OUT
Grow in Your Relationships with Non-Christians
The back of each card (not pictured here) has all the information you need to get started on your chosen growth area. These additional resources – such as extra Scriptures, Tips, Downloads and Links – can help you go deeper with each card!
Baptism: Showing Others I Am a Christian
Scriptures
Matthew 3.13-17: Jesus was baptised
Acts 2.41; 8.12; 22.16: New believers were baptised
Acts 16. 25-34: The Philippian jailer and family saved and immediately baptised
Tips and Ideas
- When a young person gets baptised, it’s a great opportunity for them to share their faith story. Be sure to see the OUT: Sharing My Faith Story card
- Explain more about how baptism is a great picture of Jesus’ death (falling down into the water), burial (under the water) and resurrection (coming up out of the water
- Talk to your church leaders about scheduling a baptism, so your young people have an opportunity to be baptised, but also so they can see what it looks like
- Talk with your church leaders about who can baptise a person and consider having a friend or adult who was key in the young person’s faith journey help the minister or leader baptise them
- Show videos of past baptisms from your church or other churches
Personal Testimony: Sharing My Faith Story
Scriptures
John 4.39-41: The Samaritan woman told her town about her experience with Jesus and many believed
John 9.25: The man born blind proclaims, ‘I once was blind, now I see!’
Mark 5.18-20: The formerly demon possessed man told his whole region the story of what Jesus had done for him
Tips and Ideas
- In the Acts 26 Scripture on the card, focus on the parts of Paul’s testimony rather than the fact he was speaking to a large crowd
- Consider a full reading of John 9 and seeing the opposition the blind man faced, from whom and how he responded when he shared his story
- Role-play with your group. Practice lead-ins to sharing your faith story. Practice 30 second versions and 5 minute versions
- Help each other take Christian words and jargon out of your testimony (eg ‘saved’ ‘asked Jesus in my heart’)
- Pray for opportunities to share your testimony and anticipate that God will give them to you and your group
- Like Jesus and the woman at the well and the man born blind, avoid getting into arguments about religion. Just share your story!
- Look for videos of testimonies online. Be sure to not only choose testimonies of famous people or people with sensational circumstances.
Links
Telling His Story By Telling Yours.
Instructions with further helpful links
How to Prepare Your Personal Testimony
Preparing Your Personal Testimony.
Instructions with further helpful links
Seeing The Lost: My Friends Need God
Scriptures
Be sure to read the Scriptures listed on the back of the card
John 3.16: Those who do not believe in God will perish
Luke 16.19-31: Jesus tells a parable about death and judgement
2 Peter 3.9: God wants everyone to come to repentance
Tips and Ideas
- As a leader, model talking about the needs in your life when you were a young person as well as the needs you see in the lives of people around you who don’t yet know God
- Start by helping your young people see the general needs of young people: Acceptance, Purpose, Recognition, Romantic Relationships, Security
- Consider having some newer Christians share the needs they were wrestling with when they were coming to faith (ask them to shoot a short video)
- Be ready to discuss friends from other religions. How do you balance respect with also knowing what is true about Jesus being the only way to God?
- Remember that the instructions from Jesus and the NT writers to talk about our faith and call people to follow Jesus took place in cultures where most people believed in other things
- Consider a study on Ecclesiastes and Solomon’s quest for satisfaction apart from God
Prayer: For My Lost Friends
Scriptures
Matthew 23.37: Jesus prayers over ‘lost’ Jerusalem
Luke 15.11-32: Parable of the Lost Son
1 Timothy 2.1-4: Pray for everyone – God wants everyone to be saved
Tips and Ideas
- Keep talking about how Jesus meets the needs of our friends
- Model sharing about the people you are praying for who don’t know God
- Keep giving time during your group to pray for friends who don’t know God
- Anticipate that young people may be feeling, ‘I can’t see my friend becoming a Christian or coming to church’ and focus on just praying for our friends at this stage
- Consider using an object like a table tennis ball or egg to write the name of a friend and a need we see. Then display it where we will remember to pray for this friend
Links
A powerful film and workshop exploring the difficult emotions of rage, despair and hope using the story of Job
Gospel Relationships: Building Friendships with People Who Do Not Know Jesus
Scriptures
Matthew 9.9-13: Jesus attends a dinner with Matthew and his friends
Luke 19.1-10: Jesus stays at Zacchaeus’ house
Tips and Ideas
- Think about what activities and events your youth group can do to support the relationships your young people are building that help show ‘God is Good and Christians are OK’
- Talk about the difference between building friendships versus having to be best friends with everyone you want to share faith with
- Help your young people learn to find common ground with people who do not yet know God (eg. we want people to like us, we want to feel significant, we want the world to be a better place)
Links
Gospel Conversations: Bringing God Into My Friendships
Scriptures
Colossians 4.2-6: Let your conversation be ‘seasoned with salt’
1 Peter 3.15: Always be ready to give a reason for the hope we have
Tips and Ideas
- As the leader, model and talk about how you bring God into your friendships
- The card talks about ‘breaking the sound barrier’. Consider getting a pilot’s wing badge to give to the person who breaks the sound barrier in the next week
- Pray for opportunities to break the ‘sound barrier’ this week and for God to help make the group aware when opportunities arise
- Role-play talking about God in natural ways by starting out with a few natural lead-ins (eg. What did you get up to this weekend?)
