1Pentecost 20
19 October 2025
Vineville Baptist Church
Macon, Georgia
W. Gregory Pope
SHARING OUR FAITH
Acts 17.16-34. 1 John 1:1-5
Lynna Williams is the daughter of a Baptist minister. She has written a short story entitled “Personal Testimony” about a twelve-year old preacher’s daughter who starts a business at Faith Camp writing moving testimonies for the other campers. She describes the preacher’s daughter as one “universally regarded by the women of [her] church as a Child Who Wouldn’t Know a Rule If One Reached Up and Bit Her in the Face.” She is “the only girl who, in six years of regular attendance, has failed to advance even one step in Girls’ Auxiliary – GA’s. Other younger girls have made it all the way to Queen Regent with Scepter, while she remains a perpetual Lady-in-Waiting.
Her testimony skills are recruited by Bobby Dunn – “Faith Camp’s standard for male perfection” – but he has a case of “Jesus Jaw,” a malady that keeps him from simply saying what he wants to and sitting down. (You’ve met Christians like that, haven’t you?) This “ghostwriting service for Jesus,” as she calls it, was actually Bobby Dunn’s idea. Bobby becomes her recruiting agent.
A girl named Missy Tucker, who wins annual penmanship awards, is hired so the testimonies can actually be read by those who purchase them. The testimonies are a smash hit until Bobby and Missy fall in love and confess to the fraud.1
Talking about our faith in public is not something many Christians like to do. For many Christians it is not something they feel they know how to do. Most of us would prefer to simply show our faith through acts of kindness and service in the church. Showing our faith in our actions is crucial. Our words about faith in Christ ring hollow without the substance of our actions running through them.
“Evangelism,” writes Lee Camp, “is much more than ‘saving souls.’ . . . Evangelism means living according to the ways of the kingdom of God and inviting others to join us on the way. Evangelism is not selling Jesus, but showing Jesus. Evangelism is not mere telling about Christ, but about being Christ. . . . The challenge of evangelism may . . . be first a challenge of discipleship: Will we be what we’ve been called to be?”2
The early church was so effective in its mission not only because they lived as they were called to live, meeting the needs of the community around them, but because they also explained to their culture the reasons for their behavior and how their faith convictions shaped their way of living. I dare say that if like the early church we made sure no one was needy among us in our congregation and community, we would have some explaining to do about why we were so generous and compassionate.
The New Testament letter of First Peter instructs us to Always be ready to give an account for the hope that is within [us], and to do so with gentleness and reverence. Would you know how to explain your faith to someone who asks? Most of us shy away, or more honestly, run like crazy from the opportunity of having to speak about our faith in public.
Comedian Flip Wilson used to say when asked about his religious persuasion: “I’m a Jehovah’s Bystander. They wanted me to become a Jehovah’s Witness, but I didn’t want to get involved.”
Giving a verbal witness to our faith scares and even sickens some of us because it makes us think of those evangelism methods that don’t tell the whole story of the gospel, that seek to scare people, that whittle salvation down to just a few beliefs. Perhaps we even feel like we’re forcing our faith onto others. Or we think of the dreaded “personal testimony” of revivals and youth camps – dreaded that is for the one doing the testifying, but quite entertaining for the listeners. We’ve all heard people give those testimonies that focus on the sin they enjoyed before they met Jesus, where you can tell in their voices that they miss their past misbehaviors. I’m not talking about that kind of evangelism.
I’m talking about authentic conversation with others about what Jesus means to you. We are called to engage our world and invite others to walk in the way of Jesus. And that requires us to speak about our faith. So how do we talk about God at home to our children, at work with our colleagues, to our neighbors and friends who have no religious affiliation? What are we to say?
I think we can take a clue from the text we read this morning in First John. The testimony of the writers and their faith community is this: We declare to you what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands – this eternal life – we have seen it and testify to it; we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us, with God, and with Jesus Christ.
According to John, the substance of testimony, of witness, is like giving testimony in a court of law, where we are called to simply tell the truth about what we have seen, heard, and experienced. You don’t have to prove anything. Because we can’t prove anything about faith. All we have is the testimony of scripture as to what people have seen, heard, and experienced, and the testimony of our own lives. And that’s all you can share: the testimony of the biblical story and the testimony of your life.
To share your faith is to engage such questions as: Where has God been real to you? What difference has Jesus made in your life? What struggles do you continue to face and how does your faith help? What does forgiveness mean to you? What does prayer mean to you? Why do you seek to walk in the way of Jesus? How does your faith in God give meaning to your life? What faith convictions inform the way you live your life?
In a few moments we’re going to sing a good Baptist hymn of testimony, the first hymn I ever learned. The refrain of that hymn is personal testimony: He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart. The songwriter all but admits he cannot prove that Jesus lives. However, he says, I know he lives because he lives within my heart. With humility and honesty, we are called to give testimony as to what we have seen and heard and experienced.
