Building Witnessing Relationships

Building relationships with people from other faith backgrounds is the real key to seeing the transformation of an entire community. So often in Christian evangelism, we tend to see witnessing as a one-time event. Or, we will give people a few chances to come to faith in Christ, and we give up on them when they continue to rebel against Him.

Ask yourself this question: "What if God had given up on me before I was ready to repent?"

With that perspective in mind, let us look at a list of guidelines for InterFaith Witnessing that an international missionary friend shared with me:

1) Pray!
2) Understand the role of the witness. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)
3) Understand the role of the Holy Spirit. (John 16:8-11, Acts 1:8)
4) Remember that you are dealing with people and not projects.
5) Know the available resources for interfaith witnessing.
6) Learn about the person's religion from their perspective.
7) Be motivated by love and not fear.
8) Develop a common understanding of vocabulary terms.
9) Avoid arguments.
10) Be willing to recognize the strengths of the other person's faith.
11) Determine the person's commitment to their religion.
12) Develop sincere relationships. Be authentic.
13) Be an example of the Christian message.
14) Know what you believe and be able to explain it intelligently.
15) Draw the net. (At some point, you must confront them with the Gospel Truth)
16) Pray!

Please notice a few characteristics of these guidelines. First, the process of building a relationship with someone for the purpose of witnessing begins and ends with prayer. We talk about prayer all the time in church; however, we often fail to actually practice prayer. Jesus' ministry began and ended with the importance of His personal presence with His people. The angel told Mary that Jesus' title would be Immanuel, meaning 'God with us', and Christ's final words to His disciples in Matthew 28 were, "And remember, I will be with you always to the very end of the age." If God is always with us, then our focus on prayer must be constant and consistent. Second, these characteristics are all about our perspective and attitude. We do not show Christ's love by boasting in ourselves or pointing out the problems in other peoples' religions. We show Christ's love by being broken, humble, giving, self-controlled, gentle, kind, selfless, etc. Third and finally, we must realize that our ultimate goal is to confront the person with the weight of their sin and the consequences for their rebellion. Approaching this point of confrontation can take weeks, months, years, possibly even decades, but we must love them enough to tell them God's Truth. I know of a missionary who calls evangelism the M2E witnessing strategy, or Mouth to Ear Witnessing. You and I are not called to be tolerant but truthful.

May God bless you with wisdom and discernment as you move forward in your relationships with lost souls to a point of presenting the whole Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.