But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. —Acts 1:8 ESV
“Jerusalem” refers to those who are closest to you—family, coworkers, neighbors, people you hang out with. “All Judea and Samaria” refers to your acquaintances or people you may only talk to once on an airplane, in a coffee shop, at the grocery store, at a sporting event, or on an Uber ride. Those at “the end of the earth” might be someone overseas you talk to on the phone, email, or conference call.
Sharing Christ with Family
My Mother
My mother was raised in a typical churchgoing home with godly parents who were farmers in Pennsylvania. Although she believed in Jesus and prayed to God, she never showed any evidence of a real conversion.
When I was 11 years old, my brother became a Christian through the ministry of Young Life. Soon after, my sisters Ann and Donna also gave their lives to Christ. As their lives all began to change, God stirred my heart, and I realized the need to surrender my life to Christ like they had done. l began to have a burden for my mother, and one day I shared my personal testimony with her about how Christ changed my life. I had never seen my mom read the Bible and mentioned my concern to her. She sincerely remarked, “Well, maybe I’m not a Christian.” She was not offended by my question, but I think it was something she had thought about from time to time.
My mom often attended a strong, Bible-believing church in Southern California and enjoyed the sermons. After my father died, she became close friends with a man named Jus Moyer who wasn’t a believer. Several years after they met, Jus got stage-four cancer, and Pastor Dick Jeffers led him to Christ. Suddenly, Jus was full of hope and joy, which greatly affected my mother. Shortly after Jus died, my mom gave her life to Christ. When I asked her what happened, she remarked, “I had a head knowledge of Christ but not a heart knowledge.” Mom began reading God’s Word and books about the Bible. Her life completely changed. To me, that was evidence of the new birth. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).
It’s easy to assume that people who have been raised in a strong, biblical church are Christians, but that is not always the case. Once I witnessed to a lady in her 60s who has been a Southern Baptist all of her life. When I asked what she would say to God if He asked, “Why should I let you into heaven?” she replied, “I believe in letting your conscience be your guide.” Even though she had gone to church all her life, she showed no evidence that she knew Christ personally. You may have heard the old saying: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going into a garage makes you a car.”
Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Salvation can be likened to the wind. The wind is unseen and mysterious, but we see its effects. In the same way, someone who is born again is a new creation, and the result is a changed life. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is the One who turns the switch on in a person’s life from being dead spiritually to being made alive spiritually unto God. That is what happened to my mother.
My Son-in-Law
When my daughter Christy was a senior in high school, she started dating a guy who was not a Christian. My wife and I bathed our daughter in prayer because she was dating a non-Christian. Near the end of Christy’s college education, she broke up with him after they had been dating three years. Christy met another non-Christian guy named Steve, and although Christy liked Steve a lot, she made it clear to him that he needed to go to church with her and make Christ the center of their relationship since she did not want to get involved in another relationship with a non-Christian.
Christy introduced us to Steve and asked if I could talk with him about the Lord. Steve’s parents got divorced when Steve was very young, and his only exposure to religion was when he randomly went to church with his family and attended Catholic schools. Because Steve took a strong liking to our daughter, he was very open when I invited him to have breakfast with me for the purpose of sharing the gospel with him. During that breakfast, I simply asked Steve if he thought he was going to heaven. His answer was typical for a non-believer: “I think so.” Then I asked him why God would let him in. Steve said it was because he was “a pretty good person and hadn’t killed anyone.”
I showed Steve Ephesians 2:8–9, which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Steve immediately saw that getting to heaven was not by works but by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. After sharing the gospel with Steve, he received Christ into his life as his Lord and Savior. Steve and Christy soon began attending a dynamic, Bible-believing church, and Steve quickly grew in his faith.
Eventually, they got married and moved to Arizona where Steve was mentored by the leader of a men’s ministry at a large, Bible-believing church. Since then, Steve has been actively involved in men’s Bible studies, discipling, leading men in their relationship with Jesus, and modeling a commitment to Christ to Christy and their two sons. We are truly blessed to have Steve as part of our family.
Sometimes those closest to us are the hardest to share Christ with. In Mark 6:4 (NIV), Jesus said to His disciples, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” If Jesus was rejected by his own family early on, don’t be surprised if sharing Christ with your family can be challenging and often takes time.
My Father
I was raised in a family who believed in Jesus superficially. Early on in my life, before I was a Christian, my father woke up our family very early on Easter Sunday to go to the Hollywood Bowl in Southern California for a 6:00 a.m. service. My father did that out of tradition even though he was not a Christian at the time. He had gone to Sunday school as a child when he visited his godly grandparents. Dad even taught us John 3:16, and during our Sunday meals, he would have us all say the Lord’s Prayer together. However, as Dad began drinking, he no longer took us to church or talked about Christianity.
