Sharing Faith: Impacting Lives Through Gospel Sharing - Essay Sample

Introduction

Sharing the gospel provides an opportunity for other people to understand Christian teachings and respond to Jesus. Sharing faith enables one to grow in evangelism and how to go about sharing one's faith. There are different ways or approaches to share faith and gospel with other people from different religions. Therefore following appropriate procedures will enable one to impact the lives of others and enable them to understand the life of Jesus Christ. While sharing the information with others, there is always the need to employ techniques that will include best crate agreements and understanding among the individuals involved. The person I plan to share the gospel with is a Jew who strongly follows the Jewish cultures. The paper elaborates on the best ways of sharing the gospel and the life of Jesus Christ to Jacob, a strong Jewish believer.

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Background Information

The person I intend to share the gospel with is a Jew from Judaism, one of the oldest religion formed over 4000 years ago in the Middle East (Parsons, 2017). According to the Jews cultures and teachings, God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people so that he could set an example of ethical and holiness comportment in the world (Parsons, 2017). Specifically, I intend to share the gospel with Jacob, a Rabbi who completely do not believe that Jesus is the son of God, who was sent to conquer the world. Jacob is one of my best friends whom we have studied at the college. Jacob is 35 years old, male, and a strong believer in Judaism. He resides in Israel at the city of Jerusalem. Right from a tender age, Jacob was introduced to Judaism by his family, and since then he has grown to be a stout follower of Jewish practices and cultural activities. Jacob expects Jesus to have been the descendant of King David, going by God's promise to David in the book of Samuel on the eternal kingdom. Also, Jacob believes that the Gospel teachings are righteous and that they lead to the moral well-being of society. According to Jacob, stories in the books of the gospel about Jesus raising the dead, healing the sick as well as announcing the imminence of the kingdom of heaven reveals that his followers perceived him as the appointee of God to create the messianic age.

Elements of Communication

While communicating with Jacob, I will employ both the verbal and non-verbal styles of communication. While explaining the gospel teachings, I will consider using gestures, facial expressions and also, I will maintain eye contact, or in other words, I will look Jacob directly to the eye to ensure that he understands and benefits from the teachings about Jesus Christ (Wharton, 2009). In Jewish culture, it is a sign of respect and privilege to engage a person in non-verbal communication approaches, specifically when explaining important religious beliefs and cultures (Wharton, 2009). Through verbal communication, I will employ the auditory language to exchange essential information that will enable Jacob to understand the role of Jesus Christ in Christianity. I will employ tonal variation, appropriate volume as well as the normal pitch to ensure that Jacob understands the teaching of Jesus Christ and the gospel. In most cases, interreligious teachings lead to the misunderstandings, a situation that may lead to antagonism and even quarrels. The application of both the verbal and non-verbal approaches above may cool the tempo and enhance the understanding of each other (Wharton, 2009).

Cultural Systems

While undertaking the discussions on Jesus and the gospel teachings with Jacob, although he is a friend, it would be necessary to consider the cultural systems of the Jewish and Judaism at large. In the process of discussion, it is necessary to consider the religious activities and believes of the Jewish people (Parsons, 2017). In Judaism, there is no believe in the gospel by Jesus Christ (Daube, 2011). However, Jacob recognizes the fact that Jesus was a good preacher who tried to enhance morality in society (Daube, 2011). Also, even though many Jewish do not follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is necessary to consider that fact that there are some that believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ. In the process of discussion, it is also important to understand and uphold the Christian religious practices in a way that will convince Jacob to understand the teachings of Jesus Christ and the gospel (Parsons, 2017). Some of the cultural values of Christianity include love, the forgiveness of sins, fidelity in marriage, unconditional love, and love of God, among other moral standards.

Cultural Value Orientation

Cultural value orientation represents the core and most basic beliefs about society. The beliefs enhance human relationships with the world around them (Livermore & Soon, 2015). In the process of discussion with Jacob, it is necessary to incorporate unconditional love and love of God as the cultural values in Christianity that enhances the understanding the beliefs in the teachings of Jesus Christ (De Koster & Van der Waal, 2007). The above values will enhance Jacob's understanding of the motives of the Christian religion and the relevance of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. In the process of conversation, there is also the need to highlight the relationship that exists between Christianity and the Judaism and why some of the Christian cultures are linked to the Jewish traditions (De Koster & Van der Waal, 2007). In both Christianity and Judaism, life is sacred, and this needs to be brought out in the conversation.

Presentation

While trying to share the gospel and the life of Jesus Christ to Jacob, I will concentrate on the values and positive teachings as well as moral practices that are outlined in the books of the gospel. I will inform Jacob that Jesus was there during the creation, and that makes him the son of God and the Messiah as taught in the book of the gospel. The prophecies in the Old Testament, which most Jewish follow and adhere to also revealed the coming of Jesus. In the life of Jesus, there were several miracles that prove that Jesus was indeed the son of God. Also, the resurrection and Ascension shows that Jesus was not an ordinary man but the savior sent by God to bring salvation and forgiveness among the people. In the Book of Gospel, the birth of Christ is regarded as a Virgin Birth, meaning that he was not sired by human but by the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

In conclusion, sharing the gospel and the life of Jesus Christ requires the consideration of cultural values and religious background where an individual comes from. In the process of conversation, it is necessary for one to consider using different communication techniques both the verbal and non-verbal skills for this will aid the understanding of the information being conveyed. While sharing the gospel with Jacob, I believe that the application of non-verbal techniques will aid the understanding and create an environment that is interactive.

References

Daube, D. (2011). The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism. Wipf and Stock Publishers. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=URVNAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=Judaism&ots=dHg7SOmKWm&sig=8QgmC087mdSdu1xra6SYQivW7IM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Judaism&f=false

De Koster, W., & Van der Waal, J. (2007). Cultural value orientations and Christian religiosity: On moral traditionalism, authoritarianism, and their implications for voting behavior. International Political Science Review, 28(4), 451-467. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512107079636

Livermore, D., & Soon, A. N. G. (2015). Leading with cultural intelligence: The real secret to success. Amacom. Retrieved from: http://culturalq.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Chapter_1_Leading_with_CQ_Livermore.pdf

Parsons, T. (2017). Christianity and modern industrial society. In Sociological theory, values, and sociocultural change (pp. 33-70). Routledge. Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315129976/chapters/10.4324/9781315129976-3

Wharton, T. (2009). Pragmatics and non-verbal communication. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5poZAboYN7cC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Wharton,+T.+(2009).+Pragmatics+and+non-verbal+communication.+Cambridge+University+Press.&ots=Z2sYav7ibs&sig=HRTLNy4isv2vUer5aeBUg7USvh8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Wharton%2C%20T.%20(2009).%20Pragmatics%20and%20non-verbal%20communication.%20Cambridge%20University%20Press.&f=false