Evangelism Reflection: Giving a reason for hope

Much of Western Christianity is orientated around the question, “How may I be saved?” but is this the question your friends and family are asking? Some may be, but many are probably asking questions like, why bother being a church member? Why bother spending time and money on this Christian stuff?
Now being saved is important, but in order to build a relationship with people and enter into conversations that talk about faith, we need to look and talk about the questions people are asking and thinking. In the following article Steen Olsen the LCA’s Mission Director in SA and NT, responds to the question why am I a Christian, a question someone may be
thinking if they haven’t asked you.

Sometimes I am asked why I am a Christian who is a part of a Church.
There are many reasons. For example, I know that I was created to be in
relationships with others. I need to know I am loved unconditionally (in
spite of my faults), that I am valued as the person I know I am, and that my
life has direction and impact. When I have tried to get my sense of
security, self-worth and significance from my friends they end up
disappointing me and I feel alienated. More often than not these desires
within me weaken and sometimes destroy my relationships because I
become a user of others trying to get them to meet my needs. It is only in
my relationship with God that I get these deep needs met, because God
loves me unconditionally – no matter what I do he never stops loving me.
He values me so much that he sent his Son to die for me. He has given me
gifts and abilities that equip me to make a unique contribution to his plans
for the universe – what we do makes an eternal difference. In this way,
God is setting me free from my self-centredness and giving me the
personal security to enable me to be a true friend to others. When I have
my needs for security, self-worth and significance met by God, I no longer
need to demand them from others. I can be open and vulnerable. I can
be a friend.
So what questions are people asking you? Listen to how they respond to
when you say you are a Christian, why you go to church, then explore
ways to respond.
Those who are not part of a Church often have no idea of what it is like to
be a member of Church. And what they think they know is often negative.
Dan Kimball interviewed many young non-Christians for his book They Like
Jesus but not the Church [Zondervan, 2007]. After she became a Christian,
Molly is quoted as saying, I wish I would have known earlier that not all
Christians are such jerks. I had no idea. Maybe I would have believed in
Jesus earlier.