During my early teen years, my brother, two sisters, and I had tried to share Christ with our father several times, but he was stubborn and argumentative. As I grew in my faith, I began to have a burden for him. While I was in the military, I wrote a letter to him to let him know I loved him but that I also wanted him to give his life to Christ. He wrote me back and explained why he didn’t feel the need to commit himself to Christ. But the Lord was not done getting his attention and breaking his will. Dad had dreamed of taking Mom on a second honeymoon to Europe. In 1971, he was finally able to take her, but while they were driving in Italy, they got in a serious car accident on the Autostrada. Dad ended up with broken ribs, bedridden in an Italian hospital. Mom was injured, too, but was able to visit Dad a couple of times each day.
Since Dad’s ribs were broken, he was strapped to the bed, unable to move. He couldn’t smoke or take a drink. Since he didn’t speak Italian, he could only lie there on his back day and night.
After the hospital took Dad off the critical list, he demanded to be released from the hospital. But the nurses told Mom that he had come down with pneumonia. That same evening, as Dad was demanding to be released, Mom told him, “Gene, you can’t get out of the hospital because you’ve got pneumonia.”
That news stunned Dad. He had been stricken with pneumonia earlier in his life and had been told to never lie flat on your back if you have pneumonia. Mom said that immediately after Dad heard her words, his face grew pale, and he began breathing heavily. Dad spent the next few hours alone with his thoughts and fears. The next morning, the nurses rushed Mom into Dad’s room where she felt his still warm but lifeless body.
It is our hope that God heard Dad’s cries that evening as expressed in Psalm 22:24 (TLB): “He has not despised my cries of deep despair; he has not turned and walked away. When I cried to him, he heard and came.”
Our family believes by faith that in the waning moments of his life, our father cried out to the Lord in full surrender. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to get our attention, much like the thief on the cross who asked, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42), and Jesus graciously replied, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). When I get to heaven, I’ll be looking for my father.
My Brother-in-Law
The same was true for my wife’s brother Dave. He was voted one of the top 10 teachers in the state of California. He had a type A personality—a perfectionist— and everything he did was full throttle. He flew airplanes, water skied on his bare feet, had a beautiful wife and family, and loved life to the fullest. To satisfy his need for acceptance, however, Dave resorted to alcohol, which eventually became his downfall and resulted in separating from his wife.
While separated, Dave lived for about a year with a neighborhood friend from his childhood. This friend hosted two retired missionary women from China. My wife and these two women shared the gospel with Dave, but he was still addicted to alcohol. My brother-in-law, Bob, befriended Dave and brought about a turning point in Dave’s life. Bob is a godly Christian, inventor, and manufacturer who owned a large successful business with hundreds of employees. Dave was attracted to Bob’s Christian character and commitment as a successful businessman. They became friends, and during the last few days of Dave’s life, Dave prayed with Bob to receive Christ. The next morning, Dave choked on a piece of food during breakfast, and the Lord took him home to heaven. There’s an African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In a similar way, it can take more than one family member and often many mini steps to impact a person for Christ.
On the other hand, one of my wife’s relatives has stubbornly resisted coming to Christ even though he has heard the gospel many times from all members of our family, including the grandkids. Be persistent in prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to open and soften their hearts. Ask the Lord to let His light shine through you (Matthew 5:16). Offer them books or video clips that might be of interest to them.
A lot is happening now in Israel and the Middle East that is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. As we approach the end times, the Middle East and Israel will become more of a concern to world leaders and people in general. Here is a good question to ask people: “What concerns you today in the news?” That could be an entry to the gospel as people share their fears of the future. Prayer is the key to reaching family for Christ.
Cru has the following five principles for how to talk about Jesus with loved ones:
- Lead with vulnerability and brokenness. When we expose our brokenness to others, it helps people see their own need for Christ and His grace.
- Show an interest in what’s important to them. Listening to what people are most concerned about provides entry points for the gospel.
- Bring them into a community of Jesus followers. Expose them to a group of people who care for one another.
- Pray with and for your family members. Randy Newman in his book Bringing the Gospel Home recommends, “Develop a system for prayer for your family.” That includes giving thanks for God’s love for each family member and perhaps confession of your lack of love for your family.
- Be patient. Seeing someone come to Christ takes patience. We are called to water and plant, but it’s God who brings growth.
Reaching Friends of Family
When our oldest son, Dan, was around 12 years of age, he became best friends with a kid named Charlie who said, “Dan kept me in line on many occasions.” According to Charlie, Dan was a good model of what a Christ-follower looks like. Charlie and Dan often played baseball and basketball together, caught crawdads in the local creek, and occasionally went camping with our family. Charlie watched closely how our family interacted with one another and how my wife treated the family with kindness and unconditional love. That attracted Charlie to our family. It was during this time that Charlie was experiencing some emotional issues and depression in his life. Our family was concerned about Charlie because he was like a son to us. He felt very comfortable around our family, and Dan and Charlie had become like brothers.
