How to Give Away Your Faith on Your Short-Term Mission Trip

How about an example? Suppose you are having lunch with one of your unbelieving co-workers and the subject of your pending trip comes up. How can you “salt” the conversation? You will be asked about where you are going and what you will be doing. Consider the following two responses and see if you can determine how they have been "seasoned ... with salt”:

Response 1. “We are going to help some missionaries in northern India who are trying to reach a tribe of nomadic people who have not yet heard the good news of how God has provided a way for them to have eternal life.” You never know, if the Holy Spirit is working in the life of your friend, he may be thinking to himself, “I am an American who has not learned how God has provided a way that I can be sure of eternal life. Maybe I should go hide out in northern India and some missionary will come tell me!”

Response 2. “We are going to Ghana and will travel from village to village showing a film about the life of Christ and the Bible message about how God loves them, wants to have a personal relationship with them and, most important, how they can be sure of having eternal life and know they will go to heaven when they die.”

Time and space does not permit further elaboration but you probably have the idea. In the two responses we have salted the conversation by indicating that it is possible to have a personal relationship with God and that you can be sure of eternal life. Neither of these responses was offensive. They did not share the gospel. They did not contain a testimony. They merely served to toss out the bait. They left your friend with the impression that you know God personally and are sure of your eternal relationship with him. If he is seeking that information, he may surprise you with “What church do you go to?”, “That is interesting, when you get back, I would like to know how things went.” , “What do you mean by a personal relationship with God?” or “I did not know you could be sure of eternal life.” These are the kinds of responses that indicate openness and that, perhaps, the person is seeking. On the other hand, if the person shows no response, disinterest or changes the subject, you can assume that either this person is not at the point on his time line toward becoming a believer where he is ready for more information or, possibly, he may have rejected Christianity altogether. In either case, the believer who has made this effort should feel that he has pleased God just as much as the person who has discovered the convicted heart ready to trust Christ.