Discussion Starter – Sharing Your Faith

Let’s face it, sharing your faith can be difficult. Many adults have trouble sharing their faith so it makes sense that teens might face the same anxieties. It’s our job as youth leaders to help our teens become more comfortable with sharing their faith.

Mark 16: 15-16 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

The first thing we need to do is to become more comfortable ourselves with sharing our faith. How can we do that? I, for one, am very uncomfortable talking to people I don’t know. The thought of sharing my faith with strangers is paralyzing for me.

So, how do we get comfortable with sharing our faith? We all know there isn’t a moment to waste. The pressure is on to tell everyone we know all that God can do for us. We need to feel the urgency of our message and remind ourselves that as men and women, we are destined to communicate.

If our son makes the winning touchdown, we tell everyone who can hear us about the game leading up to the winning touchdown. We don’t leave out any detail. So why not do the same with our personal Salvation Story? Don’t leave out any details and share it with everyone.

When your daughter is chosen as the lead in the dance recital you can’t wait to share the news with everyone who will listen. We don’t leave out any detail. So why not do the same with our personal Salvation Story? Don’t leave out any details and share it with everyone.

Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on it’s stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

What happens if we miss an opportunity to share our faith? Every missed opportunity is a time we have robbed someone else from a possible blessing. So let’s share our story with our teens. Have you told them how you came to Christ?

Here is a fun way to get your teens thinking about ways to share their faith.

Things You Will Need:

One baseball cap and One balloon per team

1. Form as teams of five or six of your teens. Make the teams as even as possible to each other (try not to put all the older teens on one team or all of the athletic teens on a team).

2. Each team gets a balloon and a baseball cap.  Each team should choose someone to go first. That person wears the baseball cap on their head and tries to balance the balloon on the peak of the cap.

3. The teen with the cap on then needs to walk to a designated place (about 10 feet away) and back again while balancing the balloon on the peak of the cap. They must keep the balloon from falling but they may not use their hands.

4. Once the first person has done this, they pass the cap and balloon to the next person in line. They may use their hands while passing the cap and balloon.

5. The second person continues with the same task and so on until the first team to complete the task wins.

6. Challenge the teens to move as quickly as possible.

7. Read the following Scripture:

Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of  everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteous from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

DISCUSSION:

* How is balancing a balloon similar to sharing our faith with others?

* How do we sometimes “drop” the opportunities to share our faith? (do not let them settle for just answer “by not telling others”. Try to get them to share more specific ways – EX. When we are in line at Walmart. Instead of losing our cool over the long wait, be friendly to the other customers, smile at the cashier, etc. Be Christlike when we are out in public without preaching at everyone). 2 Corinthians 6:4-8.

* Once we have passed our faith onto others, how can we support that person?

* Should we share our faith with our friends, both Christian and non-Christian? Why or why not?

MORE SCRIPTURE:

2 Timothy 1:8-9

Hebrews 12:1-3

Acts 20:35

Romans 12:13

Philippians 1:27

Tags: Christ, Christianity, Faith, God, Good news, Kids and Teens, Religion and Spirituality, Salvation