BY MEREDITH DAY
iLLUSTRATIONS BY MARK HERRON

Pop Quiz:
You toss your briefcase in the overhead compartment and settle in next to the window, hoping no one has been assigned the seat between you and the kid occupying the aisle, who has slipped on his headphones and is drumming to the beat on his tray table. Youre just about to settle in, hoping for some peace and quiet, when a harried man with an even bigger briefcase than yours trips over the kid and collapses into the seat next to you. Youre tired and almost cranky, but because youre always looking for ways to be on mission, you rack your brain for a way to start a conversation that could lead to talking about your faith. What do you do?

A. Lean over and introduce yourself right after he hangs up from a cell phone conversation with his wife, who has been talking so loud that you can hear her, and in which he kept saying, Uh-huh. . . yeah. . . of course Im listening and which ended by his whispering tightly, Well talk about it when I get home.

B. After he puts on his earphones for the in-flight movie, you lean over and lift one earpiece to ask him where he goes to church.

C. As he reaches up to turn off his overhead light and signals to the flight attendant to ask for a pillow, you tap him on the shoulder and ask him if he knows where hes going if your plane crashes.

Of course, you already know the answer. None of the above is the most opportune time to share the gospel. But isnt it always the right time to share our faith? If we are on mission Christians, looking for every opportunity to share Christ, how can there possibly be a wrong time?

Paul challenges us to preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke and encourage (2 Timothy 4:2). But thats not the end of the verse. He adds with great patience and careful instruction. The patience in our approach to sharing the gospel and the carefulness with which we present our faith are often related to our timing. How do we balance a constant willingness and readiness to share the gospel with sensitivity to our hearers? What first must be in place in order for the time to be right to share the gospel?

Step 1:
Developing Dedication
I love the Olympics. Winter or summer, from ice skating to track and field, whether or not my team is ahead in the medal count, I watch it all, especially the in-depth stories about the athletes and how they made it to the ultimate competition.

Several years ago I watched a profile of an athlete who moved from his home and relocated to the site of the Olympics several months before the Games. He was from a low-lying area and knew that in order to be successful in competition, he would have to train in the high altitude of the Olympic city. Now, years later, I cant remember his name, his event or whether he won, but I am still awed by his dedication. In the field of the best athletes in the world, victory wasnt a surety, but he was devoted to his cause, willing to do everything he could to improve his chances.

The right time for sharing the gospel comes when we have a commitment to reaching others for Christ. If we possess a growing dedication to the cause of Christ, we will be sensitive and open to opportunities to share the gospel. Through each days ups and downs, our primary focus must be reaching others for Him. That sounds like a tall order in an age when the priority is all about me. How do we develop and maintain a devotion to sharing the message of Jesus?

First, we must understand the reason for our dedication. In his speaking series For the Glory, Louie Giglio challenges Christians to develop a perspective of sharing the gospel toward the glory of God. Beyond any recognition we might receive, even beyond concern for the people we reach, we should be sharing the gospel because God receives glory and worship when people turn to Him.

To be dedicated to the cause of Christ, we must cultivate a life led by the Holy Spirit. If we are following the Spirits guidance in our everyday walk with Christ, we will grow more and more dedicated to His heartbeat: that the world might know Jesus Christ. We will not be able to contain what Christ has done for us, as when Peter and John in Acts 4:20 could not stop speaking about what they had seen and heard.

Living a life led by the Holy Spirit means throwing off the things that hinder our journey with Christ. Paul writes of objects made for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work (2 Timothy 2:21).

Developing a dedication to the cause of Christ also includes cultivating the discipline of prayer. A friend told me about a woman in his church who prayed every day that her husband would come to know Christ. After several years, he finally accepted the gospel. While visiting her home one day, my friend noticed two small marks in the floor of the room where she prayedindications of where she had been on her knees, praying for her husband. When our prayers for nonbelievers are fervent and continual, we will develop a dedication to sharing the gospel that allows us to know when the time is right.

Step 2:
Building Relationships
If we are dedicated to sharing Christ, listening to the Holy Spirit and praying for nonbelievers, the next step in finding the right time to share the gospel is developing relationships with the people around us. Thomas Hammond, director of direct evangelism at the North American Mission Board, says Christians often try to go deeper than weve earned the right to go. Outreach techniques such as street ministry and event evangelism can be effective tools for sharing the gospel. But our postmodern culture is growing more and more relationship-driven. The right time to share the gospel is often within a trusting, growing friendship.

Steve and Susan are dedicated Christians, leaders in their church and involved in a close circle of Christian couples. Recently, while waiting for a table at a restaurant, they ran into Jeff and Heather, whose daughter plays basketball with their daughter.

When Jeff and Heather were seated, they invited Steve and Susan to eat with them. Susan says she knew they should have accepted, but Steve had just returned from a trip, and Jeff and Heather were only acquaintances. Knowing that Jeff and Heather werent Christians and worried that they wouldnt have anything to talk about, Steve and Susan politely declined. Now, the couple sees that the dinner could have been an opportunity to begin a relationship with Jeff and Heather.

