We need to feel comfortable sharing our faith stories

Our theme for the 2007 Southwest Texas Annual Conference
session is “Offering Christ to All: Sharing Our Faith Stories.”
Unfortunately, many of us don’t seem to know how to tell our stories.
Evangelism has been described as a movement of compassion and conversion. As United Methodists, we do a wonderful job of answering the call of compassion in our world.
But we seem to have problems when it comes to the conversion part. (No, I don’t want to go yell on the street corner, either!)
We need to get over the queasy feeling we experience when we hear the word “evangelism.” We need to find ways to be more comfortable talking to others—especially our unchurched friends—about what we believe and why it makes a difference in our lives.
That’s why the Council on Ministries is bringing the Rev. Martha Grace Reese to the annual conference session in Corpus Christi June 8.
She is director of the Mainline Evangelism Project and author of Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism.
“Gay,” as she likes to be called, will be speaking to the full conference during the Council on Ministries report June 8. She will then lead one of our dialogue sessions later that afternoon.
I encourage members of the conference session to read Gay’s book before you come to Corpus Christi. Her book will prepare us to hear a message that could change the way we share (or don’t share) the gospel.
> How does being a Christian make a difference in our lives?
> Why should we talk about faith with unchurched friends?
> How can we share what our faith means to us if we are asked?
> How can we avoid trying to reduce our relationship with God to a statement as pithy as a bumper sticker?
> How can we pray for unchurched people and for our churches?
As I hope you know, the Council on Ministries is bringing four initiatives to the conference session for consideration (“Council offers churches ideas to boost witness,” March 23). The first is “Becoming evangelistic in our faith sharing.”
Many of the dialogue sessions the Council on Ministries is sponsoring during the conference will offer testimonies and panels on faith sharing. I invite you to look closely at the dialogue session topics in pre-conference materials or at www.uncswtx.org.
May we leave the annual conference with a new spirit for those that don’t yet know Christ by simply sharing our faith story. I’d love to hear yours!
Carol Loeb chairs the Council on Ministries.