How to Overcome the Fear of Sharing Christ

Many Christians fear the idea of sharing Christ or the Gospel for various reasons. However, winning souls to Christ and sharing His Gospel is one of the most important things a Christian can do.
So how can we overcome the fear of sharing the Gospel to others?

1. Expect to be Rejected

One of our main fears is the possibility of being rejected by people whom we try to share the Gospel.
People will reject the Gospel for different reasons. Some will ridicule you as a Christian and your message; some will be offended by the Gospel message you’re sharing; others will be spiritually blinded from understanding the message of Christ; others will reject you because they believe in a false gospel or false ideology that contradicts the word of God.

However we must understand that rejection is a part of human life. Rejection is also part of Christian ministry and evangelism.
In a fallen world where people have free will, one will certainly encounter people who will accept the Gospel of Christ with open arms whilst others will defiantly reject the Gospel.
Jesus Christ Himself, the most perfect Person to walk the earth was rejected by people to the point of crucifixion though He was blameless, sinless and holy.
John 1:11 says that Jesus came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

Not only was Jesus rejected, but many prophets in the Old Testament and Christians in the New Testament faced rejection to the extent of being persecuted and killed for preaching the Gospel.
Therefore if anyone rejects Jesus Christ or rejects the Gospel, it is not you whom they reject, but it is the Author of the Gospel whom they reject. The job of the Christian is to only share and proclaim Christ and His word.
In Luke 10:16 Jesus says: “The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

2. Do not fear that you might offend people

Another major reason why Christians may fear sharing Christ is because we fear that our message might offend others.
For example, some Christians may fear talking about hell and judgment because such topics might be deemed “offensive” or “unloving” or “provoking” to talk about.
However it is not unloving to warn people about hell and judgment because these issues are part of the Gospel of Christ.

The Bible says: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16).

It is unfortunate that a life-saving message such as the Gospel of Christ will cause many people to become offended. However the Scripture says that the gospel is an offense to those who are perishing.

1 Corinthians 1:18 says: For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Unfortunately in a fallen world many will refuse the truth and instead opt to believe a lie. Many will reject the light and opt to follow darkness; many will reject Christ and opt to follow someone or something else.
However it is an undeniable fact that sharing Christ will offend people. It is the reason why Christ Himself was crucified and it is the reason why many Christians throughout history and to this present day face persecution. The world will always take offense to Christ Himself and all that He represents.

In John 15:18-19 Jesus says: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

3. Understand that the battle is for souls

Whenever we share the Gospel it is because we are trying to win souls to Christ. The Bible says “he who wins souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30)

In Luke 15:7 Jesus says: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

So the crux of why we share Christ is because every Christian believer is engaged in a spiritual battle to win souls from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God.
The battle is not about winning a soul to your ministry or denomination or church. The battle is about winning people specifically to Jesus Christ so that they may be genuinely born again.

God and the devil are fighting to win souls. The devil wants to deceive and blind as many people as possible so that they end up in hell, whilst God desires to see people repent and enter eternal life through Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says: In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2 Peter 3:9 says that God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

So we must understand the gravity of why we share the Gospel. We are trying to win lost souls to Jesus Christ. By sharing Christ we are participating in opening the spiritual eyes of lost souls and pointing them to follow the Lord and Saviour.

4. Remember that sharing Christ is an act of love

To overcome the fear of sharing Christ, we must learn to love. We must be motivated by the love of God and the love for people.
The two greatest commandments that Jesus gave to His disciples is to love God and to love others (Matthew 22:37-40).

If we truly love people, then we would share the Gospel and warn them about eternal punishment. If we truly love people then we would speak about the Person of Jesus Christ and the free saving grace of God.
True genuine love which is sourced from God is capable of equipping us to deal with the fear of sharing Christ. Scripture says that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18)

Love is always a good motivator. It’s because of love, that in John 3:16 God was motivated to send His only begotten Son to pay for the sins of the world.
Therefore if we fear sharing Christ and sharing His Gospel, then we need to personally and internally assess our ability to love God and to genuinely love people.

5. Love the truth and hate deception

Overcoming the fear of sharing Christ requires us to love the truth found in God’s word and to hate any form of deception.
Many people have fallen prey to false ideologies; false doctrines and false teachers whose ultimate purpose is lead people astray and into eternal punishment.

The Bible teaches that the truth will set us free (John 8:31-32). Without truth, people will be deceived and perish. Without truth there is no spiritual freedom in Christ.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
When we love the truth, we are excited to share it and we want everyone to know it.

Conclusion

We must not be ashamed of Jesus Christ and nor should we be ashamed of the Gospel. Within us, Christ must increase while we decrease.
As true believers, we must not fear nor deny our Lord and Saviour.
In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus says: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,  33 but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

We should not fear to share Christ because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us.
2 Timothy 1:7 says: “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

The sharing of the Gospel of Christ requires the continuous participation and leading of the Holy Spirit.
The spiritual conversion and regeneration of any soul from an unbeliever and into a Christian is not by the technique or skill of any human – but it is because of the truth of the Gospel combined with the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people to whom we share the Gospel.

As we boldly share the truth, we must trust that the Holy Spirit will do His work. God has not given us a spirit of fear – but He has given us the Holy Spirit and His word to equip us for every good work to the glory of Jesus Christ.