like the fashion dummy is offering the gospel tract it’s the real dummy that gets thrown out of the mall. Suffice it to say that I’ve met many security guards this way and they are nothing like the guy in “Mall Cop.”
6. Use fake $100 dollar bills with “the gospel” on them to get people excited that they found a $100 dollar bill and then get them ticked off when they realize that they didn’t.
7. Go on Christian television and offer the gospel as a way to get rich on earth. Does anybody have a barf bag?
8. Sky dive from 3,000 feet into an outdoor Atheist’s convention with “John 3:16″ painted on your parachute.
9. Yell out “I love Jesus how ’bout you?” in the middle of class.
10. Any kind of Christian bumper sticker (especially if you’re a bad driver!)

So, if this is how you should NOT share your faith, how should you? How about this? Talk to people! Love them, listen to them, engage them and share the gospel with them. It’s only taken me about 30 years of sharing my faith to figure this out. I guess I’m a slow learner. It’s a good thing I love the book of Colossians. I finally got the message after reading this passage in chapter four, verses four through six,

“Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

I love Jesus how ’bout you?

About Greg Stier
Greg Stier is the President and Founder of Dare 2 Share Ministries in Arvada, Colo., where he works with youth leaders and students, equipping them to be effective in sharing the gospel. With experience as a senior teaching pastor and in youth ministry for almost 20 years, Greg has a reputation of knowing and relating to today’s teens. He is widely viewed as an authority and expert teen spirituality. He is known for motivating, mobilizing and equipping teens for positive change. For more information on Dare 2 Share Ministries, and the Blaze 09/10 conference tour, please visit www.dare2share.org.