Ten years ago, I became a Christian because I tried praying. I wasn’t persuaded by an argument or convinced by a sermon. I’d never been to church, but I decided to try praying, and I half expected to feel silly but found instead it felt like a lifeline.
In that moment, I didn’t suddenly understand everything about Christianity, but I was convinced that God was real.
I experienced faith before I understood it.
This order of ‘giving it a go’ before believing or understanding isn’t a new idea; for many people that’s their story. But I do think it provides us with some unique evangelistic opportunities and maybe even an insight into some additional ways we can share our faith.
Early last year, I had dinner with a couple who aren’t Christians. One of them began telling us about how he’d been experimenting with fasting. He’d listened to a podcast that recommended it, stating various health and mental benefits. Curious, he decided to try it.
What surprised him was that it has led to him to have much deeper reflections than he had expected. As he fasted, he became more aware of his impatience, his selfishness and his lack of control. So over dinner he asked, “Is fasting a Christian thing?”
Trying fasting led him to ask questions he hadn’t asked before. He started to explore Christianity, to ask deeper questions about God. And ultimately, many months on from that dinner, the most wonderful thing has happened – he’s given his life to Jesus.
"Trying fasting led him to ask questions he hadn’t asked before."
We are living in a moment where many people are searching for ways to change their lives. They’re looking for help, for tools, for something to make life feel better. It’s why figures like Jordan Peterson, Andrew Huberman and Steven Bartlett attract massive audiences. It’s why there has been a significant surge in the sales of self-help books. Many of the tools that these podcast hosts, writers and influencers recommend are practices rooted in the Christian tradition – things like fasting, silence, gratitude, generosity, digital abstinence and rhythms of rest among many others.
We know these are not new ideas; they’re ancient Christian practices, ones many of us do as we look to be formed more into the likeness of Christ. But there is a growing group of people who don’t know Jesus who are giving these practices a go, and they don’t yet know where these practices come from.
For us as Christians, this presents a significant opportunity. Much of our evangelistic imagination has been shaped around cerebral exploration and explanation: apologetics, preaching and courses. These remain vital, but they are not the only way people will come to faith and they’re not the only avenue for gospel conversations.
"There is a growing group of people who don’t know Jesus who are giving these practices a go, and they don’t yet know where these practices come from."
Increasingly, people are open to trying out Christian practices before they believe or even have questions about faith.
They’re trying fasting, writing gratitude journals, turning off their phones, having times of silence and solitude and thinking through how they rest. For some people, they discover these practices don’t just improve their productivity or mental health, the reason they had turned to them in the first place, but they bring deeper questions and a spiritual longing to the surface.
What would it look like, as part of how we share our faith, to encourage people to give spiritual practices a go, to experience something different and formational before they even realise they’re searching for God? When questions arise, like it did for my friend asking, “Is fasting a Christian thing?” we then have an opportunity to share about Jesus.
"What would it look like, as part of how we share our faith, to encourage people to give spiritual practices a go?"
At Being Human, we’ve been developing a tool designed around this very idea: helping people try spiritual practices before they believe as a pathway toward Jesus. It’s built for a generation curious about transformation, who are spiritually open but searching in every direction. We want to help them explore practices they’re already interested in and then show them how they are rooted in the Bible, in Jesus. We’re almost ready to launch and would love you to hear about it as soon as it’s ready.
Our culture is talking all about spiritual practices. Will we help people discover Jesus who is at the centre of them all?
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The spiritual practices: overly religious, self-care obsessed or a better way to live?
From retreat, silence and solitude to fasting, journaling and prayer – are many of these ancient Christian practices making sense to parts of secular culture today?