Tom Long, in his book Testimony, says that we are not born knowing how to talk about our faith. But one place where we learn how is in the church’s language school of worship. He speaks of “worship as a soundtrack for the rest of life, the words and music and actions of worship inside the sanctuary playing in the background as we live our lives outside, in the world.”3
If you’re unsure how to talk about your faith with others Brian McLaren4 has some helpful suggestions:
1. He says that we, first of all, listen to their story. Cultivate an interest in people. Show respect for them by being interested in their lives, their interests, their backgrounds. Ask lots of questions. And if you feel a window opening where it becomes appropriate to talk about spiritual matters, ask a question like, “Do you have a religious background?” Or invite them to talk by saying, “Tell me about your spiritual background.” Sometimes just asking, “Do you believe in God?” or “Where are you spiritually?” can open the door for great conversations (p. 172). Remember: God has been at work in their lives long before we came on the scene, so it’s important to respect God’s previous involvement in their story by learning about it (p. 172). So listen to their story.
2. Then tell them your story. It’s best not to be too aggressive when doing this. Scripture tells us to speak of our faith with gentleness and reverence. One way we can do this is by asking permission to share our faith or by opening the door for further conversation, saying something like, “Sometime, if you’re interested, I can tell you about my own spiritual journey.” Or you can engage their curiosity by saying, “A few years ago, my life took a big turn for the better when I started paying more attention to the spiritual side of life.” Or share with them what’s going on in your life these days: “I heard something really interesting at church last week . . .” (p. 172-173). Or tell them, “My pastor says something profound every week! It’s amazing! You should come and hear him.” No. Don’t go setting up false expectations! First: listen to their story. Then: tell them your story.
3. Then tell them God’s story. Simply recount some of the stories from the Bible, stories about Jesus, stories Jesus told that mean something to you. At various points in a spiritual conversation you could say, “That reminds me of a story Jesus told,” or “That reminds me of a story about Jesus.” (173). And connect the story to your own life. Remember: For someone without a church background the Bible holds no authority for them. It will not mean very much to them to keep saying “The Bible says . . .” as if it’s something they must believe. They need to know that the Bible makes a difference in your life. So: Listen to their story. Tell them your story. And then share with them God’s story and what it means to you.
4. Also: be an inviter, a bringer, an includer. If your friend is interested in learning more, plan to meet with them again, or invite them to church (p. 173), or invite them to our Monday night dinners together. Remember that your mission is not just to convey information or quote Bible verses you’ve memorized. Your mission is to introduce people to a new way of living. McLaren uses the image of dance and says, “You are not just teaching them about dancing; you are helping them learn to dance.” (p. 173). And it may take some time. Listen to their story. Tell them your story. Share with them God’s Story. Invite them to further conversation and to community.
5. Most importantly, when sharing your faith speak humbly and authentically. Let your goal be genuine conversation, understanding, and relationship, not simply a means to an end of conversion. Our job us not to convert or convict. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit. Our faith is something we share with others not something we inflict upon others. Remember: This is the life of faith we are talking about. We cannot speak with arrogant certainty when it comes to knowledge of God. All I say with honesty and integrity is that with all my heart and soul and mind: I believe the message of the gospel is true. I believe Jesus is the best understanding of God that we have. I believe that the way of Jesus is the way to truth and life. And I believe those things because I was taught them from a young age by people who loved me and by people I trusted, and because in my own experience I have found them to be true and give profound meaning to my life. But I must not be arrogant about my beliefs. I must not condemn the beliefs of others. Because telling someone they’re wrong rarely leads them to change their mind or even consider what you have to say. To be arrogant about our convictions is to deny the very truth we seek to share. The way, the truth, and the life, is Jesus himself who washed feet and gave his life for others and told us to follow his example. I can only share the story of Jesus and my own faith story of what Jesus means to me. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convince someone else that the story of Jesus is true. We “say what we say (to others about our faith) as a gift, with no strings attached. . . . We (simply) want to give others the gift of faith that has been given to us.”5
A few months ago I invited you to reach out to at least two people: one – a church member who hasn’t been here in a while, and two – someone who doesn’t have a relationship with Christ. How are you doing? As we enter into a time of response will you consider someone with whom you need to share your faith and make a commitment to do so soon. Perhaps you would be so daring as to ask God to lead you to someone this week who needs to hear about the love of Christ and the grace of God.
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1. Kay Cattarulla, ed., Texas Bound: 19 Texas Stories, Southern Methodist University Press, 1994, 191-204. See also Lynna Williams, Things Not Seen: And Other Stories.
2. Lee Camp, Mere Discipleship, Brazos Press, 2003, 192
3. Thomas G. Long, Testimony, Jossey-Bass, 2004, 31-32, 48
4. Brian McLaren, More Ready Than You Realize, Zondervan, 2002, 172-173
5. Long, 118, 120