Girls Night #82: How to Share Your Faith with Friends (Without it Feeling Awkward or Forced!)
IN THIS PODCAST EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
How to be a light and share Jesus with the people in your life who don’t know Him
How to share your faith without coming across as pushy or judgmental
What to avoid when sharing your faith with friends
Why sharing our faith doesn’t have to be weird or complicated
(You can also listen right here!👇)
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night!
Friends, I’m so happy that I get to officially welcome you to Season 8 of the Girls Night podcast, and I just love the episode we’re kicking off the season with today.
Today I’m joined on the show by my dear friend Katie Bulmer, and we’re talking about how to be a light and share Jesus with the people in your life who don’t know Him.
That’s a tricky thing right?
In school, at work, in our families, and more — most of us have people in our lives who don’t share our faith, and that’s a wonderful thing. There’s such a beautiful opportunity there! But with that opportunity comes a lot of uncertainty.
If you’re anything like me, you WANT to be a good ambassador for Jesus, you want people to know the amazing God you know, but you’re just not totally sure how to talk about Him. You might feel awkward, you don’t want to come across as pushy or judgmental, you feel like you need to have a seminary degree before you ever mention the topic of faith. It can be daunting, and that’s why I wanted to talk about this on the show today.
I especially wanted to talk about it, because I have a bit of a different take on the subject.
I went to a really secular college, in a really secular part of the country. I didn’t know a single Christian in college and people always ask me what that was like. They ask, “Were you able to be a light to the people around you? Was it hard on your faith? Were you able to share Jesus with your friends and sorority sisters? Did you compromise your morals?”
And the short answer to the question is that I have no idea what it was like to be a light or Christian in these scenarios, because I wasn’t a Christian at the time.
It’s true. It wasn’t until I was a senior in college that Jesus got my attention. So really, for most of my college experience, I was sitting on the “everybody else” side of that Christian fence.
For most of college, my heart was pretty closed off to the whole idea of God, so for anyone trying to talk to me about Him, I was a pretty tough crowd.
But that’s why I love this topic so much, because I get to address it from the perspective of someone who both needed a light, and who was totally resistant to it all at the same time.
I get to share the things that weren’t helpful as people tried to share their faith with me, and also I get to share the things that were.
In this episode I’ll tell you guys what my friends did and said to me that showed me Jesus in the most beautiful way, things that changed my life forever.
And the best part is, we can do these things too. Sharing our faith doesn’t have to be as weird of complicated as we sometimes make it. And my hope is that by the end of this episode you feel so much better equipped to do it confidently.
Oh, and just a quick note, this episode you’re about to hear actually first aired on Katie’s podcast, Truth for your Twenties, but I loved our conversation so much, I knew we had to share it on Girls Night too! Katie, thank you so much for letting us do that!
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LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Steph’s book, The Lipstick Gospel (here’s a paperback copy and here’s a free digital download!)
Steph’s new prayer journal, Every Single Moment
Steph’s course, Love Your Single Life
See Stephanie’s guide for How to Make Friends in a New City
Katie’s podcast: Truth For Your Twenties
4 Pieces of advice when sharing your faith:
Don't overcomplicate it
When you're thinking about sharing your faith with people who don't know Jesus, to think about your life like a walking infomercial
Earn the right to speak to people about Jesus and then once you do use I statements
For goodness sakes, do not judge them
Quotes mentioned:
"When our relationships are in a good place, that's when everything changes" - Steph
"I wanted a life that was full and exciting and colorful and rich" - Steph
"From the outside it looked like I had a lot of friends, and I did, but I didn't feel totally known or secure or accepted in my friend group" - Steph
"When we bring our own brokenness into a perfectly great friendship, it still has some brokenness in it" - Steph
"God isn't vanilla and boring shoes" - Steph
"God is sprinklers and fire works and champagne toasts and your toes in the sand" - Steph
"In that moment, I locked eyes with Jesus in this painting and felt like I was seeing an old friend for the first time in a really long time" - Steph (referring to The Last Judgement painting)
"I just needed someone to be themselves and to love God and to love me" - Steph
"Let's focus on being a good friend to the people in our lives" - Steph
"I needed to see that she was really loyal and true as a friend and I needed to see that there was something different about her life." - Steph
"It's really important to be upfront when we screw up" - Steph
"When our lives are truly full of Jesus and we are actually following him, our lives are this wild wonderful adventure, and we're just glowing in the midst of it" - Steph
"Sharing our faith is so much easier than we think it is" -Steph
"I needed someone to show me how great life with God is" - Steph
"Our stories are really powerful" - Steph
"All you have to talk about is what you've seen him do in your life" - Steph
"Jesus never called the qualified" - Katie
"The life God has for you, if you truly say yes to him, is better than anything you could find on your own" - Steph
"The life that God has for you is pizza with the health qualities of kale" - Steph
"I don't have to be friends with people who are mean to me" - Steph
CONNECT WITH KATIE
Website // Instagram // Facebook
CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE
WE LOVE OUR SPONSORS!
Our sponsor for today’s episode is Birdy Grey. For 3 free fabric swatches (so you can see the color and feel the fabric before purchasing), head to https://www.birdygrey.com and use the code GIRLSNIGHT at checkout.
WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT
here’s another resource I know you’ll love!
Every Single Moment
A 100-day prayer journal to help you savor the present and prepare for the future!