A Fellowship of Believers

How to Share the Gospel With More Impact

In a school, walk through the halls and listen in on teachers’ classroom management styles, and you’ll find a wide variety of methods being used. Some teachers utilize their powerful voices more, while others have a quieter, more nuanced way of motivating students to learn and perform. There was one teacher at my school who was nearing retirement, but she certainly had not lost her touch. She was incredible, and her class was always happy and in incredible order. The amazing thing? For outsiders looking in, who just walked past her room occasionally or saw her class pass by in the hallway, you never even heard her voice. She would be given the most difficult students every year, and in her magical, mysterious ways, it was like they were under a spell while they were on her roster. Their problems seemed to disappear!

I never did figure out exactly what she did to consistently maintain such a powerful hold over her class, but I know relationships were a key part. For teachers, building relationships with students is crucial. In my 16 years of teaching, I’ve learned that if I have been intentional about building and maintaining relationships with my students, my class will manage itself. Most days, discipline and classroom management will be a non-issue. In effect, the relationship-building takes place of discipline issues and struggles.

It’s crazy how much of a difference relationships make in the classroom. I’m thinking of one particular student who used to cause me all sorts of headaches during my early morning duty a few years ago. I help monitor middle and high school students for a 15-minute time period when they’re first released into the building from the school buses. When they arrive at school, they come down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and sit and chat with their friends until a bell rings, signaling that it’s time to head to class. The time of my duty is from 6:45-7 a.m. But even at that early hour, some students are energized, loud and ready to go. Ha! So this one sixth grade boy came into the cafeteria every day and just never wanted to sit down. It was a repeated struggle—getting him to comply with the rules of the cafeteria with a positive attitude. I didn’t really know him, and I didn’t have him in class at the time, so I was just an unknown adult nagging him every day.

But now, I have this student on my roster. When I first saw his name on my list, I thought to myself, Oh boy, this should be interesting! And I’m guessing he thought the same thing when he saw his name on my schedule… Or perhaps he thought something a bit less proper. Ha! 

However, as his time in my class has progressed, I’ve been powerfully reminded of the power of relationships. Now that he’s in my classroom every day for 50 minutes, he’s gotten to know me, and I’ve gotten to know him. We are able to have conversations, smile, laugh, and just enjoy one another. And guess what? Discipline problems have been dissipated. I even caught him straightening up a pile of papers on my table the other day on his way out the door after class. I fully attribute that to the simple fact that we know each other now. We have a relationship, and I’m intentionally strengthening our bond every day. It certainly makes me wonder—what if I’d found a way to develop even a small relationship with him back when we were at odds with one another? Even though it was a situation where it was only a matter of getting through a few unpredictable minutes each morning, I could have found a way to at least make an effort. Who knows, that may have eliminated the negative interactions he and I shared first thing in the morning for so many days.

I heard a pastor say recently that the Gospel flows along relational lines. Our Gospel is a “show and tell Gospel,” he said! Just hollering or preaching at somebody won’t be very effective, but if there’s a relationship present, everything is different. Even if it’s not an intimate bond, a casual connection can even help. 

In John 4, Jesus stopped to talk to a Samaritan woman. He knew that she was living a life steeped in sin, and he could have just stayed relationally distant and said something like, “Hey, I know you’re breaking the law in serious ways. You need to go to church and get yourself right.” And then He could have continued on His way. How successful do you think that would have been? Not very, I’m guessing. 

What did He do? He stopped and talked to her. He had His longest recorded conversation in the Bible! Instead of just stopping to preach, He took the time to connect with her. He asked her questions, explained things about life with His living water, and lovingly challenged some of her beliefs. He told her that He was the Messiah! And by the time their conversation finished, she was so moved that she ran back home and told everybody about it. 

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him. -John 4:28-30

But the story doesn’t end there! Jesus ended up going to her town and staying there for two days! Scripture says that many from that town believed in Him. And it all started with Jesus being relational. He didn’t become the woman’s best friend, but He also didn’t just brush past her or try to convict her without a foundation of at least some degree of connection. 

Is there some way, today, that you can be intentionally relational? Can you stop by a loved one’s house to just chat for an hour? Or can you ask your Starbucks barista her name and simply say hello before grabbing your mobile order off the counter and running out the door? Can you write a note to someone you know who is limited in mobility or friendships? Can you stop and talk to the maintenance person at your workplace for a couple minutes when he or she passes by? 

What kind of space in your life allows the Gospel to flow along relational lines? How are you showing the Gospel and not just telling it? Just like that magical teacher, are there quiet and unseen things you’re doing with the people around you that can motivate and inspire them to find out more about Jesus because of what they see in and through you? In the end, every moment and effort spent building relationships, whether in an intimate or casual way, can display Christ’s love. Let’s love one another so that we can all love and know Jesus better. 

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. -John 13:34-35