Building relationships with nonbelievers always requires a sacrifice from Christians. We are often called to give of our time and comfort in order to reach out to those who dont know Christ. Its so easy to stay within our circles, but if we step outside our usual boundaries, God can bring people and opportunities into our lives to fulfill His purpose of bringing people to Himself.

Thomas Hammond describes the principle of building relationships with nonbelievers as putting good memories into the files. He says everyone has an accumulation of responses

to Christians, church, etc. By being willing to invest in the lives of non-believers, on mission Christians put good memories into the files of non-Christians, eventually earning the right to share their faith with them.

Thomas says Christians must learn to become valuable to lost people. He gives the example of mowing his neighbors yard. By showing kindness to his neighbor, Thomas becomes a valuable friend and eventually will be able to transfer what is valuable to HimChristto his neighbor. By building a relationship that reflects Gods love, we continue on the path to find the right time to share the gospel.

Step 3:
Creating Opportunities
Finding the right time to share the gospel cant end with a commitment to share and a willingness to build relationships with nonbelievers. At some point, we must begin to create and anticipate opportunities to share Christ verballywith our own words.

Mary was my first close friend who claimed a different faith from mine. Before I knew her, the people around me could be divided into two categories: Christians and people who claimed no interest in God. Mary presented a new category. She believed she had found the truth in her faith. Through our friendship, we were able to talk about our spiritual beliefs, but she was wary of learning too much about Christianity. During the two years I knew her, I never invited her to my church or any other Christian event, because I worried that our friendship would suffer. I was so intent on building a relationship in hopes of sharing the gospel that I never created an opportunity to do just that.

In their book Becoming a Contagious Christian, Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg give a formula for maximum evangelistic influence. An on mission Christian must live a life visibly impacted by Christ and be willing to form relationships with nonbelievers. But thats not the end of the formula. Its not enough to merely have high potency and close proximity; weve got to get the next step in the formula if we want to maximize our spiritual impact on others. . . .Weve got to talk about our faith, putting spiritual concepts into plain everyday words.

Creating opportunities doesnt mean that we have to plan community-wide outreach events for our friends. It can be as simple as asking questions or starting a spiritual discussion. The most important thing is that weve earned the right to start talking. When we have shown our dedication to Christ and have built relationships, the time is right to create opportunities to share the gospel.

Step 4:
Gauging your listeners readiness
So youve developed a commitment to sharing Christ, youre building relationships toward that goal and youre creating opportunities to verbally share the gospel. Just when youre ready to start talking, guess what your next step is: start listening. The most difficult part of knowing when the time is right to share the gospel is knowing what to say and when to say it, and keeping your ears open and your heart ready may be the key.

Dont you love it when someone remembers something you mentioned in a passing conversation? Or when a friend surprises you with a gift you once said you liked? We love to be listened to, and even more, we love for people to respond to what we say. The final step in finding the right time is gauging your listeners readiness to hear the gospel.

Weve all heard the statistics about how little we actually listen during a conversation. Most of the time, we dont hear what the other person is saying for trying to decide what well say next. But any evangelistic encounter requires that we listen and interpret what we hear. And listening involves more than words. Here are tips on how to gauge readiness from what we see and hear:

1. Watch for body language. Sometimes the most important messages are seen, not heard. I met Elijah on a mission trip. He lived in the area where my group was re-roofing a house, and he came by to borrow some of our tools.

I spoke with him several times, and by the end of the week, I knew him well enough to invite him to our final worship service. Afterward, a member of our group began to ask Elijah about his spiritual journey. In every conversation we had that week he was open and friendly. But when we started asking the hard questions, he looked down at his feet, crossed his arms and communicated only by shaking or nodding his head. Elijahs body language told us that the crowded worship center was not the right place to talk about the gospel with him. We changed the subject and later talked to Elijah about Jesus outside the worship center in a quieter environment where he was more comfortable.

2. Listen for key phrases and questions. Each evangelistic encounter offers a different set of circumstances and a different set of personalities. But there are some key phrases that can lead on mission Christians into a verbal presentation of the gospel. For example, any comment about the difference in a Christ-ians life can lead to a discussion of the gospel. The same is true if someone is seeking advice for resolving a difficult problem or situation in his or her life. We know our postmodern culture is relationship-driven. People want to know how Christ can affect their entire lives. By listening for certain key phrases, we may gain an opportunity to lead someone to a relationship with Christ. Following are a few phrases and questions to listen for:

You seem to handle everything so well. How do you do that?

What makes the difference in your life?

You hold some views that arent so popular right now. Why do you stand by those principles?

Why are you so interested in me? What makes you care about someone you dont know that well?

Pop Quiz #2:
Imagine youre back on that airplane, just as tired, just as cranky, but still wanting to be on mission. When is the right time to share the gospel?

a. When you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you to introduce yourself. Maybe this is the opportunity youve been praying for.

b. During a conversation about his family in which he expresses concern for his children.

c. After he mentions he used to attend church regularly.

Youre right! All of the above choices are appropriate times to share the gospel because you are dedicated, building a relationship, listening for opportunities and gauging your listeners readiness for what you say. When we are committed to Christs call to share Him, sacrificing everything to reach those in need, preparing for opportunities to verbally share and being sensitive to our hearers, He will make sure we know when the time is right.