Do I Need to Be an Expert in Other Religions in Order to Share the Gospel?

Do I need to be an expert in other religions in order to share the gospel? If you want to share the gospel with a Muslim, then it would help to know something about Islam. For example, you might want to know that Muslims respect Jesus as a prophet. But they do not believe he was crucified or that he is divine. The same principle holds for sharing the gospel with Buddhists, Hindus, and followers of all other religions—knowing what they believe can help us engage them more effectively.

Unfortunately, because we often know so little about other religions, we are hesitant to speak. We think we have to master their beliefs before we can talk with them about spiritual things. However, as David Platt shares in this video, this kind of thinking is a mistake. While we should want to grow in our knowledge of other religions, we don’t have to be experts in them to share the good news. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16), not our ability to answer the objections of a Muslim or a Hindu or an atheist. Yes, we should want to learn more in order to engage people, but ultimately the Holy Spirit is the decisive factor in our evangelism. Our knowledge won’t save anybody.

Join us for this upcoming Secret Church, “A Global Gospel in a World of Religions,” as we seek to grow, not only in our knowledge of other religions but also (and more importantly) in our confidence in the power and effectiveness of the gospel. We’ll talk about how to engage Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, animists, and atheists with the same good news that we share with every unbeliever.

Be encouraged: God doesn’t call us to be experts. He calls us to be witnesses.