For the last 7 months or so, Landon has been teaching our Sunday morning Bible class as our church has gone through a series called The Story. Today’s lesson was all about Paul—his conversion, his life and his mission. The ice breaker question at the start of class was “what are you or your family doing to share the gospel with people outside of the chuch walls?”

Someone shared about how they have their neighbors over, in their home, every Christmas. Someone shared about how they run a church basketball league, with people from the church and people outside of the church. From there, Landon was talking about how the Bible calls us to boldly share Jesus with the world. Every person on this earth has a soul. God is real. Heaven and hell are real. We need to live like that—and we need to have a sense of urgency, because none of us know which day will be our, or our neighbors/friends/strangers, last day.

Paul was so bold in his faith. He obeyed God, out of his great love for God. We’re also called to obedience, born out of love for our God. We’re called to share Jesus with our world, boldly, because we love God and we love people.

While Paul was in jail, for sharing the gospel, he wrote these words:

“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesians 6:19–20

Paul, who shared the Bible as boldly as anyone, and bolder than most any of us, prayed that God would help him declare the gospel fearlessly, as he should.

Without getting into too much, the response of the class seemed to mostly be that we don’t need to do this. We need to live good lives, let people know we are Christians, and wait for them to come to us. That may not have been exactly what was meant (or it might have been), but I just don’t think that’s it.

I get frustrated with myself, because often in class or other situations like that, I can’t think of what I want to say quick enough to say it on the spot. I always think of it after. As people were talking, they seemed to be disagreeing that we don’t need to boldly go out and share the gospel. There was talk of not wanting to offend people. There was talk of a guilt gospel and a grace gospel, but I’m not sure what it meant. And there was a lot of talk of listening for and being led by the Holy Spirit.

I agree wholeheartedly with listening for the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. I don’t, however, agree with the rest. Do I think that we need to live a good life, let people know we are Christians, and, if asked, be ready to give an answer for the hope we have. Absolutely, 100% yes. The problem is, I don’t think that happens all too often. At least, it hasn’t in my life. Even if it does, just giving an answer when asked isn’t enough. It just isn’t.

As the day has gone on, I’ve been thinking about what it means to live boldly, to share the gospel boldly. It doesn’t mean shoving Jesus down people’s throats. It doesn’t mean anything besides sharing Jesus with the people around us, out of love and obedience to God, and because we love the people around us. It does mean getting out of our comfort zones, out of our comfortable Christianity, and being willing to suffer (or at least not live such a cushy life) for the sake of spreading the gospel. It means being willing to get involved in people’s messy lives.

Today in our Philippians lesson, Matt talked about how we need to make things concrete. We don’t need to just hear teachings about the Bible and then regurgitate them to other people without putting them into practice in our own lives. That’s a waste of time. He says that when we make a spiritual goal, such as seeking Jesus more, reading the Bible more, sharing the gospel more etc, we need to always answer 2 questions—how and when? We also need to let someone know what we’re doing, and how and when we’re doing it.

I’m working tonight on the how. What does it mean to boldly share Jesus?

I think it means an invitation—to church, to church events, to Bible studies. Even if they don’t come, it starts a conversation, maybe a relationship, and it lets them know that you are a Christian. I used to not give a lot of cred to a simple invitation, but God has brought 2 things to mind over the last few weeks that have convinced me otherwise. Landon’s aunt has been coming to church for almost the last year because a friend invited her. And, even closer to home, my family started going to church again 25+ years ago because someone invited them. Always, God is the one who waters the seeds and makes them grow, but we are called to plant those seeds. An invitation is one way I want to start being bolder, starting with inviting our neighbors and the women at our Walgreens/dry cleaners to the Pumpkin Patch party at our church this month.

I think it means talking about God. I want to bring Him up more in conversation. I want to give Him credit when He does something. I want to offer to pray for people. I want to share what God has done and is doing in my life. I want to be bold in talking about Him in all aspects of life, not just at church and with people I know to be Christians.

I think it means to get to know our neighbors, both personally and as a church. We need to love them with the love of God, to really get to know them, to have them in our home, to pray for them, to be intentional about hosting things in our home, such as a Bible study, and inviting them to come.

I’m sure there are more, but that’s a start. The frustration from today’s class led to me thinking a lot about it and us talking about what it means to be bold in our faith, and for that I’m grateful. I’m trying to listen for the Holy Spirit’s leading for more specific ways to boldly share my faith, but scriptures tell us that we are all called to spread the gospel. In my understanding, the Holy Spirit is there to show us how to best do that, but I don’t think there’s any question as to whether or not we all are called to boldly share the gospel.

If we believe that God is real, that heaven, hell, angels, demons, spiritual warfare, the Bible, all of it is real, and if we really love God and love people, then why wouldn’t we? Why would we just try to be good people (when in reality there are probably many non-Christians who are better people than us) and hope that people notice and ask us about it? We have the one thing that they need—Jesus. Even though it’s scary for me to really share my faith (though it shouldn’t be, because compared to others around the world, there really is no reason to fear), we need to. No more excuses.