Teaching Tips: How Can I Share the Gospel?
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Let's talk about ways that you can share the gospel of Jesus Christ at church with teaching ideas for the lesson, “How Can I Share the Gospel?” This Come Follow Me lesson is taught on November 27th, the Sunday after American Thanksgiving and right before December begins. It's also the week when we just finished talking about Jonah in our home Come Follow Me studies.
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Chomp Your Fears or Be Chomped
I have a free printable for you where you can cut out a picture of a whale and tape it onto a clothespin so that the whale's mouth opens and closes. Remember Jonah didn't want to go and teach the people of Ninevah, so he ran away. Then the storm came and Jonah knew he was the reason for it. He got thrown off the ship and was eaten by a whale.
Most people have obstacles to overcome before they're ready to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends. It's the natural man in us. We all get scared. We all have doubts. That's normal. What we can do though is overcome those fears and those doubts.
There are a couple of sea animals that you can print out with the whale. Ask everybody to write one of their obstacles in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others on the back of one of these animals: the octopus, the squid, or the crab (Whales eat these animals).
Then invite somebody to share their answer. What is their obstacle? After they read it out loud, they hold their animal out in front of themselves. That’s when you come in with the whale chomping along. The goal is for the person to overcome their obstacle before you get to them. If not, you harmlessly chomp their finger instead of their animal. Obviously, don't hurt anybody.
The whole class can get involved in brainstorming ways they can overcome their fear whether it's to doubt their doubts or as the youth theme reminds us this year, to trust in the Lord. As they overcome their objection, the whale eats the fear instead.
Whosever fear the whale ate now gets to be the whale. This is called the popcorn method. They now get to be the one with the whale and pick the next person to go. The popcorn method is great because it's friends picking on friends or classmates asking other classmates instead of a teacher or a leader asking for their input. It's less threatening and it's a great way to give everybody a turn to be the chomper and have some fun. The last person to be the whale then chomps your fear to end the activity.
Practice the Words
One of the biggest fears is we just don't know what to say when somebody asks about something or we're afraid we're not going to know what to say. So practice! Have some phrases that you can say together as a class so that you are all prepared.
Think about things that you normally do or normally wear even. Do you have a shirt or sweatshirt from camp that maybe has a scripture verse on it or it says, “Let God prevail”? Do you have a gospel vinyl sticker like I sell in my Market? Maybe you have one of those on your water bottle. Do you have a CTR ring that you wear? What could you say if somebody asks you about those particular things?
Whether it's something like, “Oh, I love your sweatshirt. Where did you get it?” or “What does the CTR stand for?” or “I Noah a Guy. That's a funny gospel vinyl sticker.” What could you say in response that might share a little bit of the gospel without being overwhelming for either you answering or your friend who's commenting on something that you have?
Think about what you could say about the weekend. We're always encouraged to talk about church when somebody asks us about our weekend. What specifically could you say this week or what could you usually say every week? Help them find the words again.
There are things in their home too such as a picture of a temple or of Jesus Christ. Let them think about it and come up with responses. Write them up on the board. Send them out in an email later on so they can remember and practice those responses so they can be more confident and ready to speak up.
This also works well with righteous habits- things that we do. Why don't you drink coffee? Why would you never vape? Why do you go to church on Sundays? Can't you just go Wednesday night? You could split up into groups, act some of these scenes out, and come up with real responses. Do not say anything in the class that you would not say in real life. If you wonder if somebody would actually say that, ask them. Keep it real and applicable.
Light the World
This lesson is on November 27. That's right before December and the Christmas rush and a perfect time to share the gospel with the church's initiative, “Light the World.” Lighting the world is really just being ourselves, in a brighter, more public way. Talk about ways that you in your class can light the world whether it's an activity that you're going to plan together right now in class or it's ideas that you can brainstorm together and then report back on every week in December before Christmas.
Need ideas to get you going? Print out my idea list that includes ideas such as: Invite your friends to help make a new Christmas playlist. Once you have built the list, share it so they can use it too. That's easy. You can do that. It's spreading light because it's spreading love and it's spreading the gospel message with those Christmas songs.
There are so many fun ways that you can spread light. Read the list to help jumpstart your class then brainstorm more. What else could you do? What are some things that you normally do that you could twist with a little bit of Christmas or an additional gospel message? For example, if you bring big goods to your neighbors all the time, the next time you go, add a scripture on top of your cookies or add a picture of Jesus or ask them about their Christmas decorations. Something that just puts a little bit more of the gospel in your interaction.
All Things Through Christ
Remind your class the Lord doesn't ask us to do anything that we can't do, especially with His help. Remember next year's theme is about how all things are possible through Christ. We can share the gospel of Jesus Christ. We just need to have faith to act, trust in the Lord, and do those things that He has asked us. In fact, as we share the gospel, we're gaining greater peace and happiness because we're being obedient to the Lord's commandments. He wants us to share the gospel with every single one of His children.
We all deserve a chance to hear His message and to feel His love. Yes, it might push us out of our comfort zone, just like it pushed Jonah out of his comfort zone to go to Ninevah, but we can do it.
A great resource to help you see that you really can do this and the Lord will help you is the Preach My Gospel manual. For example, the chapter “How Do I Find People to Teach?”. Obviously, we're not full-time mission missionaries but we do come in contact with people all the time and there are tips in the manual that will help bring that gospel conversation in natural and normal ways with love.
The ideas in Preach My Gospel include Developing the Faith to Find, so strengthen your own faith first and know that the Lord's going to help you. The Lord’s not going to ask us to do something that is impossible. Number two, Talk with Everyone. There are ideas in that section you could go over like talk to people about their families. Help them see how the restored gospel can be a blessing to their families. Look for clues- things in their homes or in their yards that you can talk about and form a bond over before you talk about the gospel. Be warm, friendly, and cheerful. Offer to help do some service.
Number three in that chapter is Teach When You Find and Find Where You Teach. Again, having those practice phrases of things that you can automatically say because you have them memorized is so helpful. When we find people, take that opportunity to teach, however much they are ready for. We learned from Elder Holland this past General Conference that sometimes people aren't ready for our whole fountain that we're ready to share. His talk finally finished that answer he started to give all those years ago. We're not always going to be able to say everything we want. To be able to at least say a short little bit and share that light and testimony with others is a great start.
If you go to the back of the chapters in Preach My Gospel, there are little challenges and ideas that you can use as well. For example, the very last page in chapter nine suggests sharing your four-generation chart. That's something that you can connect with people. Doing family history with others is a great way to share the gospel.
Go with the missionaries sometimes to help practice and to get used to sharing the gospel and see how they do it and how you can do it. Invite the missionaries into your class and get to know them and see if that's even a possibility. Would they be willing to have you go on a visit with them and how and when and what would you say and what would you do? Answer those fears and questions that come up because going with the missionaries can still be a scary thing. Let's overcome that fear too.
Those are four ideas that you can use as you get ready to teach, “How Can I Share the Gospel?” Print out that Jonah and the whale printable. Talk about chomping those fears, overcome those obstacles, practice those sayings, light the world, and get going on sharing the gospel. People are open and happy and they want to talk more about Jesus Christ in the month of December so let's do it. Let's practice and let's make it a habit.
