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Trained and not Sharing Faith

This entry was posted on 5/16/2007 9:32 AM and is filed under Leadership.

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• 5/17/2007 3:38 PM Leslie wrote:
  Dawie,
  
  You have touched on a classic problem with Christians. I don't know if there is one answer to the question that you ask. But there might be a central ideology behind many of the reasons.
  
  Many believers of all walks of life, by their actions or inactions, are pursuing meaning by what they do or don't do. In this case, with believers who have so much in the area of knowledge and training, their inactions demonstrate that they really don't think "it's worth it" to share their faith and multiply their lives. Something else has grabbed their value system and robbed them of a Christ like motivation.
  
  So, one challenge we face in moving potential Influencers to being a Great Commission Leader is to address their ideology of value or meaning in life.
  
  For an ideology to change, there must be a living and personal encounter with God through Jesus Christ. If they (or any of us) love Christ, we will do what He says. As I model a dynamic, personal relationship with Christ and passionately pursue Him, I can call others to love and pursue Him in the same way. As they "catch" that sense of dying to self and living for Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, it seems that sharing their faith would come as a natural by-product of that relationship.
  
  Those are some initial thoughts that I have related to your question.
  
  Turning Influencers into Leaders,
  Leslie
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• 5/17/2007 3:49 PM Fran wrote:
  Dawie:
  I'm not sure I understand your question. You indicate that many businessmen are trained to share their faith, but do not share. That is not my experience. My experience is that when trained and when they have someone in their lives discipling them, helping them to live by faith (acting as tho what the Bible says is true, even when past experiences, current culture, and feelings would lead to believe otherwise) and to apply what they learn business leaders are sharing their faith quite readily.
  We find that like anyone else business leaders need to have a personal relationship experience with Christ that they know how to communicate and a burden for those who are lost before they will see a need to share. They need a spiritual leader in their lives leading them to understand their role in the Great Commission, again, just like anyone else.
  Is your question something you have personal experience with or are you making a general observation based on your perception of the business culture?
  Many people (in business or otherwise) do not understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit and are trying to witness in their own strength.
  Also, if witnessing is approached as a task on a to-do list rather than a matter of their heart being encouraged to share their experiences with people just like them they will soon be discouraged and will not follow through.
  Our experience is that typical Bible Studies do not lead a person to understand their part in the Great Commission. Most Bible Studies are geared toward information and head knowledge, not heart transformation. If a person is thinking that Bible Study alone will lead to one sharing one's faith, that is not our experience with business people.
  You are right that a person must be discipled/lead to share their faith. A discipler needs to be intentional about leading someone to share their story, not just deeper life.
  I hope this is helpful to you.
  Thanks for your interest in reaching out to leaders in the business arena!
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• 5/18/2007 8:53 AM David wrote:
  Great question. I begin with this truism: people always do what they want to do, and they will not behave in a manner that they percieve as detrimental. So, if a believer is not sharing his faith there is something he wants to do more, or he feels that sharing his faith will be a threat to something valueable. He might feel he will look stupid, he may feel that he might damage a relationship, or he may feel that it will cost him something like a business contact.
  
  So, I agree with Leslie that it is as much about values as it is about training. Training in ministrt skills such as how to share one's faith, how to disciple others, etc will only allow a person to live out the life he has previously been trained to live.
  
  He has to be trained to not act on his fears.
  
  Fran described faith as "acting as though what God says is true even though current emotions, past experiences or cultural trends indicate otherwise.
  
  So, a person has to be trained to live by faith, acting on what God says rather than on his emotional perception of truth. For instance, one truth is that a friend may reject you if you tell him about Jesus. The bible has another truth, that you have already been granted holiness and acceptance, and that God will provide all you need. Which truth will one choose? Its our choice. Most of us have not been trained to make those choices.
  
  So a person has to be trained to make those choices. Have him understand what the bible says about him. Ask him how his life would be different if this were true. Whatever he says, make sure he acts on it. The action will make it true. He will learn to act on God's truth rather than on his emotionally based perception of truth.
  
  Let me know if you would like to discuss this further, or see materials that deal specifically with this issue.
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• 5/24/2007 3:09 PM Bob wrote:
  Dawie:
  
  I believe we complicate things too much. There are too many external factors that keep business leaders from sharing their faith, such as perception. However, we also make it to "heady" in confusing age of inofrmation. Few of us would, i think, do an adequated job of presenting or defending our faith on a fact based, intellectual level.
  
  I believe that the attraction to Jesus in his day was not that he had the ready answers to religious questions, but rather that his actions proved his faith.
  
  I believe it would be more effective to teach leaders to share their faith by witnessing (much as a witness does in a court of law). Witnessing in relation to our faith means sharing what we have seen God do in our lives and the lives of others. We can all speak to what has happened to us, however, the challenge is to be comfortable enough with an individual to do this. Once this is has been done, mentoring, with the addition of
  scriptural teaching and life application can begin.
  
  It might be as simple as having leaders share their story within their EM group periodically until they are comfortable verbalizing their story. What a great experience for them, visitors and their peers - and an awesome opportunity for growth and bonding.
  
  I hope this has been of some help.
  
  Bob
  (Mark 12:30)
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