Intentional Faith Sharing in the Context of Relationships: Where Hospitality Becomes Holy Ground and Stories Become Sacred Spaces

Faith Sharing as an Invitation

Evangelism has heavy baggage with a complicated legacy—one shaped more by conquest and power than compassion, more by pressure than presence. In the way of Jesus, evangelism is not a strategy; it’s an invitation into relationship, one rooted in humility, curiosity, and deep love.

Evangelism doesn’t begin with a rehearsed script sprinkled with scripture and sound bites cloaked with fear, but with an authentic and open presence. It is born out of authentic relationships—spaces where people feel safe enough to question, wrestle, and wonder aloud. The apostle Peter speaks to this posture when he writes: “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV[1]).

This kind of faith sharing is less about trying to convince and more about paying attention to people’s longings, the stories they carry, and the sometimes subtle ways God might already be moving in their lives.

Joan Chittister, in The Monastic Heart, says that hospitality for the monastics is not just a social nicety, but a compassionate response to the reckless generosity of Jesus. She says that the failure to offer hospitality is a failure at the basic level of humanity. Hospitality enables strangers to feel what it means to be accepted. What if evangelism were like this? What if sharing faith was about making room inside ourselves, not to persuade others to be like us or use shame or fear to create an impetus for change, but to offer a glimpse of the God who has met us in our messy, beautiful stories?

Discerning the Right Moments to Share Faith

To share faith with integrity is to do so with discernment and as an overflow of love, not out of fear or pressure. Not every conversation needs a spiritual turn. Sometimes conversations don’t lend themselves to this; sometimes they do, but each conversation can build trust and deepen relationships, planting seeds for later. Some seeds must be planted in silence, with a listening ear, or with a compassionate act that bears witness to a deeper love.

Three Movements of Discernment in Faith Sharing:

1. Paying Attention to the Spirit’s Nudges

• Sharing our faith is less about planning and more about attentiveness. Sometimes it comes through a nudge, a moment of clarity, or a deep sense of “now is the time.” Listening for the Spirit requires a still heart and a willingness to pause rather than push.

2. Listening for People’s Stories and Spiritual Longings

• Often, people reveal their hunger for meaning, healing, or connection in subtle ways: “I’m just so tired all the time,” or “I don’t know what I believe anymore.” These are not interruptions—they are holy invitations. Listen, not to respond, but to understand. When it’s time, respond not with answers, but with presence and perhaps a story of your own.

3. Responding with Vulnerability and Hope

• The most powerful witness is not certainty but honest hope. Faith shared vulnerably—“This is where I met God in my own brokenness”—opens doors that dogma never could. Vulnerability signals that we’re not trying to fix someone. We’re pointing to where we’ve found life.

Joan Chittister says that the key to hospitality is not opening doors but opening our hearts. Evangelism, at its best, is this kind of sacred welcome.

Faith Sharing That Respects Relationships and Context

Each person’s journey is sacred. The ground of their life, however rough or tender, must be approached with respect and humility. Faith sharing is not a one-size-fits-all message, but a relational unfolding. The work is slow. The fruit is often hidden, but over time, in the cultivated soil of trust, the seeds of the gospel begin to take root.

In contexts where the church has caused harm, our first task is restoring credibility through presence, acts of justice, compassion, and listening. We earn the right to speak of Jesus when our lives begin to resemble his character, not just in what we say, but in how we listen, serve, and stay. Being consistent, authentic, humble, and curious will position us to begin the first steps of building trust.

Hospitality as Evangelism

Hospitality is not about hosting events. It’s creating spaces—around dinner tables, in coffee shops, on porches, in “third places”—where people feel safe enough to be themselves and curious enough to imagine that God might be real.

Practicing this kind of evangelism means embracing slowness over speed, relationships over results, and mystery over mastery. It means showing up, again and again, with open hands and hearts, trusting that Christ is present long before we say his name.

Chittester writes: