Sharing Life, Sharing Faith
Evangelism is a personal thing. These materials have been developed for helping Christians, equipped by God's Word and Sacraments, to share their faith in a very personal way with their friends, neighbors, and co-workers as we interact with them in the normal course of our Christian vocations. Sharing Life, Sharing Faith is not an "evangelism program", per se, but a means of giving people the confidence and tools they need to discuss Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done for us, with others in our lives.
The "program" is a 12-month study based on the premise that we cannot share our faith unless we know what we believe. Therefore, each session begins with a study of an important point of Lutheran doctrine, followed by a study of another faith or belief system which is prevalent in our culture today. Each session ends with a short role-playing session where we support each other and help each other by "practicing" what we have learned in simulated conversations with people who hold a particular belief system. By learning what others believe, we can more effectively share our own faith with them in a way that in non-threatening and meaningful.
To read excerpts from our materials, please click on the following links. (files require Adobe Reader v.5 or higher)
Prologue, by Pastor Richard Bolland
Session 1 - Proclaiming the Gospel Message, The Doctrine of Vocation
Session 2 - Absolute Truth, Postmodern Thought
Session 3 - The Means of Grace, The Cults
Session 4 - Law and Gospel Part I, Jehovah's Witness
Session 5 - Law and Gospel Part II, Latter-Day Saints (Mormons)
Session 6 -History of Lutheran Liturgy and Worship
Session 7 - Judaism
Session 8 - The Office of the Holy Ministry, Islam
Session 9 - The Nature(s) of Christ, Native American Thought
Session 10 - Doctrine of Election, Buddhism
Session 11 - Creation, New Age Thought
Session 12 - Angels, Masonry and Lodges
The materials also contain many outside readings with stories from real people who came from the faith under discussion, as well as Bible Study outlines by Pastor Bolland relevant to the topic under discussion. The following two stories are included in the Session 7 on Judaism, and show how God really does work through His people in the lives of others.
God Works His Grace Through People, by Julie Martinez
Journey from Hopelessness to Life in Jesus, by Pastor Edward Balfour
The materials were written by Pastor Richard Bolland and Julie Martinez, and are copyrighted. Please feel free to download the materials for your own use, and you may use and copy the materials as you wish. We ask only that you do not make any changes to the content of the materials. There is much more available with this program than is available on this website, however, including many indepth Bible Study outlines about the specific topics for home study, and a Leader's Guide for the entire program with extra helps and notes on how to best teach the materials. We would love to share the entire program with you and your congregation. The materials are all available on CD in both MS-Word and Adobe PDF format.
We ask for a $15 donation, which includes the CD, packaging and mailing costs, and complete printing and binding instructions. We look forward to sharing our message of hope and salvation with you!
Please contact us for more information.
