"As you share your faith with your friends, what are some things that you need to keep in mind to be an effective witness?"
There are, honestly, a lot of things that one must keep in mind to be an effective witness, especially among one's friends. But, there are a few specific topics that stand out in my mind as ones that should be discussed.
First of all, there is the idea that I (for hypothetical and real situations, I will be using myself as an example for convenience), as a Christian witness, will always be watched in whatever I am doing, and all Christians will be judged as a result. It’s not enough to act right most of the time and then slip up every once in a while, because it’s the slip-ups that will be the ones leaving a lasting impression on a person. Every moment of my life is a picture of who a Christian is—and if that moment falls, then I am not who I claim to be. I know that my tennis friends from Highline have told me before that the way I act is different than a lot of other kids because I don’t engage in the cursing, fighting, or other commonplace activities around the school, and that really encourages me because it shows that I’m standing out rather than blending in, which is my original intention. If they want to see what a Christian is like, I can only hope that they would look at me and see what that means.
But, at the same time, we must realize that “being apart” from people doesn’t mean acting above them—far from it, in fact. Everyone is human, fallen, and heading to the same place. Just because we see a way out doesn’t make us any better than them over it. Honestly, we’re all human, we all have failings, it’s just how we deal with those shortcomings that make us who we are. If we use those failings to relate to people and show them just how alike we are, we can reach out to them in empathetic ways that we couldn’t have reached before. Besides, let’s be honest: anyone who acts arrogant or high-handed with someone else just puts their back up in the first place and leaves them so defensive that they will be unresponsive and even hostile to whatever they’re trying to say. I’ve seen it waaaay too many times.
Further, relating to the empathizing point, we can take that a step further and learn to converse rather than attack another person. One of the best things a Christian who is acting as a witness can say is that they “don’t know” the answer to something or to acknowledge a good point in a discussion rather than trying to force out an unsatisfactory, even insulting answer to a question. Being real with a person about what you do or don’t know is always appreciated—I know that one for a fact. If you can’t be completely truthful with the person that you’re trying to witness to, then you shouldn’t be out there telling them to be something you can’t; after all, isn’t one of the most powerful Christian qualities honesty and, by extension, integrity?
Finally, I’ll wind this down by pointing out how necessary being informed can be. If you don’t know anything about Islam and you’re trying to witness to a Muslim, it probably won’t go nearly as well as if you had read up on Pantheism before going to talk to a Hindu. Finding knowledge on a subject is huge because it shows a respect for the other person, their beliefs, and how seriously you are taking the time that you spend with them. It’s worth its weight in gold, believe you me.
There are so many things that a Christian can do to be an effective witness, but these are just the few that popped into my head as I mulled this question over. As I think of more, I’ll probably update this into something like a list. =3
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