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Sermon Illustrations > Evangelism > What Makes People Hesitate to Share Their Faith?

What Makes People Hesitate to Share Their Faith?


Leighton Ford, Good News is for Sharing, p. 15

What makes people hesitate to share their faith? Here are some of the fears that have been mentioned to me:

1. "I am afraid I might do more harm than good."

2. "I don't know what to say."

3. "I may not be able to give snappy answers to tricky questions."

4. "I may seem bigoted."

5. "I may invade someone's privacy."

6. "I am afraid I might fail."

7. "I am afraid I might be a hypocrite."

Overcome by sin Perhaps the most common fear, however, is that of being rejected. A survey was given to those attending training sessions for the Billy Graham crusade in Detroit. One question asked, "What is your greatest hindrance in witnessing?"

1. 9% said they were too busy to remember to do it.

2. 28% felt the lack of real information to share. None said they didn't really care.

3. 12% said their own lives were not speaking as they should.

4. But by far the largest group were the 51% whose biggest problem was the fear of how the other person would react!