Sharing God's Gift Update

Hello!

Well. . . it seems like I can never keep this blog up-to-date, now can I? I would like to update it at least every week, but obviously, that hasn't been the case thus far. Maybe that will change (but I'm not making any promises!) :)

Anyway, I thought I would share a little of what has been happening here in my little world, especially in Sharing God's Gift, which I shared about with you all a while back. There are only three weeks left to this ten-week evangelism course, and so far, it has been really good!

A major part of this course is "on the job training" where we divide up into groups of three or four and go witnessing door-to-door. For the first four or five weeks of Sharing God's Gift, I wasn't able to go out with any group (due to the fact that this particular class is unusually big compared to previous classes and there aren't enough trainers to go out with each group), so it has only been the last two weeks that I've had the privilege of going out and get a "taste" for spreading the Gospel!


Last week I went with three others (plus a trainer) to the house of a couple from church to "practice" on them, while acting as if it were the "real thing." I was appointed to do it first, since I hadn't had the opportunity to do it before, so as could be expected, I was a little nervous about doing it all with four other adults watching. However, it turned out to be a really good learning experience! It was extremely helpful to be in such a setting, because, when I wasn't quite sure what I should say next, I could stop and ask my trainer, and he could correct me or suggest something I could've done better. As someone commented earlier that morning, until you actually do it yourself, you don't really learn to do it! While in previous classes I've watched others practice sharing the Gospel and have memorized the specific outline we're learning, I haven't really out-and-out done it myself! Upon actually going through it with someone else as if they were an unsaved person, I really learned a lot! Now, the next big step out of my comfort zone it to trust in God's strength to have courage to do the same with a "real" unsaved person! Please keep praying for me!

As I've already mentioned, there is an outline or specific order of questions and references that we're memorizing throughout these ten weeks. While some would say that such a thing isn't necessary, I discovered last week, even when just practicing, the importance of actually having the references and questions given memorized, because at the time of most need, your mind will draw a complete blank! (That can still happen when you've got it memorized, but it is much less likely! ) Anyway, in this outline, there are several initial "evaluation questions" that are really good and I thought I would share them with you all:

1. Do you have any spiritual beliefs? (It is with this question that you can find out where they stand spiritually. Or, if they say that they do go to church, you could ask them "So what does the church mean to you?")

2. To you, who is Jesus? (This question helps you to determine who they believe Jesus to be--simply a good person, a religious figure, or the Savior of the world!)

3. Do you think there is a heaven or a hell? (Do they believe that such places even exist?)

4. If you were to die tonight, where would you go? If heaven, why? (With their answer to this question, you will find out what they're basing their salvation on--good works, salvation, etc.)

5. If you were to find out that what you believe was contrary to the Bible, would you want to know? (By asking this question, you are first allowing them to say whether they are open to hearing more about the Gospel, and second, showing them that their beliefs are contrary to the Bible, not with your opinion! In other words, they will be arguing with the Bible, not with you!)

It is amazing how well these diagnostic questions work! Even in the few times that I've seen it be used, by the time you get to the second or third question, you can have a pretty good idea as to where they stand spiritually! For example, two weeks ago, when I went door-to-door with three others, we met a man who did go to church. However, upon asking him why he went to church, from his answer that was along the lines of all the good stuff that happens there and the moral lessons, etc., it was pretty obvious that he was probably going to church for the wrong reasons!


Until the next time!
Angie