- Role-play praying for a friend by asking permission, using normal words and keeping it short
Links
Check out the statistics about people’s openness to talk about Jesus
Watch this short animated video that shows the results of recent research about how open our nation is to hearing about Jesus
Gospel Invitations: Helping Friends Start a Spiritual Journey
Scriptures
John 1.35-39: Jesus invited people to Come and See
John 1.39-42: Andrew invited his brother to Come and See
John 1.43-51: Philip invited his friend Nathaniel to meet Jesus
Tips and Ideas
- Consider the importance of a regular rhythm of activities, events and courses your youth ministry can offer to help your youth as they share faith with their friends
- Help young people form a set of simple questions to ask as they read through a gospel with a friend (What did we learn about Jesus? What was attractive about his life? What do you want to learn more about?)
Links
A six-week course aimed at motivating teens to start a spiritual journey by showing they are spiritual
Popular nine-week course that introduces young people to the Christian faith
Download the free App for loads of great resources for sharing faith with your friends
Gospel Content: The Basics about Jesus
Scriptures
Several Scriptures are listed on the card, be sure to check those out!
You can also check out Jesus’ ‘I Am’ Descriptions in the book of John that link to God’s revelation of His name in Exodus 3.14
John 6.22-59: ‘I Am the Bread of Life’
John 8.12-30: ‘I Am the Light of the World’
John 10.1-18: ‘I Am the Door’
John 10.1-18: ‘I Am the Good Shepherd’
John 11.17-27: ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’
John 14.6: ‘I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life’
John 15.1-6: ‘I Am the True Vine’
Tips and Ideas
- Consider getting a copy of just the gospel to share and read and not an entire Bible to give away (which can sometimes feel daunting)
- A previous card mentioned the Jesus Storybook Bible. Even though it’s aimed at children, it still gives a great and compelling overview of the person of Jesus and his purposes for coming to Earth
- As you help people learn about Jesus, focus not just on the important facts, but help the person be attracted to the person of Jesus and the ways of Jesus.
- We have often invited young people to get to know Jesus by showing a series of video clips from the Jesus Film, the Visual Bible Matthew, The Bible miniseries and The Chosen to help portray the person and work of Jesus. These productions offer compelling accounts of Jesus and his life – based directly on the Gospels – that really stir the heart. Searching in Google or YouTube should help you find these helpful videos
Gospel Questions: Answering Difficult Questions
Scriptures
John 4.19-20: Jesus saw through a potential religious argument and brought things back to basics
Acts 17.16-34: Paul reasoned with the people of Athens
Matthew 7.6: Jesus said to be careful who to try to share truth with
2 Timothy 2.23: Don’t have anything to do with foolish arguments
Tips and Ideas
- Looking at the Scriptures above, it seems it takes wisdom to know when to share reasoned answers with people and when to not get caught up in arguments that will not lead anywhere
- Look for areas of common ground with people who don’t yet believe. Both Jesus and Paul did this in the Scriptures above. Talk in your group about potential areas of common ground we share
- Most people will be watching your life and your tone as you talk with them more than your answers!
- Your tone should be loving and that you are convinced about your beliefs even though you do not have all the answers
- Be sure to affirm when people are asking good questions. Affirm that doubt can lead to a pursuit of the truth
- Acknowledge many things have been done in the name of Christ and the Church that were wrong and hurtful. Consider whether it may be appropriate to apologise for these things! (but still affirm this was not God’s heart)
- Acknowledge that even though the other person may not end up agreeing, hopefully they can see Christians do not have to ‘turn their brains off’ and do have good reasons for believing what we believe
- Be ready to talk about the fact that science and faith are not at odds even though our culture makes it seem that way
- Be ready to talk about the fact that God does have boundaries for healthy sex, but he does not hate groups of people based on their sexual practices
- Search on YouTube for examples of Christians who have given good answers to difficult questions
Links
REBOOT is designed for young people, who have doubts about the Christian faith or who want to be more prepared to talk about God with their friends. Check out their website for resources and upcoming events
This book is a great resource for answering lots of the common questions about God, the Bible and the Christian faith. The tone is respectful and loving, because it’s based on a true series of letters between a father and son
Living Out has loads of helpful videos and resources that help answer some of the most difficult questions surrounding sexuality and gender.
This is a great film (and book) based on the true story of an atheist journalist who attempts to disprove Jesus and ends up coming to faith.
Gospel Commitment: Inviting My Friends to Follow Jesus
Scriptures
Acts 16.16-34: Account of jailor who Paul and Silas led to faith
Tips and Ideas
- Talk in your discipleship times about what friends may be ready to make a faith commitment
- Practice presenting the Bridge Illustration as a group
- Practice role-playing how to get into a conversation like this, how to invite a friend to follow Jesus and how to help them pray a prayer of forgiveness
- Work on taking Christian jargon out of your explanations. We often use the phrase ‘make Jesus your leader and forgiver’.
- When praying a prayer of forgiveness, give your friend the choice to pray on their own or repeat a prayer that you lead.
- A person does not need to know everything about God or Jesus before making a commitment to follow! As far as they understand, are they ready to make Jesus their leader and forgiver?
- Anticipate misconceptions people may have about what it means to become a Christian and how you start
- Show them verses – and underline them – in a Bible that you will leave with them. Do not let them take your word for it.
- If your friend does pray to receive Christ, celebrate it and encourage them to tell one person before the day is done
Links
The Bridge Illustration can be found here
The ‘Life in 6 Words’ App is free and will help young people share Christ with their friends!
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