Weekly Action - 22 February 2024 - Sharing Faith During Lent
Lent
Last week Christians around the world began observing Lent, which began on Ash Wednesday 14 February. Lent is a period of 40 days, which commemorates Jesus’ 40 days praying and fasting in the wilderness. As such many Christians fast or give things up during Lent. Lent also marks the 40 days running up to Easter when we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection, and is therefore also a time of prayer, reflection and preparation.
Lent is a natural time for churches and Christians to be thinking about sharing our faith more widely with friends and family. We want all to know the good news that God loves us so much that he came in the person of Jesus to die for us, that he has forgiven all the things we have done wrong in our lives, and that he wants every one of us to turn around, come back to him, and have a personal relationship with him. As it famously says in John’s gospel, “For god so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3: 16).
Sharing our faith
As Christians we are all called to talk about and share our faith. We should do this in loving and gracious ways with our friends, family and neighbours. Of those non-Christians who come to a church, an incredible 77% of them come because friends or relatives invited them. So, it is ordinary people like you and me, worshipping in ordinary local churches around the world, sharing our faith powerfully and effectively with our friends and neighbours that will have the greatest impact for the gospel.
Yet so many of us lack confidence, are somewhat embarrassed, and struggle to talk about our faith clearly and boldly with our friends and family. This is why Arise has developed Equipped to Share, a free course of five sessions that can be run in any church. Equipped to Share empowers individual Christians to talk with confidence about our faith in an easy and natural way, releasing us to evangelise in our daily lives.
We see this in the stories of people like James, a friend of Arise in Yorkshire. James lived his whole life without knowing God. Then in his eighties, whilst living in a nursing home, his granddaughter spoke to him about Jesus and shared her faith with him using the principles from Equipped to Share. He was also put in touch with a local vicar from James’ old neighbourhood who visited regularly and shared his faith with James too. James came to faith over chats, laughs and cups of tea. He has never been happier.
This Lent, will you take action as part of Arise’s Equipped to Share campaign, and plan to run the course in your church, to help your friends become much more confident and relaxed in reaching out to their families, neighbours and community to share the good news about Jesus?
Take Action
Practical Action
Talk to the leaders of your church about whether you can run the Equipped to Share course in your church. Download the Equipped to Share course materials. Get in touch with us at info@ariseuk.org if you are going to run the course. We might be able to come and lead the course with you if you would like, or support you in other ways.
Pray
Pray for any of your friends and family who do not yet know Jesus. Pray for opportunities to talk with them about your faith. Pray that they will come to faith. Pray that the Equipped to Share course will be exciting, effective and a real blessing to your church.
Give
Give to your local church, to support its ministry of sharing and growing faith with the people of your community. Consider also giving to other Christians organisations like Alpha, Christianity Explored or HOPE Together, that are focused on sharing and expanding the Christian faith.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area.
Find out more about the importance of training, equipping and supporting ordinary Christians like you and me to share our faith with confidence as a crucial part of God’s bigger vision for our world in the Arise Manifesto report.
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