When believers speak of influencing their neighbors for the cause of Christ, we often begin to plan how to get those unbelievers into our church. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that “bring them in” strategy. But on Sunday, Pastor Jason challenged us as saints and the faithful, to engage our friends, colleagues and neighbors in spiritual conversations-outside the church.
For some of us, that was like hearing a fun college rally song. It stirs up the troops and those brave folks are anxious to engage. But for many of us, the call to have spiritual conversations is just plain scary.
As I thought about it this week, I found a practical idea that might help. (These thoughts are not original with me. “iHOPE ministries” offered these suggestions online.) It is the concept of intentionally sprinkling “salt” on our everyday, ordinary conversations.
Consider Colossians 4:6 that enjoins us “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
So how does it work?
Let’s say you meet someone at a coffee shop, and you strike up a conversation. At some point, you might offer up, “Yes, I am married, and we have four sons. I’m so grateful that all three have a relationship with the Lord. How about your family? Kids?” Did you catch it? A little bit of “salt” was dropped into a natural conversation about your family.
Or maybe you are at the dog park and say hello to the other dog lover on your bench. You might say, “Boy I love to take my dog on long walks. When I am in nature, I feel closest to God. Do you enjoy hiking?”
The idea is to be ready to share a key sentence seasoned with salt. The iHOPE folks suggest that we have something ready that matches the term “FORM.” F is for friends and family. O is for our occupation. R is for recreation and M is for me. Having a simple, non-threatening sentence ready for those four situations, gets us prepared for a basic spiritual conversation.
Once the door is opened to mention Godly things, conversations will either flow naturally or stop. Either way, we know how to proceed.
So maybe this week, we all ought to get our F-O-R-M sentences ready. Repeat them until we can do it naturally. Practice at home. As much as is possible, use non-churchy terms. Be genuine and relaxed. This is not a sales pitch. It’s a conversation about the most important truth in our lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For some of us, that was like hearing a fun college rally song. It stirs up the troops and those brave folks are anxious to engage. But for many of us, the call to have spiritual conversations is just plain scary.
As I thought about it this week, I found a practical idea that might help. (These thoughts are not original with me. “iHOPE ministries” offered these suggestions online.) It is the concept of intentionally sprinkling “salt” on our everyday, ordinary conversations.
Consider Colossians 4:6 that enjoins us “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
So how does it work?
Let’s say you meet someone at a coffee shop, and you strike up a conversation. At some point, you might offer up, “Yes, I am married, and we have four sons. I’m so grateful that all three have a relationship with the Lord. How about your family? Kids?” Did you catch it? A little bit of “salt” was dropped into a natural conversation about your family.
Or maybe you are at the dog park and say hello to the other dog lover on your bench. You might say, “Boy I love to take my dog on long walks. When I am in nature, I feel closest to God. Do you enjoy hiking?”
The idea is to be ready to share a key sentence seasoned with salt. The iHOPE folks suggest that we have something ready that matches the term “FORM.” F is for friends and family. O is for our occupation. R is for recreation and M is for me. Having a simple, non-threatening sentence ready for those four situations, gets us prepared for a basic spiritual conversation.
Once the door is opened to mention Godly things, conversations will either flow naturally or stop. Either way, we know how to proceed.
So maybe this week, we all ought to get our F-O-R-M sentences ready. Repeat them until we can do it naturally. Practice at home. As much as is possible, use non-churchy terms. Be genuine and relaxed. This is not a sales pitch. It’s a conversation about the most important truth in our lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sherry Worel
Sherry Worel is a Bible teacher at heart and lives a life of ministry. She’s been involved at Coast Hills teaching Women’s LIFE, Bible studies, online courses, devotionals, participating in Upstream conversations, and much more. Having a love for education, Sherry has over 50 years of teaching experience with schools, churches, and mission agencies. As well as earning her Master’s at Talbot Seminary, she rounded out her education with 35 years as Head of School at Stoneybrooke Christian School. Sherry is happiest with a book or fishing pole in hand.