Sharing your Faith Without Embarassing Yourself or God

Well, our Navigators community (my personal ministry) has survived yet another Fall Retreat. This year, we heard from Meeting House teaching pastor Bruxy Cavey on the topic of Sharing Your Faith Without Embarassing Yourself or God. Much fun was had by all, and we picked up some great pointers to bring back with us to the Waterloo campus.

Bruxy reminded us of the cultural divide that exists between the Christian North American subculture and the rest of culture; and that gap is significant. He then pointed us towards Acts 17 where the apostle Paul surveys a group of carven idols in an Areopagus (or gathering place). One of these idols is marked "the Unknown God." Paul points towards this idol and tells the assembled folks that he too worships this "Unknown God." However, Paul then goes on to describe the fuller version of that Unknown God as Jesus.

Using this model, Bruxy suggested that Christ-followers should look in their culture today for "Unknown Gods" or examples where the Holy Spirit is clearly working; instances where there is generosity, compassion, understanding, and love. Christ-followers may then attempt to "bridge the gap" by describing how Jesus informs these concepts of generosity, compassion, etc.

Another interesting point came when Bruxy described a conversation he had with a sales lady about religion. This particular sales lady hated religion, and she hated Christianity. She hated its judgementalism, its condemnation, and its lack of love. Bruxy then asked this same lady, "So what do you think about Jesus?" The sales lady responded that she loves Jesus and thinks that he was an amazing person. The point of Bruxy's story was that as Christ-followers we need to get people seeing and following the person of Jesus instead of Christianity; get people following the person rather than the set of ideals and concepts that surround the person.

So, now that we're back at the Waterloo campus, where is the Holy Spirit working? Where do we see God already at work igniting people with love and compassion; whether they believe in Jesus or not? And how can we introduce them to the person of Jesus?