“Most of my friends don’t believe in God. How do I talk about Jesus without sounding weird or pushing them away?”
Hello Team,
When it comes to sharing Jesus with your friends, one of the most helpful things you can do first is understand what objections they might already have about Christianity.
TLDR: Show them who Jesus is through your love and support.
A lot of Christians think evangelism means just telling people about Jesus and hoping they believe. Now sometimes that does happen, because the Holy Spirit works in ways we don’t fully understand. But most people have already formed opinions about Christianity long before we talk to them.
For example, if someone has only seen Christians acting hypocritically, or if they think the Bible is unreliable, then simply saying “Jesus loves you” might not mean much to them.
Questions Help Guide Your Answers
To get to the bottom of your friend’s objections, try asking questions of them, as this will help guide your answers towards the bullseye. Thoughtful, grace-filled conversations, help create space for meaningful dialogue (Colossians 4:5-6 LSB), so you might say something simple like: “You know I’m a Christian, right? I’m actually curious. What is it that you don’t like or struggle with about Christianity or Jesus?”
Now, this is an important question because you are trying to understand their worldview first. And when you ask questions, it shows that you actually care about what they think, instead of trying to convince them what to think because you believe in God.
One big mistake Christians make is assuming that our worldview is the only one that matters. We may have a certain view on why Christianity makes sense and why we believe in God, but if we want to be good friends, we need to understand where other people are coming from as well.
Objections Give You Missional Direction
When your friend tells you their objections, that actually gives you a mission field to work in. For example:
Objection—Christians are Hypocrites:
Many non-believers and former Christians who have walked away from the faith, don’t trust Christianity as a worldview because they’ve experienced Christians as hypocrites—Preaching one thing, but acting counter to that in reality.
Maybe through their own past experience they see Christians as not trustworthy.
So, if they don’t trust Christians to be truthful, then it important that you show them, through your actions, what authentic Christianity looks like in your own life (Matthew 5:16 LSB).
Objection—The Bible Isn’t True:
Alternatively, if another objection is that they think the Bible isn’t true, ask them what parts they struggle with and invite them to read it with you. But no matter how you interact with them, always show compassion and kindness as you invite them to understand you, Christianity, the Bible, and what following Jesus means.
In other words, let your life, empathy, and your curiosity open the door for conversations.
Don’t Push—Invite
What usually doesn’t work is repeatedly pushing the gospel on someone who clearly isn’t interested. Jesus Himself often worked around obstacles rather than bulldozing through them. Compassion, and patience often do more to open someone’s heart than winning an argument with better information.
Scripture calls us to share our hope with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15), not with arrogance or argumentative zeal.
And sometimes the most powerful way to share Jesus is simply to live in a way that makes people curious about why you believe what you believe. Your actions, as a friend, carry more weight in their eyes than all the Bibles in the world.
In the end, show them who Jesus is through your love and support.
Don’t push them to believe by repeating the gospel over and over.
Instead, invite them to know Christ through you… through the life you live.
Scripture Verse—Legacy Standard Bible translation:
Colossians 4:5-6 LSB
Matthew 5:16 LSB
1 Peter 3:15 LSB