How can you win people over?

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about how to win people in service, explaining that love, wisdom, encouragement, humility, and a good example are the true foundation for drawing people to God. Service is not commands or formality, but a heartfelt relationship that shows Christ in practice.

Winning people through love

• The servant must love his children, and they should feel that love.

• When love exists, the children come regularly and even bring others.

• Love appears in care, feelings, visitation, and patience.

• A loving servant leads his children to love God through him.

Winning people through wisdom

• Scripture says: “He who wins souls is wise.”

• Wisdom is needed in choosing the lesson, presenting it, handling mistakes, and understanding the psychology and needs of the children’s age.

• An unwise servant may lose the children by harshness, but the wise one keeps them all.

• Biblical examples: Solomon asked for wisdom, and the apostles chose servants “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.”

Holiness and being a role model

• A servant is a role model before being a teacher.

• “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine”… because the holiness of the servant leads his children to holiness.

• One who lacks spiritual life cannot give it to others.

Winning people through encouragement

• Encouragement suits all ages.

• Christ encouraged the Samaritan woman, Zacchaeus, and the tax collector.

• Encouragement opens hearts more than harsh criticism.

• One must see the “white points” in every person and praise them.

• Constant criticism closes doors and loses people.

Winning people through humility

• A proud servant cannot succeed, because he raises a proud generation like himself.

• Christ said: “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

• Humility draws people more than authority or commands.

• Wisdom means taking each person “according to his mind,” not according to the servant’s own mind.

Spiritual conclusion

True service is not information given but life lived.
Through love, wisdom, humility, and encouragement, the servant wins people to Christ and offers a living picture of the Gospel, thus saving himself and those who hear him.

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