I read the following paragraph from an article by Mindy Caliguire on the topic of simplicity (Great article. go to http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/001/15.79.html & read):

Practicing simplicity in evangelism means telling the truth, saying what's real. This commitment changed what it means for me to share my faith. Now, I stick to my real-time, here-and-now, in-the-moment experience of life with God. I am sharing my faith, not just a set of doctrinal statements (as important as they are).


It really caused me to stop & think about the phrase we use quite loosely in the evangelical church - sharing my faith. My faith is not just a set of doctrinal statements that I believe and willingly confess. My faith is my real-time life experiences with God on a daily basis. It is a dynamic, living, ever-changing relationship with God that is occasionally strong and at other times a weak shadow. My faith is occasionally shot with doubt. At other times it is like a Titanic- sinking iceberg, strong & powerful, destroying anything in its path.


So if I am to "share my faith" with people, then it brings me to say that evangelism is more about authenticity than it is about quoting Bible verses. Now I hastily admit that the truth of God's word and not my story is the saving power of the Gospel. But for the seed of God's truth to fall on good ground, plowing needs to happen. That seems to be the place where "sharing my faith" comes in. The authenticity of my faith in Christ is the hook that says to non-Christ Followers that Jesus does not make everything better and that the Christian life is not a bed of roses. Yet what it does say to people outside the faith is that we are the same on many levels.

I'm no better than you. I struggle with many of the same things that you struggle - with greed, racism, lust, fear, pride. The difference is what I do with it. Rather than choose to live with that stuff controlling my life, I run to God where I discover forgiveness, overcoming strength, and grace to walk back into life knowing that I do not have to be controlled by those things. I choose to trust God with my failures and flaws.

I struggle with innocent suffering and injustices to the poor. And when I wonder to God out loud why He allows such things in our world, I am confronted with that question as well. He asks me: Why do you allow such things in My world?

So if I "share my faith" like that, won't it run people away? Won't they end up asking why embrace the Christian faith if it makes no difference? And that is where the good news rises up. Because in the midst of my struggles with everyday life and with temptations, I find that I have peace when I am unsure, courage to step up, and faith to know that God is at work in our world even when I cannot see it. In a word, it is hope that comes from my Christian faith and hope is a powerful thing.