food for fish

To do effective ministry it needs to be personally applicable and relative. My question is how does this happen? Tonight was our young adults group, I think overall it went just fine. But I get the feeling that sometimes what we talk about is not applicable and relative to the lives of the young adults here. The topic tonight (and for the next four meetings) is the Holy Spirit, there have been a number of questions coming from people, so we are addressing those questions, but I believe there is something else missing. In my observation the element missing is faith, almost all of the questions are more of a question of faith than the actual subject of the question. “If I don’t feel it (the Holy Spirit) then how can I know its there?”, “How do we know it’s not just a confidence (in reference to God guiding our lives to meet certain people)?”, “How do we know (for sure is implied) that God wants to talk to us?” Each of these questions is because of a lack of faith, I tried to explain that God’s Spirit is like the wind, you can see and feel the effects of the wind, but you can’t see it. But that just brought up more questions.

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith.
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. God accepted Abel's offering to show that he was a righteous man. And although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us because of his faith.
It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying--"suddenly he disappeared because God took him." But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God. So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him…
...All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God. They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth. And obviously people who talk like that are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had meant the country they came from, they would have found a way to go back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for them. [Hebrews 11:1-6, 13-16]

I think what is missing is that they don’t see our faith, they don’t know our faith, how can they know what faith looks like if they don’t witness it. Faith is the biggest, and most mysterious, and the most controversial part of Christianity, it requires believing in the presence of something with out the physical evidence. The one way I came to learn about faith was witnessing it in the lives of others; therefore, I believe God is calling me to witness my faith to these people. I’ve arranged with three of them to have coffee, no agenda, just simply a time for them to ask questions, maybe talk about other things, for them to get to know me, not for me to get to know them (although I’m sure it’ll happen). I want to be available for anything, I want them to know they can call me, and I will come. I love them; I need to tell them that. So, how do I do this? Does anyone have any advice? Any good books? How to do personal ministry? Examples everyday faith? Life-applicable faith stories? This is a call for help! I know some amazing things are going to be happening, I just don’t know what, but that’s faith isn’t it eh? Be blessed and go fourth.