A down-to-earth book on sharing your faith

STORY BEARER:
How to share your faith with your friends
By Phil Knox
IVP. 154 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 789 741 551

This book is a down-to-earth guide to encouraging Christians to share their faith with other people. The author is a well-known practitioner of what he is encouraging others to do themselves; as a result there is an authenticity to the narrative.

The author was convinced that in the near future there would be a mighty move of God in our country in which the people of God would be more willing to share something of their faith story with other people. At the heart of his argument is the statement that we all have a story to share.

Your family member, neighbour or work colleague might be unwilling to come to church or read a theological book, but the vast majority of people are open to listen to a brief account of another person’s life story.

Phil Knox wants to encourage Christians to realise that they have a powerful and important story to tell. Our story as a Christian is naturally connected to God’s story, and the better we are at articulating simply and concisely both stories the greater the likelihood of the other person wanting to engage further with us. The effective witness for Jesus Christ will also be a good listener. Other people usually want to share something of their story as well. If we listen carefully to their stories, we will be able to engage more respectfully and effectively in conversations with them.

Knox also challenges us to get to know our culture better as well, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the world around us. What is particularly important in this context is that most people are connected to some degree with many more people than any previous generation through the revolution of digital communications and the prolific use of social-media platforms. However, behind the façade of multiple online friendships of individuals whose posts we like or share, there is an increasing loneliness experienced by many who typically have very few real friends with whom they engage at the deepest level. Therefore, the author reminds us that if we are willing to make the time to invest in real friendships with people with whom we want to share our faith, there is likely to be greater opportunities to engage in story-sharing than we might have imagined.

In summary, it is a refreshingly honest guide to engaging in personal evangelism. It is easy to read, full of amusing stories to illustrate the points being made together with encouragement to us all as to how we might become more effective at sharing God’s story with other people. It is warmly commended.