One of the most common obstacles to sharing our faith is the fear that we may offend. Most of us who have that fear won’t truly be offensive, but occasionally it’s a real concern. What can we do about it?

One of the best things we can do is be honest and genuine. If you worry about being offensive, say so to the person you’re sharing with. You might say something like, “You know, we talk about a lot of things, but hardly ever about spirituality or the Bible. It’s really important to me, but I don’t bring it up because I don’t want to offend you. Do you think about this stuff much?”

Or maybe you find yourself in a spiritual conversation and your friend seems to grow uncomfortable. That’s the time to stop and say, “You seem to get frustrated or uncomfortable when we talk about God. I don’t want to make you angry. Can you tell me why this is a difficult topic?”

The theology behind speaking openly and honestly about the gospel lies in the incarnation. Christ became a man so that he could share in humanity with us and through his death and resurrection save us. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).

When we share our faith, we need to remain human — to sympathize with our conversation partner, to understand his feelings and talk about them. So often we try to become a perfect evangelism machine when we share the gospel. And that will likely make us offensive.

So when you’re afraid you might offend your friend by talking about the gospel, say so. Keep the ground of your conversation human and discuss not only the content of the gospel but how you both feel when you talk about it.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Reaching Out. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.