About exploringfaith.life
This website is designed for friends to have spiritual conversations together, especially as one friend explores faith in Jesus.
Each step has a prompt that both the Christian friend and the exploring friend can discuss together so that they can grow in authentic conversation and growth towards Jesus.
We hope that it challenges and encourages participants and opens doors to conversations that many of us feel too awkward or shy to pursue on our own.
The Five Thresholds
Many people that first encounter Christians with a lot of distrust go through five stages, or thresholds, before they are willing to make faith in Jesus their own.
For more on the Five Thresholds, please read I Once Was Lost (InterVarsity Press, 2008), or watch the videos on our website.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is a national university ministry that seeks to develop student leaders who help transform their campus and their world. The Five Thresholds is used throughout InterVarsity to help create authentic conversation spaces for the communal pursuit and exploration of faith in Jesus.
In order to have spiritual conversations together, we have to be able to trust each other by identifying and addressing the barriers that we face.
For the friend exploring faith:
- What personal experiences have you had that could get in the way of you trusting a Christian?
- Share a story of a Christian who has earned your trust.
For the Christian friend:
- What fears do you have to overcome in order to talk about your faith with your friends?
- When was the last time you trusted a non-Christian friend to listen about your spiritual life?
Debrief together:
- What did you learn about each other? What surprised you?
- What part of the conversation did you enjoy the most? How will you continue to have those conversations?
Taking steps on a spiritual journey involves learning about how other people see and experience the world. Curiosity is a choice to learn about something new or different. We cultivate it by asking questions.
For the friend exploring faith:
- Share about the last time you were curious about something. What did you do to learn about it?
- What are some of the questions you have about Christianity or faith in general?
- If you could ask God any question, what would it be?
For the Christian friend:
- Share about the last time you were curious about something. What did you do to learn about it?
- What are some questions about your faith that you are still unsure about?
- What are you doing to get clarity?
Debrief together:
- What did you learn about each other? What surprised you?
- What part of the conversation did you enjoy the most? How will you continue to have those conversations?
Growth on our spiritual journey requires taking an honest look at ourselves and identifying where we need to change. We have to be open to change and admit that there are places we need help.
For the friend exploring faith:
- Where do you feel stuck or dissatisfied?
- How open are you to allowing God to help you get unstuck? Why?
- How open are you to praying to see how God might help you?
For the Christian friend:
- Where is an area where you feel stuck or dissatisfied?
- How have you experienced God’s help with getting unstuck?
- Offer to pray with the friend who is trying these steps with you.
Debrief together:
- If you got to pray together, how was the experience of prayer?
- How open are you to looking at Jesus’ life and how he can address both of your areas of dissatisfaction?
Spiritual experiences often bring more questions than they do answers. It is important to seek the answer, but first, we have to be honest about what we really need to find.
Which next step would help you trust Jesus more?
Study the Bible
I need to know more about who Jesus is.
Click to download a 15 minute bible study based on the steps to faith.
Pray Together
I need to experience what Jesus can do.
For seven days, bring your honest needs or questions and pray together, asking Jesus to meet your needs and reveal himself to you.
Read a Book
I need to know if I can really believe in Jesus.
- In The Case for Christ, journalist Lee Strobel answers the question, “Is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really existed?” by asking 13 Christian scholars about the reliability of the New Testament.
- In Faith is like Skydiving, author Rick Mattson uses different analogies to give simple answers for tough questions about God, suffering, morality, and science.
- In Mere Christianity, author C.S. Lewis offers offers arguments about the fundamental morality of Christianity, and the ethical behavior that result from being Christian.
Step Five is where you consider whether you are ready to follow Jesus.
Pam had been meeting with Ellen for a month to look at the story of Jesus. When Ellen asked her if she was willing to consider following Jesus, Pam responded, “I don’t know how.” Ellen shared the big story of the gospel and invited Pam to follow Jesus.
"Everyone who drinks water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" - Jesus (John 4:16).
For the friend exploring faith:
- What do you think Jesus meant by "living water"?
- What are you thirsty for? In your own life, what are places of thirst that you want Jesus to quench?
- What have you learned about what Jesus promises for those who follow him?
For the Christian friend:
Use the four worlds diagram to share about what Jesus said about following him:
Designed for Good:
God created the world with purpose, dignity, and beauty. We are made in His image, designed to live in peace with one another. God wants to be at the center of our relationships.
Damaged by Evil:
The world broke down when humans pushed their creator away. Because He is no longer at the center of our lives, our world is divided and hurting. Without God, we are all trapped living self-centered lives.
Restored for Better:
God did not abandon us to live in a broken world. Jesus came into the world to heal. He took our personal evil and our world’s evil to the grave with him. He came back to life to bring new life to us.
Sent to Heal:
The Spirit of Jesus fills us with God’s power and presence. The Spirit sends us out to restore relationships, repair communities, and seek justice. We invite others into God’s healing.
Debrief
- What attracts you to following Jesus? Ask your Christian friend how following Jesus has changed their life.
- What is keeping you from following Jesus today? Ask your Christian friend why they want you to follow Jesus.