Sometimes it’s hard to explain the good news, but it gets easier with some practice.
You know how Major League Baseball has a celebrity throw a ceremonial first pitch? You’ve seen videos of some of those celebrities completely bombing the throw. These celebrities might be amazing at singing or at basketball, but MLB pitchers they are not.
They have no practice!
They’re likely thinking, “It’s not that hard to throw a baseball, right? I don’t need to practice. I’ll just go and throw it.” But it turns out that it’s hard to do something well without practice. And when the pressure is on, it’s even harder!
This is true for throwing a baseball.
It’s equally true of explaining the good news.
We need practice.
Don’t feel bad if you’re terrible at explaining the gospel
The Apostle Paul asked for prayer that he could make the gospel clear (Colossians 4:4). If he needed help, how much more do we?
It turns out that it’s not always that easy to express the good news.
But doing it a few times really helps!
Some ways to practice
- Talk about the gospel with your kids. They will have so many questions. This is really good practice!
- Write it out on paper.
- Share the gospel with telemarketers and scammers who call you. (Try it, it’s fun!)
- Practice with your Christian friends, tell each other the gospel. Don’t worry about getting every piece of theology in there, the goal isn’t to preach a sermon, rather it’s telling good news to a friend.
It feels good to talk about the gospel, and as you get more fluent with the words, you’ll be able to do it more naturally. Then when you have the chance to share your faith with people who are close to you, you’ll have practice. That makes it easier, and more clear.
Practice makes perfect better!
Bonus: Some thoughts about how to share your faith
- Keep it simple. It’s okay if you don’t hit every single point of the gospel story in one breath.
- Your own story is the most powerful. Be a witness (like a witness in a trial) and just tell what you’ve seen and heard.
- Avoid “Christianese” words like atonement, justification, etc. No one knows what those words mean.
- Ignore everyone’s advice (including mine) and just do it your own way. I’m pretty sure that the only way to get better at it is practice ?
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