Coming alongside

It's been a while since I last blogged - life has been really chaotic and busy lately and I have once again found myself spread over 3 places at once, not being completely there, apologies! So back to my big question now, and my recent reflections on it..

I have had several really interesting conversations with people lately which have flowed into the subject of their experience of what the most effective and powerful times of sharing their faith have been. Just had a great chat this morning with lovely Jen, and on Monday we threesixtys had coffee with the legendary Jill Rowe - both times got me thinking about coming alongside people as a really powerful sharing of the gospel.

I asked Jill Rowe what her experience of sharing her faith has been, the ways in which she has been able to do it and that have struck people the most. She says that sharing her faith has always taken place in the context of coming alongside people on their journey of life. She said that in the course of loving people unconditionally and being there for them, and serving, she would never shy away from talking about her faith when asked about it, but that there was always a phase where the questions would start changing - they would become not just quick questions about what you believe but about how it made a difference, how did it feel to have faith, how would it be for things to be like that, etc. In other words, she said that there was always a stage where the questions became seeking questions, when the other person became interested in the faith that she was sharing. And she said that was the big opening for more sharing to occur.

Relatedly, Jen talked about coming alongside people in the context of serving. Our community is trying to get people of all faiths or none to join us in serving those in need, but in the process of coming alongside each other in the unified purpose of serving the needy, we should be continually talking about and sharing our faith and our motivation for serving. So, serving/good works are not themselves all we do to share the gospel, because it is not only Christians that feel passionate about social justice etc. But as we join together with those who do not share our faith, serving them and serving with them, we come alongside them and build relationships where we can talk about and share the gospel that we believe.

I am genuinely interested in how this occurs, because I have many friends and family members that I love dearly who are not Christian and who have known me for so long that for some reason I don't really know what the appropriate way is to share my faith, how to speak about it. None of them have really reached that second phase of questions that Jill Rowe spoke about, where the questions are seeking questions. Not many of them have really joined with me in the vision of serving others, though they may be ideologically pro social action and the world becoming a better place.

Jill Rowe mentioned that you just have to be patient, and know that it really does make a difference. That coming alongside people and loving them unconditionally, showing them a way to live that is serving, merciful, gracious, is actually very powerful. And never to be ashamed to speak about your faith when the openings come and the conversations arise. All in the context of journeying with people.

I don't really know what to think of all of it, or how it fits into any of our lives, especially mine. I know that sharing the gospel is a holistic thing, that you can't have one without the other, words without actions or actions without words. I know that you can't preach the gospel to someone without loving them unconditionally - that's a contradiction in terms. Maybe then there is no chronology for these things; that it can't be a case of living the lifestyle and then waiting to preach the gospel, or preaching the gospel first and foremost before building a relationship. Maybe it's all in one and that's why it's messy and it is a big question and there are no clear answers. Because we are human and imperfect and we never get it right. Because there's no model of how to do it right, and it's just this huge ball of being that is different in different times and with different people, one unified thing that we struggle with because it encompasses all aspects of one's life.

Thank God that He is bigger than all our inabilities to understand!