Borrowed Faith

Some days, we need to lean on the faith of others until our own strength returns.

Picture this: You're sitting in your car after another exhausting day, staring at your phone screen displaying yet another prayer request in your church group chat. Your friend Sarah is asking for prayers again—her third request this month. Her marriage is crumbling, her teenage son is rebelling, and now her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. You want to help, but honestly? Your own faith feels paper-thin right now. You've been questioning God's goodness, struggling with unanswered prayers, and wondering if any of this Christianity stuff actually works.

Sound familiar?

Here's what I wish someone had told me during my darkest season of doubt: it's okay to borrow faith from others when yours runs dry. In fact, it's not just okay it's exactly how God designed the Christian community to work.

When My Faith Tank Hit Empty

Let me take you back to a Tuesday morning in March 2019. I was twenty-four, fresh out of college, and my carefully constructed faith was falling apart like a house of cards in a windstorm. My dad had just been laid off after twenty years with the same company. My best friend had walked away from Christianity entirely, claiming it was all "fairy tales for weak people." And I'd been praying for months about a relationship that ended with my girlfriend telling me she "needed space to find herself."

I remember sitting in my childhood bedroom, staring at my dusty Bible, feeling like a fraud. How could I call myself a Christian when I wasn't even sure God was listening? How could I encourage others in their faith when mine felt nonexistent?

That's when my mom knocked on my door.

She didn't come with a sermon or a list of Bible verses. She simply sat on my bed and said, "Honey, I can see you're struggling. You don't have to carry this alone. Let me carry your faith for a while until yours gets stronger."

Those words changed everything. Not because they magically fixed my doubts, but because they introduced me to a concept that would revolutionize my understanding of Christian community: borrowed faith.

What Exactly Is Borrowed Faith?

Before we dive deeper, let's get clear on what borrowed faith actually means—and what it doesn't mean.

Borrowed faith isn't about becoming spiritually lazy or dependent on others for your relationship with God. It's not about letting someone else do your spiritual heavy lifting permanently. And it's definitely not about adopting someone else's beliefs without making them your own.

Instead, borrowed faith is the sacred practice of allowing others to carry your spiritual burdens when you're too weak to carry them yourself. It's about receiving the prayers, encouragement, and hope of your Christian community during seasons when your own faith feels insufficient. It's about letting others believe for you when you can't believe for yourself.

Think of it like this: when you break your leg, you don't feel guilty about using crutches. You understand that the crutches are temporary support while your leg heals. Borrowed faith works the same way it's temporary spiritual support while your faith heals and grows stronger.

The Bible is absolutely packed with examples of this beautiful dynamic. Remember the paralyzed man whose friends lowered him through the roof to reach Jesus? The Gospel of Mark tells us that "when Jesus saw their faith" not the paralyzed man's faith, but his friends' faith "he said to the paralyzed man, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" The man's healing came through borrowed faith.

Or consider the Roman centurion who approached Jesus about his dying servant. The centurion's faith brought healing to someone who couldn't even advocate for himself. The servant's restoration came through borrowed faith.

These aren't isolated incidents. They're glimpses into God's heart for community and His design for how we're meant to support each other through life's inevitable valleys.

The Anatomy of a Faith Crisis

Let's be honest about something most churches don't talk about enough: faith crises are normal. They're not a sign of spiritual failure or weak character. They're part of the human experience of following an invisible God in a broken world.

I've walked through my own valleys of doubt, and I've sat with countless friends during theirs. Here's what I've learned about how faith crises typically unfold.

They often start with a single crack. Maybe it's an unanswered prayer that really mattered to you. Perhaps it's watching a godly person suffer while ungodly people seem to prosper. Sometimes it's an intellectual challenge to your beliefs that you can't easily resolve. The crack itself isn't the problem—it's what happens next that determines whether you'll emerge stronger or more broken.

If you're like most people, you'll try to handle it alone at first. You'll pray harder, read your Bible more, maybe listen to extra worship music. You'll put on a brave face at church and small group, nodding along with everyone else's testimonies while secretly wondering if you're the only one struggling.

But here's the thing about cracks: they spread when they're under pressure and hidden in darkness. What starts as a small doubt can quickly become a crisis of faith when it's not brought into the light of community.

This is where borrowed faith becomes not just helpful but essential. When your own faith feels shaky, you need the steady faith of others to remind you of God's goodness, faithfulness, and love. You need their prayers when yours feel hollow. You need their hope when yours has evaporated.

The Beautiful Mess of Biblical Community

The early church understood borrowed faith in ways that would probably make modern Christians uncomfortable. Acts chapter 2 describes believers who "had everything in common" and "gave to anyone who had need." This wasn't just about sharing material possessions it was about sharing spiritual resources too.

