“If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself!” Right? Not always. I am learning that God works through other people and not only me. My co-worker Riley and I were scheduled to lead a training workshop, “How to Share your Faith,” at our Nav Night (our ministry’s large group meeting) for students at the University of Kentucky. We knew that if we could train them in how to share the Gospel of Jesus confidently with others, it could affect the lives of many that we could never reach ourselves!
It’s the difference between giving students a fish, and teaching them how to fish. The apostle Paul essentially instructed one of the men he mentored to teach others how to fish: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).
We taught the students a simple Gospel illustration called “The Bridge.” It depicts what Jesus did for us on the cross, despite our human depravity, and is based on the Bible verse Romans 6:23. After talking about the importance of sharing the Gospel with others, Riley and I went straight into explaining this illustration for students to comprehend, and hopefully, to reproduce. God started working immediately—even before the training time was over! One freshmen girl in the room realized that she had never accepted Jesus into her heart, and she decided she wanted to confess Jesus as her Savior that night!
During this time of practice and conversation, non-believers were able to verbally process whether or not a creator exists. A Hindu student learned that Christianity is about grace and not works, and many students who seemed far away from God took one step closer to Him. We challenged everyone in the room to go home and share with one or two people that needed to hear the Gospel. One student who came to our workshop was able to share with her non-believing friend, who is in a Bible study focused on learning who Jesus is. Another freshmen student who was at the workshop had the opportunity to share the Gospel with his entire math class and professor drawing the illustration on a chalkboard! A student from the UK shared the Bridge Illustration with an international student from Japan who had just started reading the Bible!
It is so fun to dream dreams for the students we are investing in and think about how they could invest in others who will invest in others—just as Jesus invested in a few disciples, through whom He changed the world.
As our workshop came to a close, we reminded students that their sufficiency is in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and not in how well they present the Gospel. We’re asking our friends, family, supporters, and anyone interested to pray for the students in the ministry. That we would equip them well, and that they would be a part of multiplying the Kingdom more than we ever could alone!
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