In his book, God Space, Doug Pollock starts with a story of Paul and Lisa, a newly married couple who had just become Christians. They were so excited about their faith in Jesus and how it had changed their lives that they longed to share the gospel with their unsaved families. After much prayer they decided that the Christmas family reunion would be the perfect time. After casually chatting and catching up Karen, Lisa’s younger sister, shared how she was on a spiritual high after an angel had appeared to her in a dream.

This was there chance. Before Karen could share what the angel had told her Lisa highjacked the conversation and told Karen that the devil often masquerades as an angel of light and that she didn’t know what she was messing around with. After Lisa finished her sermon Paul tagged in telling Karen that New Age spirituality was akin to witchcraft, and with boldness and conviction he told her other truths he thought she needed to hear.

After they had finished the room was filled with awkward silence. Karen got up and left, and she felt so wounded she refused to speak to them for the rest of the holidays. What’s worse, Karen told the rest of the family how she had been disrespected, parented, and judged. The family verdict was that Paul and Lisa were religious fanatics and that the only way to have a safe conversation around Christians is to only say what you know they will agree with – otherwise you’ll be told why you’re wrong and they’re right.  

Paul and Lisa drove home defeated and discouraged, and decided that they were better off keeping their faith to themselves. Their good intentions had only produced hurt feelings, and a resolve to leave spiritual conversations alone. What advice would you have given to Paul and Lisa if they had told you about their plans that Christmas?

How do you start a spiritual conversation with family, friends, or workmates, without turning them off Christianity and Christians? Can you actually share your faith in a way that makes people want to hear more, rather than run away and never come back? That’s what Doug’s book God Space is all about, how we can create space in our lives for conversations about God. He talks about spiritual conversation killers (ch 2), and he shows how we can naturally engage in spiritual conversations using four simple methods: noticing what God is doing in other people’s lives (ch 3), serving people (ch 4), listening to people (ch 5), and asking questions that help people think about the big issues in life (ch 6).

Sharing the gospel isn’t a duty that we perform, one that we can tick off our list for the day, or the week, and move on. Sharing the gospel is something we do because we genuinely love people – we love them enough that we want them to hear the Good News that through faith in Jesus they can be forgiven, be reconciled with God, and receive eternal life. Like Paul says, we are to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). When we share the gospel we do so not only because we love those we’re speaking to, but we want to speak in a loving way that shows that we love them, that we value them, and that they matter to us. When we speak the truth in an unloving way we show disrespect for the people we’re so desperately trying to reach.

We create a safe space for spiritual conversations when people know that we genuinely love them, where gentleness and respect are present and judgment and agendas are absent, where people can raise their questions and doubts and concerns, their hurt and even their anger towards God or the church. How can you become a safe place for people to have spiritual conversations?

Note: If you would like to read God Space for yourself, you can download the ebook from Amazon (Kindle) for $14.72, or you can order the paperback from Koorong for $20.