Musings: Sharing Your Faith

Musings & Younger Perspectives:

Sharing Your Faith: What is your story?
By Carrie Bland | Photo by Ocean Park Camp

A few weeks ago I was having coffee with a new friend, Jennifer. We were sharing our life stories and talking about how we came to our faith. As she shared her story she lamented that her children – specifically her 14-year-old daughter – didn’t seem interested in having a relationship with God. She really wanted her daughter to choose this for herself, but Jennifer didn’t know how to talk to her about her faith. I asked her if she had shared her faith story with them, had she ever sat down and talked about why she believes what she believes and what was it that convinced her to believe in Jesus. She looked at me in surprise. It had never crossed her mind to tell them why she was a Christian and how God had changed her life. Therefore she had never had that conversation with them.

Over the past twenty years working in camping, retreat and youth ministry, I’ve noticed the same thing over and over again. While teens get a lot from the keynote speaker, they seem to connect more with those who get up and share their faith story. Why is this you ask? Well, from my experience, it comes down to a few things:

1. The person is talking about something they have personally experienced. The teens know the speaker is being honest and authentic. They are sharing from their heart.
2. What the person is saying is relatable. They are talking about a struggle in their own life, and how God was there in the middle of it all.
3. The speaker is sharing a part of their life. Also, they are being vulnerable and listeners can’t help but feel a connection to them and feel the passion the speaker feels.

As an adult I experience the same thing when my pastor shares how the scripture for the week has impacted them on a personal level. I hear God speaking through them and I can examine my own life and find similar situations. Bible study, prayer and service are very important parts of our faith journey, and sharing your faith story is just as important. It helps people understand where you are coming from and why this person they trust believes in something they might be struggling to understand themselves. We can show people all the proof they need that God exists using the Bible, but it’s our personal experience that helps them the most because when it is all said and done, we have experienced God in our lives and we know that God loves us. We speak from truth and that truth is heard in our voice, in our expressions, and throughout our body.

So tell your story. We want to know, how has God changed your life?