Sharing Jesus: How to Put Faith into Words

Share Jesus International have produced this brand new 96 page resource in partnership with HOPE to help Christians share their faith. The resource explores the following four areas:-

1. How do we go beyond our everyday, superficial, conversations of football and the weather so that we can start sharing our faith?
2. How do we communicate the gospel of Jesus using relevant language, stories and illustrations?
3. How do we prepare for and respond to the difficult questions which many non-Christians might ask us?
4. How do we take the next steps after we’ve had a ‘God conversation’ with friends, family and neighbours?

The resource is also a four part course that can be downloaded from the website shortly. It is presently running across London at almost 50 locations. For more information, click here.

What do you get when you cross eight young leaders, three not so young leaders and one country in need?…
It can only be ‘FRESH on the road’!

Last week I had the absolute privilege of taking a small group of FRESHers to Thessaloniki in Greece, a city on the Coast of Greece with a community devastated by economic decline in previous years; people forced out of their homes to the outskirts of the city to live in what can only be described as landfills, street homeless and probably worse of all people without hope for the future.

We set off in hope of seeing God’s Kingdom come and seeing the FRESH vision come to pass as we carried the Holy Spirit with us and prayed that “the Salty water becomes FRESH” (Ezekiel 47).

In partnership with a local church in Thessaloniki, we served on the gypsy camps for two days. The church had already created a small play area, a rickety shack for a church building and another make-shift hut for indoor activities. It was great to join in as the children worshipped and prayed at the beginning of the day. How fantastic to have such a godly, hopeful presence in the middle of such poverty. Our FRESH young leaders immediately bonded with the vast number of children living there. They led sessions with the young children each day including Frisbee, T-Shirt making, Loom band bracelet making, football, singing and playing games. The FRESHers had also worked hard prior to the trip requesting ‘aid’ from local business and communities. Thanks to churches, individuals, the 99p Store and British Airways being fantastic with six complimentary bags, we were able to take out a massive amount of items that were in desperate need into the community. The FRESHers took great delight in seeing their donated flips flops given to children who have no shoes, hair bands and brushes to girls whose femininity had diminished, footballs and beach games being enjoyed by everyone. Being able to distribute nappies and sanitary items to families who literally could not maintain a basic level of hygiene was immensely humbling.

Our FRESHers also studied the First book of Thessalonians during the visit with the help of local church leaders and the FRESH team. Together we explored verses that highlighted the worship of a ’known God’ as opposed to idols and challenged what idols were present in Thessaloniki, as well as in our own lives. We discussed Paul’s writings further as we looked into what our motives should be to sharing the Gospel and thinking about Jesus’ return and in turn salvation. This prepared us perfectly for our evening outreach on the streets of the City of Thessaloniki itself. We worshipped in the open air down by the White Tower, a very popular place for locals to gather in the evenings. As we worshipped people stopped to listen and looked curious. Prompted by God’s Holy Spirit some of our FRESHers courageously and trustfully approached observers and passers-by. They spoke to them as well as prayed for them, bringing hope to their situations and knowledge of a personal God to their lives. It was incredible to watch our young people being so passionate for the Gospel and so dependent on God for His leading. FRESH training had served them so well and prepared them for such moments as these. What a privilege to watch.

The trip accumulated with a day trip retreat to the incredible sights of Meteora – an incredible site of Monasteries and Nunneries built directly into a cliff. This was an incredible time of reflection, thanksgiving and prayer to our wonderful and faithful God for all He had done and continues to do in Greece.

What a blessing it was to continue the work that Paul started here over 2000 years ago during his three week visit. During his time here he started a very small church, and as we left Thessaloniki I felt peaceful and hopeful that the continuation of that church in Europe and the rest of the world was in the hands of amazing leaders like our FRESHers.

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