How can we share our faith in everyday life? Madeline Russell shares some simple, but inspiring thoughts from four decades as a Guide leader.

Around 40 years ago, a very persuasive parent encouraged me to help out at our Church Guide Company, ‘or they might have to close’. So began my life as a Guiding leader, which still continues, now working with a second generation of young women.

Talking about my faith with the Guides is not something I do. There are times we use the church’s sanctuary (the chairs, lecterns and windowsills make excellent hiding places for clues in a treasure hunt!) when I explain how the space is used for worship, but it stops there.

So, how do I share my faith on a regular basis?

For me, it is a matter of listening, supporting and encouraging all those I meet. For many young people today it is important that they have a space where they feel safe and know they can be themselves, and that others will accept and respect them for who they are as a person, not because of what they wear or how clever they are. Over the 40 years I have served, it has been a privilege to see 7-year-olds become confident young women moving into adulthood, university and all that life offers them.

Inevitably it is challenging when a confident young person says, ‘I don’t believe in God.’ It is not for me to then launch into a lecture on why they should and certainly not to condemn them. I believe it is important to offer young people the opportunity to discuss what is important to them, and their beliefs, in a non-judgmental setting. I usually talk about how there is that bit inside you which knows what is wrong or right, and that everyone is free to believe what they want to, as long as they respect each other. Each of us will gradually develop our own faith based on what we have experienced. The Guide Laws are based on caring for each other’s needs, respecting each other and the world in which we live.

Both Christmas and Easter also provide opportunities to talk about Jesus and his life. The local schools also cover aspects of other worlds faiths and occasionally festivals and customs from other traditions arise in discussion when the Guides meet. If any of the girls feels there is something important to discuss, then I believe it is important to allow them to share it, as appropriate.

I am not someone who shouts about Jesus from the rooftops. But then did he? His friends followed him because of his example and his time for those who needed him. In my own life, that is, I think, what I try to do, based on Jesus’ life and teaching.

How does Madeline’s story make you feel? What do you do to share your faith with those around you? How does your discipleship affect others in your community? Join our Facebook group and keep the conversation going.