My 3 C’s of Sharing the Gospel

By Inaê Leandro

The author lives in Brazil.

Take the stress out of sharing the gospel by internalizing your role and your source of success.

It’s been 10 years since I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the past decade, I’ve had the opportunity to share the restored gospel with many people—mostly through sharing copies of the Book of Mormon. My goal each year is to give away 20 copies. Some years, like in 2020, I have been blessed to exceed my goal.

I’ve often invited my friends at church to join with me in sharing the gospel. But almost every time I invite someone to share a copy of the Book of Mormon with their friends and family, they give me this response: “What if the person doesn’t accept the message?”

After hearing this same concern often, I’ve concluded that sometimes members of the Church are unsure of their role in sharing the gospel. But the feelings of uncertainty can be easily resolved if we remember what I like to call my “3 C’s” of sharing the gospel.

1. Share (Compartilhar in Portuguese)

My first “C” defines our purpose, which is simply to share. Our role is to share the joy we feel because of the restored gospel! A lot of people would be as overjoyed as we are to learn about the truths that have been restored in the Church of Jesus Christ. We can share the joy the gospel brings us through casual conversation and even just our daily examples as disciples of Christ.

President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has noted, “A most significant evidence of our conversion and of how we feel about the gospel in our own lives is our willingness to share it with others.”¹ True conversion will inspire us to share. We can always ask Heavenly Father to help us have the courage and willingness to share the gospel with those around us. And as we seek to keep the Spirit with us, we will be led in the right direction.

2. Invite (Convidar in Portuguese)

My second “C” is about inviting people. When we have an important event—a birthday party, a wedding, a graduation—we invite people to attend because we want to enjoy it together. We can’t force someone to come (we hope they will!), but if they don’t, we’ll still be friends. And there will be other events in the future to share together. Inviting people to learn about the gospel is not much different.

The people we invite to read the Book of Mormon, to attend church, or to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ in any way have agency to decide whether or not to accept our invitation. But our success is not measured by their reaction; it’s measured by our willingness to invite.

In the manual Preach my Gospel, we read that the purpose of the full-time missionaries is “to invite others to come unto Christ.”² As we strive to share the gospel, it’s more helpful to focus on what we can do to invite rather than on how people will react to our invitation.

3. Convince (Convencer in Portuguese)

My third “C” of sharing the gospel is convincing. And unlike the first two Cs, this third one is not our responsibility. Convincing is the responsibility of the Holy Ghost (see John 15:26; 2 Nephi 32:5; Moroni 10:5; Doctrine and Covenants 42:17; Moses 1:24). It is only through the influence of the Holy Ghost that the people with whom we share the gospel will truly be convinced of the truth—as long as they receive the truth in their hearts (see Jacob 3:2).

As we strive to keep the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost in our lives, He will be with us when we share the gospel with our friends and family and will testify of the truth of our message.

It’s a Privilege to Share the Gospel

There are many ways we can share the gospel with the world around us, and although it can be scary, we don’t have to worry when Heavenly Father is on our side.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles summed up what many of us worry about:

“What if I do all this and people react poorly? What if they are critical about the Church? What if they unfriend me?

“Yes, that may happen,” he said. “Since ancient times, disciples of Jesus Christ have often been persecuted [see John 15:18].

“Remember, the Lord works in mysterious ways. It may be that by your Christlike response to rejection a hardened heart could be softened. …

“Heavenly Father knows you. The Lord loves you. God will bless you. This work is ordained of Him. You can do this. We can all do this together.”³

We can always ask for help from Heavenly Father in our efforts to gather Israel. And because of the Savior, we can always hold on to hope that one day our invitations will be received.