How to Share the Gospel With Unbelievers (and free printable!)

Do you long for your lost family members and friends and even strangers to know Jesus as their Saviour, too? Do you care about the souls of the lost and wish to be able to share Jesus and His gospel message with them, but just aren’t sure how?

You are not alone.

Many of us who belong to Christ know what we believed in order to be saved, but are just not sure how to explain it all to someone else. Learning how to share the gospel with unbelievers can feel a little intimidating, at first.

But you CAN learn!

Because if you have a willing heart…God will teach you!

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What is the Gospel Message?

In order to learn how to share the gospel with unbelievers we must first be sure what that is.

So, what is the gospel? First, the word “gospel” simply means “good news.”

The meaning of “gospel” in the Bible is the story of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. The first four books of the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called the 4 gospels and teach of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry.

However, for the sake of leading someone to saving faith in Jesus, the gospel refers specifically to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved,…how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

(1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 gives us the gospel in a paragraph! And that is the gospel truth that will save a soul from an eternal punishment in hell. And what we must be sharing daily with anyone who will listen!

Bible Verses About Sharing the Gospel

There are so many Bible verses about sharing the gospel. Verses that leave us with no doubt that God’s purpose for leaving us here, once He has saved us, is to go and share His good news with others. Such as this verse…

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8

And there are other verses that tell us how to prepare our hearts for this work for God. Such as…

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;  

2 Timothy 2:25

Do you remember the day of your salvation? How excited you were to know that you were finally and completely forgiven and on your way to Heaven?

And you wanted everyone else to know, too! You had a zeal for God and loved Him so much. And wanted to please Him.

But if you were like me, you also had to learn that while zeal is good, we must also temper that zeal with meekness, or gentleness. And pay attention to how much someone is ready and able to understand in those moments when we are sharing the gospel with them.

We have to remember that we cannot force anyone to believe. We are only messengers of the gospel message.

God prepares hearts. And God does the saving!

Which actually turns out to be a very freeing truth for you and me as we learn and go tell others about Jesus. We don’t have to worry so much about saying just the right thing, in just the right way, for someone to believe on Jesus.

God will take our sincere efforts and His Word and use them to save souls!

We just simply go. And share!

We don’t have to worry so much about saying just the right thing, in just the right way, for someone to believe on Jesus. God will take our sincere efforts and His Word and use them to save souls. God does the saving!

How to Start Sharing the Gospel

Ok, so how does someone get started sharing the gospel message? Well, just like with any other work we do, we must first prepare. We must first…

• Pray for God to teach us.
• Learn what scriptures to use.
• Make a plan of what to say.
• Practice our plan.

Pray for God to Teach Us.

Prayer is the most important part of learning how to be a witness of the gospel.

So, pray for God to teach you how to share the gospel effectively and to open doors of opportunity for you to do that.

Ask Him for the faith and courage needed to share all that He would have you to with that person He has prepared to listen. And ask Him to speak through you in those moments.

Learn What Scriptures to Use.

By reading this post, you are gathering information and learning. It is good to learn from what God has already taught others.

When I began to learn how to share the gospel, I asked God to teach me. And one way He did was to lead me to read a few books about soul winning. One that helped me a lot was the book by R.A. Torrey called How to Bring Men to Christ.

Make a Plan of What to Say.

When getting started you will quickly realize that you need a plan, a plan of what verses to share and what to say about each verse.

Having a plan will help you whenever you are just starting a conversation with someone and may be a little nervous.

Do you have a plan?

The book, Through Open Doors: Unlocking the Mystery of Soul Winning, is a book/workbook combination that not only shares my plan for sharing the gospel, giving the whole conversation from start to finish, but also gives the help needed for you to develop your own personalized plan, a plan that fits your style of speech and personality.

Practice Our Plan.

Once you have a plan, it is a great idea to memorize that plan. And then ask a family member or friend to let you practice going through your plan several times. After all…”repetition is the key to learning.”

How to Share the Gospel With Unbelievers

Once you have a plan, it’s time to go! There are so many who don’t yet know about Jesus and just what His death on the cross can mean for them. It’s up to us who do know to gently and prayerfully make sure they do hear this most wonderful good news!

The Easiest Way to Share the Gospel

But what if you’re not quite ready to share your plan with a stranger, yet? Well, you can start small. Giving gospel tracts is a great way to build courage for soul winning.

Your church may have gospel tracts that they would love for you to take and give out. Or, you could order some for free from Fellowship Tract League.

You can give a tract almost anywhere. I have had only a few people refuse to take one I’ve offered them.

When you first get started, you could simply hold the tract out to the person and not say a word. Or, you could smile and say something like, “I’d like to give you this to read sometime today when you get a chance.”

And just like that, you’ve given someone the gospel!

As you become braver still, you could work up to giving a tract and quoting a verse. So, you’d give the tract, as you invite them to read it later. Then tell them “I’d like to leave you with this verse…” And you’d quote your verse, being sure to also give the reference.

A good verse to quote would be one that gives the gospel in a nutshell, like John 3:16. There are other Bible verses that summarize the gospel, as well. You might want to quote 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 or Romans 6:23.

How to Share the Gospel in 5 Minutes

Sometimes the person we want to share Christ with won’t have time for a whole gospel presentation. In those instances, we need to know how to share the gospel in 5 minutes or less.

One way to do that is to share your testimony. A short personal testimony is a powerful tool for sharing the gospel, because it shows that the gospel makes a difference in people’s lives. It made a profound difference for you…saved your soul from hell. And can do the same for them!

If you haven’t already, why not take a few minutes and write out your salvation testimony in about 2 or 3 short paragraphs. For help with how to write your salvation testimony, you might like to check out the book, Through Open Doors: Unlocking the Mystery of Soul Winning, mentioned above.

How to Share the Gospel With Someone Using Your Bible

It is a wonderful thing when the Lord leads us to someone who is ready to hear the good news of what Jesus did for them. And we are then able to open our Bible and share the gospel message!

When those times come it will be very helpful to you if you have already marked the gospel verses in your Bible. I suggest neatly underlining the verses you intend to use. And make a chain reference to guide you to the next verse in your plan. That way you have a little extra help if there are distracting things going on around you and this person.

I once shared the gospel message with a woman while she held her baby and her husband watched the TV while eating his cereal! Yep, really happened.

And wonder of wonders, she stayed with me the whole way through. And accepted Christ as Saviour! All praise to our loving Father!

Again, after you mark your Bible and add a chain reference and maybe some tabs to easily find the verses, practice. You’ll want to make sure you’ve done this marking correctly before you’re talking with someone about Jesus!

To help you know what verses you might include in your gospel plan, here is a Free Gospel Verses Printable! Use it to memorize these scriptures. The more you have these verses in your head and heart, the easier it will be to share them!

Click the image to download and print.

Learning how to witness to someone takes some effort on our part, but is so very rewarding. If you have not already, then I pray that you will one day soon know the amazing joy of leading a soul to the Saviour. There is no other joy on earth like it!

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