Sharing “the hope that is within us” goes beyond knowing the bare facts, having great training, using techniques, or employing a variety of tools or tactics. It’s not less than any of that, but there’s a lot more than that to share our faith with others. Here are five things that must happen every time we are speaking with non-Christians about Jesus.

If we ever hope to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others in all of its truth, goodness, and beauty, there are at least five things that need to happen from the first conversation to the very last. If we are going to persuade others that Christianity makes the best sense of the world and has the best answers for all the evil that we see around us and within us, it’s going to take a lot more than fancy arguments, memorizing cliché phrases, ramming Bible verses down the “opponents” throat, or having the right formula for evangelism.

If we have all of the knowledge in the world—enough to move mountains—and yet we do not have love, then the best apologist for the Christian faith suddenly becomes one of the worst adversaries of the gospel.

Sharing “the hope that is within us” goes beyond knowing the bare facts, having great training, using techniques, or employing a variety of tools or tactics. It’s not less than any of that, but there’s a lot more than that to share our faith with others.

Here are five things that must happen every time we are speaking with non-Christians about Jesus.

1. Love your neighbor.

This goes way beyond simply loving a person enough to share words of eternal life with them. It’s not enough to tell someone about Jesus and then move on to the next person after you “wipe the dust off your shoulders” if they reject him. You need to be with people for the long haul. You actually have to love them enough to still be around them even when they disagree (and possibly hate you).

2. Listen to your neighbor.

Everyone has a life story. That life experience is going to shape and mold whatever “worldview” it is that a person thinks he has. Because of this, there is no one-sized-fits-all approach to speaking to a person from any religious background. You’re going to have to do the hard work of listening to them. You’ll have to spend hours with them to find out what makes them tick, and if they are even serious about religion or spirituality, or if they’ve never really thought about such things before. Patience will go a long way.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]