Before he was taken up into heaven Jesus said ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses …’ (Acts 1:8).
We witness both through our words and lives to the reality of God’s adoption of us into his family and our trust in him. Many of us shy away from the idea of witnessing, fearful of not having answers to people’s questions or concerned that it will negatively affect our relationships. Yet witnesses are just required to share their experience, not give a theological treatise! Some workplaces are particularly hostile environments in which to have any faith discussion and so prayer for wisdom is important (Workplace Grace: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work by Bill Peel & Walt Larimore is helpful on this).
In his book Evangelism for Amateurs, Michael Green writes of the need to build bridges of friendship which Jesus can walk across:
‘How does God approach us? Does he deafen us with shouts from afar? Does he demand instant response? Does he bombard us with messages? No, instead he woos us rebellious human beings not so much with declarations of truth, but with the beauties of nature, the goodness and generosity of other people, the love of our friends. That is how he seeks to get through to us. And, best of all, he comes in person – as one of us, a man among men. He comes alongside. He comes to befriend. And when he has allayed our suspicions and absorbed our hostility, he gently draws us back to the one who makes sense of life, the God who gave it to us. If God communicates that way, wouldn’t we be wise to take a leaf out of his book?’
God will provide opportunities to be a witness if we ask for them and then give us wisdom in what we say.
