Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began
to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The
Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to
the Lord.
Acts 11:20-21

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When I think of the word “witnessing” in our Christian context, I think of randomly walking up to someone and asking them the question, “Do you know Jesus?” Hoping they don’t completely freak out on me or immediately think I’m odd or—worse—get annoyed with me. It’s incredibly intimidating when I think of doing anything like that. But as we read through the book of Acts, we see over and over again that the Disciples witnessed to people and people were saved. My question is how did they do it exactly? Was it as intimidating to them as it feels to me?

In his book 10 Power Principles for Christian Service, Warren Wiersbe wrote a chapter called, “The Model of Ministry is Jesus Christ”. When I look at the life of Jesus, He witnessed all the time and yet we don’t read that He walked up to people and first asked them do you know God? What Jesus modeled so beautifully was the perfect way to witness. He related to people first. This is a significant key. 

Take the Samaritan woman at the well. Before Jesus told her who He was, He asked if He could take a drink from her cup. This was a big deal because it  was not socially acceptable for Jews to have any dealings with Samaritans—let alone a Jewish male with a Samaritan woman. John 4:9 says, “The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)”  But as you watch the scene play out, you see that Jesus related to her, He sympathized with her before anything else. It’s a beautiful display of compassion. Jesus is all knowing—He already knew everything there was to know about her, and He still took the time to relate to her and ask her questions. She responded in awe! She left her water and ran into town and told people of her experience (v.28)! 

Most of the time, I am afraid of the response I may receive or of triggering someone. But I’ve learned, and I see it modeled in Jesus, that I can avoid such things if I take time to get to know someone before I witness. My mother and I were sitting in a booth at a breakfast cafe and our waitress came to take our order. Before she could do that my mom asked her how she was doing. She expressed her nervousness about her mother who was having surgery in a couple days. My mom encouraged her and asked if we could pray for her. There in the small cafe, our waitress dropped her order pad and pen and grabbed our hands and we prayed for her. My mom related to her first before she prayed with her.

Next Steps

When you consider witnessing to someone—sharing your faith—what do you feel? Excitement? Trepidation? Explore those feelings with God today and ask Him to give you the opportunity to work through them.