One day Charlie was downstairs in our split-level home. I felt he would be willing to hear the gospel. I asked Charlie if I could share the Four Spiritual Laws with him, and he readily agreed. Law Four says, “We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.” At the end of Law Four, I showed Charlie the prayer to receive Christ. He was very open to the gospel and prayed to invite Jesus into his life as his personal Savior and Lord that day. He didn’t change overnight, but the seed was planted in his heart. Charlie believes that Dan and our family are the reasons he is a Christian. Years later, Charlie married a pastor’s daughter, and he is fully committed to being the spiritual leader of his family. He is a successful nurse anesthesiologist in the greater Seattle area and is passing the baton of the gospel on to his family and others.
Reaching Neighbors
One day I saw a student on the lawn at a local community college between classes. I asked him what he was studying in school. He said he was studying sociology—the study of some of the societal issues facing the world such as poverty, famine, disease, earthquakes, and war. I mentioned that some of those issues related to Bible prophecy, and that caught his interest. He could see the correlation between what he was studying in school and what the Bible said. I asked him if I could share how to have a personal relationship with God. He was very open to that.
One of the keys to sharing Christ is to find out what concerns people today or what interests they have and then relate it to the gospel. Some people are interested in sports, and there are many athletes, especially in pro football, who are committed to Christ. Many people today are fearful of the future, inflation, the prospect of nuclear war, and national security. Find out what people are concerned about or what interests them, and then try to use it as a bridge to the gospel.
One of our next-door neighbors was a family of five. The wife and husband frequently yelled, argued, and got into physical altercations that ultimately ended in divorce. Our three sons often played with their three sons. We invited Brandon, the oldest son, to our church, and years later after he became a Christian, he said he had felt insecure going to church because his family never went. I had witnessed to him, but he was not ready to receive Christ at the time. When Brandon was 13 years old, his family moved away, and he met a young lady who was a pastor’s daughter. She told him, “You can hang out with me as long as you go to my church.” Brandon agreed and soon committed his life to Christ. They are now married and have three children. One of our sons apologized to Brandon for not verbally sharing the gospel with him. But Brandon graciously told us, “Your family planted seeds in my garden.”
Recently, two couples moved into our neighborhood. One is a young, newly married couple. The other family is from India; they have two children. There is also a third family in our neighborhood—a single mom from India with two children. We decided to host a dessert at our home with all three families, and it went very well. Our goal was to build relationships with our neighbors over time and then see how we could eventually in God’s time introduce Christ to them. Recently we let one of those families use our home while we were visiting our children for Thanksgiving in another state. Our hope and prayer was that they would see the “music of the gospel” like Joel Aldrich said in his book Lifestyle Evangelism and then share Christ with them when we felt the timing was right.
Sharing Christ with neighbors can be challenging. The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon explains how to build genuine relationships right outside your door. It’s based on Luke 10:27, which says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Their authors’ website (artofneighboring.com) provides stories, tools, and resources for how to reach your neighbors for Christ.
Sharing Christ with People Different Than You
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” We’re all equally valued in God’s eyes. It may seem easier to share Christ with people who are just like us, but what about those who are totally different than us? No one is too lost, too sinful, too insignificant, too old, too young, or too poor. In Luke 5:31– 32 (KJV), Jesus said, “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” In the Bible, who do you think were the least likely to repent and believe in Christ? You would be right if you thought it was the Apostle Paul who killed Christians (Acts 8), the man possessed by demons (Mark 5), or the woman caught in adultery (John 8), and yet the Lord reached all of them.
Scott was a young man in his early 20s who had long hair, wore ragged clothes, and often picked up tracts he saw on the ground and read them. The Lord was preparing Scott’s heart, and he was intrigued by what he read. I shared the gospel with Scott, and soon after, he wanted to know what the Bible said about the future because some of the tracts he picked up spoke of future events. Scott read a book on prophecy, and shortly after, he received Christ as his Savior. He cut his long hair, went to Multnomah School of the Bible, and gave me the Thompson Chain Reference Bible as a gift. Sometimes a simple gospel tract can be the seed in a person’s heart to receive Christ later on.
Who in My Life Needs Jesus?
Be available and willing to share Christ with all people, especially those who may have hit bottom with drugs, alcohol, unemployment, sex trafficking, or homelessness. They may be the most open to the Lord because they’ve hit rock bottom and see their need for a Savior.
Statistics show that when a person becomes a Christian, they lose contact with all unbelieving friends within an average of two years. Jesus saw people as valuable, created in the image of God—people the Father cares about. We are called to be Jesus to our world where people experience guilt and loneliness. Many of them were raised in a broken home, lack purpose, and are overcome with sin and uncertainty about their future.
I once visited a beautiful young lady in the hospital. She had become distraught because her boyfriend had broken up with her, and in her despair, she drank Lysol in an attempt to commit suicide. The Lysol destroyed her stomach lining, but she lived. The Lord reached her as she prayed to receive Christ. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (a full and meaningful life) (John 10:10). We have the only answer to their deepest needs. Jesus said in John 14:2 (ESV), “In My Father’s house are many rooms . . . I am going to prepare a place for you.” God wants to fill His house (heaven) with many people, more than we can count. There’s room in God’s house if they will respond to Jesus’s invitation. Let’s move closer to the unbeliever and pray about new ways to reach the lost for Christ.