One thing our unbelieving family members and friends need most is a safe place to discuss their faith or lack thereof.
Years ago, God began answering the prayers of two women in my church. For decades they had been faithfully praying for their unbelieving husbands to begin their spiritual journey toward Jesus. Perhaps to keep their wives happy, or perhaps to maintain their family traditions, they only darkened the doors of my church on Christmas Eve. One of these men had been raised in an abusive Jehovah’s Witness home, while the other had been raised in a Godless home. After marrying, both wives came to faith in Jesus. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, their faith in Jesus was often a contentious issue in their marriages and in their children’s upbringing.
Meanwhile, God was busy answering their many prayers. For some reason, God gave me favour with both men. Around the same time, like Nicodemus had done with Jesus (John 3:1-2), they both separately and privately approached me with the same question: would I be willing to get together so they could ask their hard faith questions in a safe environment where it would bring no recourse upon to their marriages? I was glad to do so. What I prayed would happen did happen: one meeting with each of them turned into many meetings with each of them. Some days they brought faith questions and even rebuttals; other times we just talked about trivial stuff. After a year and a half, one of them – the one raised in a JW home – came to Jesus. The other man still hasn’t come to Jesus, but one thing I am sure of: his hard faith questions were answered in the safe environment of genuine friendship.
Our family members, friends, neighbours, and co-workers will neither be debated into the faith, nor will they be argued into God’s family. That’s not how anyone comes to know love and serve Jesus. Rather, like Nicodemus, everybody needs a safe place where they can sincerely ask their hard faith questions, without judgment or recourse.
Looking for a safe place where your family and friends can ask their hard faith questions? Invite them to join you at our 12-week Alpha Course starting Wednesday, January 24. Your time invested in their lives and spiritual conversations just may bring them into God’s family.
