BONUS: Share
Walk It Out ChallengeBonus Challenge: Share Your Faith
Welcome back, Neighbor! If you are joining me from the final pages of How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, you know that every prayer, cookie, and conversation has been leading to this moment.
We have covered the actions of love; now we are talking about the reason for it.
New here? You have stumbled onto the Bonus Challenge of my neighborhood outreach series. We have spent 10 steps reclaiming our streets through practical acts of kindness (like walking, giving, and hosting). You can get the full 10-challenge framework in my new book, How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, but today, we are tackling the ultimate goal: sharing your hope.
Welcome to the Finale!
You have prayed, mapped, walked, gifted, hosted, and written. Now, we arrive at the heart of the matter—the reason behind all the effort. This is the bonus challenge because it is not just a task to check off; it is the natural overflow of the relationships you have built.
From the Book:
Be prepared to share your faith with a neighbor. This is the goal of every other challenge—creating natural connections that lead to spiritual conversations. “Being prepared” means being on the lookout for opportunities to engage and listening for clues about what is really on a neighbor’s heart. When the moment comes, share your personal testimony. It’s the most non-threatening and relevant way to talk about Christ because it’s your unique story, and there’s nothing to memorize!
Go Deeper: Sincerity Over Strategy
Let’s tackle the intimidation factor head-on. You might think sharing your faith requires memorizing the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, walking someone down the “Roman Road,” or handing out a fistful of tracts.
The Reality: It is much simpler.
Honor Christ
We can’t explain what we haven’t experienced. Your ability to share starts with honoring Christ in your own heart first.
Listen for Clues
If a neighbor asks how you stay sane during a crisis, or how you have peace amidst loss, they aren’t just making small talk. They are begging for solutions.
Your Story is the Key
Your personal testimony is the best defense. You lived it. You know every detail. No one can argue with your personal experience of walking with Jesus.
The Rules: No Weirdness!
From the Book
Sharing your faith isn’t about reciting a sermon or using “Gospel Gloves.” It’s about sincerity over strategy. If you do it with gentleness and respect, it becomes a side-by-side conversation rather than a confrontation. You are simply sharing your personal experience of walking with Christ. If they ask a question you can’t answer, just be honest! Your authenticity is far more attractive than a perfect “sales pitch.”
God’s Way
From the Book
1 Peter 3:15 tells us to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
True hope isn’t a wish; it’s the person of Jesus Christ. When your neighbors see your peace and joy in the midst of life’s struggles, they may ask for your secret. This is your “megaphone” moment to explain that your hope is grounded in the reality of God’s promises.
The Words: What to Say
When the door opens, you don’t need a theology degree. You just need to connect your story to their struggle. Try these simple transitions from the book:
“You know, I was struggling with [Situation] too, but what really helped me get through it was my faith. I’ve found so much peace in knowing that God is with me. Have you ever explored that kind of hope?”
OR
“I’ve been praying for you regarding [Need]. Would you mind if I shared a little bit about why I have so much hope, even when things are hard?”
Continue the Journey
You have completed the Walk It Out Challenge! But this is just the beginning of a lifestyle of neighborhood ministry.
In the 10th Anniversary Edition of How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, I provide even more tools for long-term relationship building, handling conflict, and creating a culture of hospitality.
How to share your faith in just one Bible verse!
1 Peter 3:15 tells us all we need to know about sharing our faith.
“In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy…”
- We can offer no explanation for something we have never experienced. If we haven’t honored holy Christ in our own hearts, we can go no further than our own front door.
- This is the first and greatest command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.
“…always being prepared…”
- Be continually on the lookout for the opportunity to engage. Stop to have a conversation. Listen for clues about what’s really on her heart. And allow your heart to be broken for your community.
“…to make a defense…”
- The word Peter used for “defense” means to make a reasoned statement.
- Your personal testimony is an interesting, intriguing, non-threatening, and relevant way to open a conversation about Christ. When you share your personal story, defending your faith becomes natural and practical.
- There’s nothing to memorize because you lived every excruciating detail! You were there, you know it best—and God will use your style and personality to tell your tale perfectly.
- God will use your story as His megaphone to speak into someone else’s life.
“…to anyone who asks you for a reason…”
- If anyone ever asks how you stay married and sane at the same time, or how you held yourself together during the pandemic, or how you managed to keep breathing let alone smiling after the loss they witnessed from across the street—they’re more than curious. They’re begging for solutions.
- They crave peace, too. Chances are, they’re struggling to make sense of the pain, tragedy, and loss in their own homes.
“…for the hope that is in you…”
- The Christian definition of HOPE is much so more than our feelings and emotions.
- HOPE is the real person of Jesus Christ.
- HOPE isn’t a wish, it’s a grounded reality based on the promises of God.
- HOPE isn’t just happy outcomes, it’s having joy no matter what comes.
- HOPE isn’t a longing, it’s a knowing.
“…yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
- Loving our neighbor is more about attitude than tactics. It’s less about strategy and more about sincerity.
- The key to loving our neighbor is humility and understanding, compassion and concern, esteem and honor.
- Your faith in Jesus is gently, respectfully, magnificently described in living color as we sit side-by-side and share of our personal experience walking with Christ down the road that finally led to hope.
Sharing our faith happens over conversations in crowded coffee shops, on park benches while children play underfoot, and in living rooms after everyone has gone to bed. The Gospel isn’t complicated. It’s not about rules or regulations, denominations or doctrines. The Gospel – the Good News! – is a person, Jesus Christ, who separates Christianity from all other faiths.
If you ever feel tongue-tied, just remember this gospel truth:
“Jesus Christ is the Son of God who paid the penalties for our sins to reconcile us with God the Father, was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, and is coming again.”
For a biblical definition of the Gospel, look to 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8–9, and 2 Corinthians 5:21.
A Simple Salvation Prayer
When your natural connections lead to spiritual conversations, you may have the privilege and honor of praying with your neighbor to receive Christ as their Savior. As hard as this may seem, it’s really this easy—
“Dear God, I know I’ve been separated from You because of the sin in my life. I believe Jesus paid the penalty I deserved on the cross, and my sins are forgiven! I believe You rose from the dead and can resurrect all the dead areas of my life. I trust You as my Savior, and I love You as my friend. In Jesus’ name, amen!”
And now, your home in heaven can have the same next door neighbors as your home here on earth!
Ready to Dig Deeper into Hope?
We just looked at 1 Peter 3:15 as our guide for sharing faith—but what if you (or your neighbor) are running low on that hope?
Peter’s letter wasn’t written to people living easy lives; it was written to people facing confusion, suffering, and the “end of the world” as they knew it. If you want to understand the deep, resilient faith that Peter talks about, I’d love to share my other book with you:
This isn’t just a book; it’s a hybrid Bible study designed to help you (or a small group) transform pain into purpose. It walks sequentially through 1 Peter to help you:
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Make sense of pain that seems endless.
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Trust God on the not-so-good days.
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Apply 5 simple strategies when your world is turned upside down.
If you want to be able to “give a reason for your hope,” this book will help you find the words.
