Sharing the Gospel With Family.

[Quatchu]

I don't know about others but by far I found sharing my faith the hardest with my parents and family. Sometimes It seems for allot of people the hardest people for us to share the gospel with is family. What are some ways that others have found helpful sharing the gospel with family?

 

[Bradley-1991]

I am convinced that evangelism is indeed sharing the gospel vocally but I believe it is much much more than that. I think that we must live it in front of others. I tend to wait for the doors to be opened in conversation for me to share the gospel but I always do my best to live it in front of them, always think before I speak (I fail sometimes), and critique the conversation later that day or later in the week to see where my flaws were and where I could improve. And while you wait for chances to do this you must do the most key part: pray. I know prayer won't save people but I do think we need to pray that the Lord would poor His Spirit upon the lost( not in an Armenian way). I think we tend to lean to both sides of the spectrum: Either we lean towards an armenian or hyper-calvinistic understanding when it comes to evangelism. And I have still yet to figure out how to be balanced in this area.
Anyways, those were just some thoughts that popped into my head after your question. I too find myself asking these things so your not alone. Looking forward to see some wisdom come from the older in the faith. I myself am still a babe in the Lord. Been in the faith since November 2010. What an awesome God we have.

God Bless,
Bradley

 

[InSlaveryToChrist]

I know the feeling. It's even harder when your family members profess to be Christians.

 

[FenderPriest]

Justin, I've benefited from starting with a heart of gratitude for my family. What's hart with family is that you can't get away from each other and your probably closest to those who've had the most opportunity to be hurt by you and to hurt you. Starting with gratitude for the family God has given you is always the best foot to start on. God is always at work, and as a believer, you can be confident that God wants to help you change through the ministry of (believing or unbelieving) family. A few things that've helped is telling them what I've seen God doing in our lives, and expressing gratitude to God for those things. It's also helpful to take a posture of interest in our family, partly just because we love them, but also to hear what they're experiencing in life and where God is active in that. I want to hear their story and hear where they are, and understand life from their perspective because I love them. As I hear it, I want to make observations of where I do see God at work (believer or not, any good fruit in somebody's life is only there because Jesus has given it to them by his own grace). I also want to ask questions where I don't understand. So, for example, my uncle is a Buddhist, and he want to church with us. While we were there he took communion! Wasn't sure what to make of that, so I asked him about it when we were on a walk that afternoon. It opened up into a very helpful conversation where he was saying things like, "You know, I really enjoyed church this morning, and one of the things I picked up is that you guys really love Jesus, and find real joy in the salvation he's given." Um, that's a big deal! We got to talking about other things (hell, eternity, etc.) and he was appreciative that I was clear with where I stood on issues (eternal punishment, for example) but that I wasn't attacking him with those realities. It's moved our relationship in a good direction where we talk about these issues openly and lovingly. The temptation for me on this front is to just let it stay there and not push in a direction of repentance and faith in Christ.

That's my experience - pray!

 

[Christopher88]

Justin,
I have members in my family who profess Christ, but have trouble in their walks. (Every Christian has struggles in their walks) I have members who hate Christianity but are Deist.(This is hard as their attack on the church is great) I have members who are fully practicing Christians.
I'm not great at sharing my faith vocally, as I have a huge fear of rejection and confrontation; this makes it hard.
I pray for my family, and I need to pray that God places courage on my character.

Sorry I do not have much wisdom, but I do have stories that can relate. So know you are not alone in this hear felt battle.

 

[Berean]

It's even harder when your family members profess to be Christians.

As do all Roman Catholics, reinforced by their priests proclaiming the Roman church's teaching.

 

[jambo]

My wife was the first to be converted in her family when she was 19. Her father ridiculed her saying that had she been RC she was the sort that would become a nun. Her mother just could not understand it. Her elder brother said nothing whilst her younger brother argued and debated with her.

Within a year or two my wife's older brother became a Christian. Her father dismissed it saying he the sort that would believe anything anyway. Don't know how her mother took it but the younger brother continued to argue and debate about it.

A year or two later the youngest brother was converted. Her father was truly astonished as Gary was so opposed to anything Christian. Her mother just watched.

Ten years went by before her mother was converted to be followed a few years later by her father.

When we lived in the Irish Republic this happened frequently. One family member would get converted and before long it spread through the family. As people tended to come from big families having 6, 7, 8, 9 10 siblings or more, over a period of years it was often happened that whole families became Christian.

The home is the hardest place to witness as everyone sees you as you are in your unguarded moments. But do not lose heart, do not stop praying, do not stop witnessing by word and deed.

 

[FedByRavens]

I feel your pain. My cousin (who I grew up with) came to church with me this morning. He brought his girlfriend(which he lives in fornication with.) It's a weird feeling to see somebody be able to talk about solid doctrine who lives and talks like he has no fear of God. It is so hard to witness to a family member that professes Christ, because there is no polite way to do it.

 

[Tim]

My story is similar to Stuart's. I am the oldest of four brothers and we all became Christians one by one. I engaged in very little direct presentation of the gospel. Instead, I was simply available to encourage as the Spirit moved in my brothers' hearts. Here is how it happened.

1. I moved away from home first and was probably the first brother to be exposed to the biblical gospel.

2. It became evident that one of my brothers was quite open to the gospel. Even though he was in another part of the country, I encouraged him as I could. It soon became clear to me that he was also a Christian. While I was visiting in my hometown, we attended the same church to receive good teaching.

3. Together, we prayed for another one of our brothers who was in a specific situation. During a visit home, I called this brother on a certain thing in his life and then traveled back to where I was living. I had forgotten about the event until this brother told me that this conversation had stuck with him. He had remembered what I had said to him and over the following months had come to faith and repentance. He was now a Christian and began attending that same solid church.

4. We three were now united in prayer for our last brother to become a Christian. This soon did happen and our last brother became a Christian and joined that church.

Because of my geographical circumstances, some time would pass before we all got to worship together in person. But that time soon came, and it was the happiest day of my life. Here is a picture from that day. I am second from the left.

View attachment 2604

 

[jambo]

Tim

This warms the heart and reminds me of Ps 133: behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity