Maybe like me, you’ve always been looking for a good way to share the Gospel with your friends. Maybe they haven’t had much experience with God or the Bible, but you think they might really be open if only you could figure out where to start.
I’ve been wrestling with that same question for a while now. As a homeschooled teen, I don’t find myself around non-Christians very often—but when I do, I feel the burden on my heart to reach them with the truth of God and His Word. My heart aches for them to come to know relationship with God like I’ve been able to experience. When I open my Bible and read passages explaining the miracle of the Cross and all that God has given to us through Jesus, I think, “If only they could read this, maybe they’d understand.”
It was during a time like this recently when I felt like God gave me the idea of the Mark 16 Challenge. I was reading in Romans 4 and 5 about all that we’ve received in Christ. And similarly to what I just shared in the last paragraph, I felt the burden to share this message of hope with someone I felt might really be open to it—if only I could figure out a way to start.
I started thinking about the gospels of the New Testament and the picture they paint of Jesus as a teacher, a compassionate and caring Man, yet one who wasn’t afraid to call people out on sin and hypocrisy. The unbelieving world today has so many distorted perceptions of Jesus, and it makes me wonder how many of my non-Christian friends even have a grasp of who Jesus is or the hope of the Gospel.
I’ve been reading through the gospels lately, and currently I’m in Mark. As I was reading through it again to remind myself of who Jesus is, I was impressed by the conciseness of Mark’s gospel in capturing the essence of Jesus Christ, His teaching, and His actions while He was here on earth. The narrative points clearly to Jesus as the Savior that this broken world truly needs. Yet Mark captures all these key points of our faith in a short book, one that might be less overwhelming to a seeker than the 28 chapters of Matthew or some of the complicated theology found in John. While the gospels are all equally important, something caught my attention about the way Mark gives a clear portrayal of Jesus and His sacrifice without being overly long for a new reader.
As I realized this, I thought again about people I knew who might truly be open to hearing the message of the Gospel. Maybe if I could invite them to read through Mark with me, it could spark conversation and give them an accurate picture of Jesus—maybe a first step in a choice for them to follow God.
Listening to or reading the gospel of Mark on average takes an hour to an hour and a half, depending on your reading speed or the translation of the Bible you use. With most teens and young adults being awake and active for at least 14-16 hours a day, it didn’t seem too overwhelming to invite some of my non-Christian friends to participate in a challenge with me—to read through the entire book of Mark in a single day. I’d schedule it on a day during the weekend so there’d be even more available time for people—and maybe, if I offered to do it with them, it’d strengthen my faith and give them a chance to see what Christianity and the Bible is really like.
In their book Do Hard Things, Alex and Brett Harris challenge their readers to pursue dreams that are bigger than what one person can accomplish alone. As I prayed about my idea for challenging friends to read through Mark with me in a day, I realized that maybe this could be bigger than me and my small circle of non-Christian friends. Maybe, as Jesus says in the end of the gospel of Mark, we could take this message to the entire world.
So I want to invite you to join the Mark 16 Challenge with me, and invite the friends you have who you think might be genuinely open to the message of the Gospel. The current date is set for October 8, 2023, and I will be posting a link within the next few days to the official page for the challenge. This will be the link you can share with friends and will be geared more toward non-Christian readers that may be invited (e.g., ways to find a Bible, different translations to read, context of the gospel of Mark and who Jesus is). There will also be a box near the top of the article you and anyone you’re sharing this with can click to say you’re participating in the challenge. I’ll also try to post a page of resources for studying the Bible more in-depth.
The goal of the Mark 16 Challenge is to build a bridge of opportunity, to expose non-Christian friends to who Jesus really is and provide a chance for you to have spiritual conversations together. It’s powerful to read through an entire gospel at once, and I hope that you’ll consider joining this challenge with me on October 8, 2023 and inviting those you believe may be open to the Gospel. Through the power of God and His Word, I pray that we can go into all the world and share this good news (Mark 16:15).
