Just before His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples a pattern for the spread of the gospel:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
It is interesting to note that Jesus wants us to start our witnessing where we are. It starts from our home, our family. Family is where it starts. Family is where it all begins.
It is also interesting that home/family can be the hardest place to be a witness. Even Jesus found this to be the case. He preached at Nazareth, where He had grown up: “And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own town and in his own home’.”
To witness is to share your experience with the Lord. Our own home knows about our experience really well and you can’t fool them by telling them something that you are not. How can you go back to your family and witness about Christ? After all, they know you really well.
The reality of our life in this world is that we are all sinners and we have our past failures. But Christ came to renew us. He is here to give us a new life.
As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
That’s what we are going to share with our families—the new life that Jesus has given us. All our family members need this new life in Christ.
In responding to our world Church theme: “I will go”, the Trans Pacific Union Mission have made this year to be a year that “I will go to my family”. We are encouraging our members to look at their family tree.
Who is there that needs to hear about the life that Jesus can give and be a witness to that family member?
Who is in your family that you can be a witness to?
Witnessing starts with my family.