When one person was struggling with doubt, the community rallied around them. When someone was facing persecution, others carried them in prayer. When a believer was wrestling with sin, the church provided accountability and restoration. They understood that individual faith was meant to be supported by communal faith.

Paul captures this beautifully in his letter to the Galatians: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Notice he doesn't say "carry your own burdens" or "help others carry their burdens if you have time." He says carry each other's burdens. This is mutual, reciprocal, borrowed faith in action.

The apostle also uses the metaphor of the body to describe how this works practically. In 1 Corinthians 12, he explains that when one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it. When one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. This isn't just poetic language it's a description of how borrowed faith operates in healthy Christian community.

Your struggles become my struggles. Your victories become my victories. Your faith crisis becomes an opportunity for me to lend you my faith. My season of strength becomes a chance to carry others who are weak.

When Others Carried My Hope

Let me tell you about the people who carried my faith when I couldn't carry it myself.

There was Pastor Mike, who never once made me feel guilty for my doubts. Instead, he shared his own story of wrestling with God during his wife's battle with depression. He told me about nights when he couldn't pray, mornings when he didn't want to read his Bible, and Sundays when he preached hope he didn't feel. His honesty gave me permission to be honest about my own struggles.

There was my small group leader, Jennifer, who texted me every morning for three months with a simple message: "Praying for you today. God's got you." She didn't try to fix me or give me advice. She just consistently reminded me that I was loved and that someone was interceding on my behalf.

There was my friend Marcus, who invited me to serve at the homeless shelter with him every Saturday morning. He never preached at me or tried to convince me of anything. He just showed me Jesus in action, loving the least of these with no agenda except love. Watching his faith in action slowly rekindled my own.

And there was my grandmother, who called me every Sunday evening to ask how I was really doing. She would listen to my doubts without judgment, then tell me stories about how God had been faithful to our family through generations of struggles. Her faith became a bridge between my past and my future, reminding me that my current crisis was just one chapter in a much larger story.

These people didn't fix my faith crisis overnight. But they created a safety net of borrowed faith that caught me when I was falling and held me until I could stand again.

The Art of Carrying Others

Here's what I've learned about being on the giving end of borrowed faith: it's both simpler and more complex than you might think.

It's simpler because it doesn't require you to have all the answers or perfect faith yourself. You don't need to be a spiritual giant to carry someone else's burdens. You just need to be willing to show up consistently with whatever faith you have.

But it's more complex because it requires wisdom, patience, and genuine love. Carrying someone else's faith isn't about fixing them or convincing them to feel better. It's about creating space for their struggle while pointing them toward hope.

When my friend David went through his divorce, I didn't try to explain why God allowed it to happen. I didn't quote Romans 8:28 or remind him that God works all things together for good. Instead, I showed up at his apartment every Tuesday night with pizza and listened to him process his pain. I prayed for him when he couldn't pray for himself. I reminded him of God's love when he felt unlovable.

When my coworker Lisa was questioning her faith after her miscarriage, I didn't offer theological explanations for suffering. I sat with her in the hospital waiting room and cried with her. I brought her meals when she didn't have energy to cook. I sent her verses about God's comfort without expecting her to feel comforted immediately.

The art of carrying others is really the art of incarnational love becoming Jesus with skin on for people who need to experience God's presence in tangible ways.

Practical Ways to Borrow and Lend Faith

So how does this actually work in real life? How do you borrow faith when you need it, and how do you lend it when others are struggling?

When You Need to Borrow Faith:

Start by being honest about your struggle. This might be the hardest part, especially if you've been taught that doubt is sin or that struggling Christians are weak Christians. But vulnerability is the doorway to borrowed faith. You can't receive what you won't admit you need.

Find safe people to share with. Not everyone in your life needs to know about your faith crisis, but someone does. Look for people who have demonstrated grace, wisdom, and confidentiality in the past. These might be close friends, family members, pastors, or counselors.

Ask specifically for what you need. Instead of just saying "pray for me," try saying "I'm struggling to believe God cares about me right now. Would you pray that I would experience His love in tangible ways?" Specific requests help people know how to support you effectively.

Accept help without guilt. When someone offers to pray for you, let them. When they invite you to church even though you don't feel like going, consider saying yes. When they send you encouraging texts, receive them as gifts from God rather than obligations to feel better immediately.

When You Need to Lend Faith:

Listen more than you speak. Most people who are struggling with faith don't need more information—they need to be heard and understood. Ask questions that help them process their feelings rather than jumping straight to solutions.

