Lectures

Confessional Witness

Colossians 4:2-6
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, 4 so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.

5 Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.[a] 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

1 Peter 3: 13-16

13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear,[a] and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence.[b] Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

PRAYER IS A KEY PRACTICE FOR WITNESS-it allows us to posture ourselves to be ready to speak faithfully of God.

Advice from the apostles”

  1. Pray with thanksgiving, confidence, and eagerness.
  2. Do good. They point to being a living witness, doing good. Living kindly and generously. Your good deeds may embarrass them.
  3. Witness is participation with God’s mission in the world.
  4. A kind person bears witness to the truth of the Gospel.
  5. Speak graciously, gently, honestly, respectfully and with a touch of salt (in a way that has a nice flavor and a bit of Gospel in there)..
  6. Let them ask, then share your hope. It is assumed that the evangelists are responding to questions posed to them.

Conversational partners
1. Make friends, not targets. It would mean that we have dehumanized them. We have robbed them of their subjectivity.
2. I am not a fan of evangelizing to strangers. Sometimes God will plop someone in front of you though.
3. The natural habitat for evangelism is genuine friendship.
4. Ask questions. Live wonder-FULL. ASk questions-ask lots of questions. It is a Christian spiritually. Preplan questions.
5. Drop clues that spark curiosity.
6. Be alert for invitations to go deeper.
7. Someone might say when my parents split up, I had to give up hockey. That must have been hard for you. What was it like for you when your parents split up?
8. Athetists are sometimes more angry with God than they are disbelieiving God. They are angry because they believe God did not show up for them in some way or for someone they loved or was mistreated. Someone died or was ill. If they want to, you want to hear that story. LISTENING TO THAT STORY IS WITNESS. Steer celar of debate. Debates are usually counter-productive. If theyattact you, surprise them with humility and repentance. Join them in their interrogation of God. Sometimes we need to agree when someone has been told bad theology and ytell them you also disagree.
9. You might want to say that I can tell you how I have come to know something in particular but sometimes it may not help because I was in a place where I couldn’t listen to others. I had to figure it out on my own.
10. THE DEEPER QUESTION IS WHAT IS GOD REALLY LIKE AND WHAT DOES GOD THINK OF ME AND THOSE I LOVE. THIS HAS TO BE ANSWERED IN EBODIED WAYS. IN YOUR CURISOSOITY, IN YOUR KINDNESS, HUMILITY, VULNERABILITY. YOU HAVE TO SHOW THEM HOW GOD FEELS ABOUT THEM.
11. Salt your conversations with the five As.
A. Affirm everything you can. Have and express God’s heart for them.
B. Admit everything you can. Confession of sin is a Christian practice. Telling people that you fail at being the person you aspire to be is a counter-intuitive testimony.