Have you ever felt like a total failure when witnessing because you were not able to get someone to pray the sinner’s prayer? To relieve any feelings of the “pressure to perform” which can lead to guilt, it’s helpful to first of all know your purpose for witnessing.
While leading people to Jesus is a crucial desire in witnessing, that should not be our only purpose. Many times the Lord brings us across someone’s path for other purposes as well. This may include
- Expressing His love for them
- Bringing them to a place of spiritual readiness to receive Him, or
- Deepening their understanding of spiritual matters.
And what if the person is already a Christian? If our only goal is to have someone “pray the prayer” we may miss the opportunity to share a truth that would help them grow in their walk with the Lord.
Speaking with them helps us to assess where they are in their journey (so that you know what to share with them). The chart below is a tool that can be used for this assessment. It gives us a general perspective of the journey that all of us have taken, all the way from not being a Christian (beginning at -10 at the bottom of the chart) to becoming a disciple and discipling others (+10 at the top).
We are all on a journey:
This model provides us with a true measure of our effectiveness when sharing with someone about Christ. Understanding the process of moving someone further along in their journey with the Lord can remove any feeling of failure in witnessing. It also gives you the assurance that you have made a difference in their lives through witnessing.