Share your own struggles appropriately. Vulnerability breeds vulnerability. When you share your own experiences with doubt and God's faithfulness through them, you give others permission to be honest about their struggles.

Pray consistently and specifically. Don't just promise to pray—actually do it. Keep a list of people you're interceding for and check in with them regularly about how they're doing.

Offer practical support. Faith crises often come with practical challenges. Offer to bring meals, help with childcare, or simply spend time together without any agenda except friendship.

Point to God's character, not circumstances. Instead of trying to explain why difficult things happen, remind struggling friends of who God is—His love, faithfulness, mercy, and grace. Circumstances change, but God's character remains constant.

The Ripple Effect of Borrowed Faith

Here's something beautiful about borrowed faith: it creates ripples that extend far beyond the immediate situation. When someone carries your faith during a difficult season, you don't just receive help—you learn how to carry others' faith in the future.

The people who carried me during my crisis taught me how to carry others during theirs. Pastor Mike's honesty about his own struggles gave me permission to be honest with others about mine. Jennifer's consistent encouragement showed me the power of simple, regular support. Marcus's example of serving others taught me that sometimes faith is caught more than taught. My grandmother's storytelling helped me understand the importance of remembering God's faithfulness across generations.

Now, years later, I find myself in the position of carrying others' faith. The young man in my small group who's questioning whether Christianity is true. The single mom in our church who's overwhelmed by life and wondering if God really cares. The college student who's struggling with depression and can't feel God's presence.

I don't carry them because I have perfect faith—I carry them because others carried me. I lend my faith because faith was lent to me. This is how the body of Christ is supposed to work: a beautiful, interconnected network of mutual support where everyone both gives and receives according to their ability and need.

When Borrowed Faith Becomes Personal Faith

One of the most common concerns about borrowed faith is this: "What if I become dependent on others and never develop my own relationship with God?" It's a valid concern, and it points to an important distinction between healthy borrowed faith and unhealthy spiritual codependency.

Healthy borrowed faith is temporary and transitional. It's meant to support you while your own faith is being restored, not to replace your personal relationship with God permanently. Think of it like physical therapy after an injury—the goal is to regain your own strength, not to become permanently dependent on assistance.

The key is intentionality. While you're receiving borrowed faith from others, you're also actively working to rebuild your own faith foundation. You're still reading Scripture, even if it feels dry. You're still praying, even if your prayers feel hollow. You're still showing up to church and small group, even if you don't feel like it.

Over time, what happens is beautiful. The faith that others lent you begins to take root in your own heart. The prayers they prayed on your behalf become prayers you can pray yourself. The hope they carried for you becomes hope you can carry for others.

This doesn't happen overnight, and it doesn't happen automatically. It requires patience with yourself and trust in God's process of restoration. But when it does happen, you discover that your faith is actually stronger than it was before the crisis. You've learned to depend on community in healthy ways. You've experienced God's faithfulness through dark seasons. You've developed empathy for others who struggle.

Building a Borrowed Faith Community

If you're reading this and thinking, "This sounds great, but I don't have people like this in my life," don't despair. Borrowed faith communities can be built, but they require intentionality and time.

Start by being the kind of person you wish you had during your own struggles. Look for people in your church, workplace, or neighborhood who might be going through difficult seasons. Offer practical help. Listen without trying to fix. Share your own struggles appropriately. Be consistent in your care and support.

Join or start a small group that values authenticity over performance. Many churches have small groups, but not all small groups create space for real vulnerability. Look for groups that encourage honest sharing about struggles, not just celebration of victories.

Consider finding a mentor or becoming a mentor. Intergenerational relationships are particularly powerful for borrowed faith because they provide perspective across different life stages. Older believers can share wisdom from their experiences, while younger believers can offer fresh perspectives and energy.

Don't underestimate the power of one-on-one relationships. Some of the most powerful borrowed faith happens in friendships where two people commit to walking through life together, supporting each other through both struggles and celebrations.

Be patient with the process. Deep, authentic relationships take time to develop. Don't expect immediate vulnerability or instant trust. But as you consistently show up with grace and authenticity, you'll find that others begin to open up and trust you with their struggles.

The Theology of Borrowed Faith

Some people worry that borrowed faith isn't theologically sound—that it somehow undermines the importance of personal faith or individual responsibility in the Christian life. But when we look at Scripture carefully, we see that borrowed faith is deeply biblical.

Jesus himself modeled borrowed faith ministry. He carried the faith burdens of countless people who came to him with their struggles. He interceded for his disciples. He prayed for future believers. He ultimately carried the weight of humanity's sin and separation from God.

The early church practiced borrowed faith constantly. They shared resources, carried each other's burdens, and supported one another through persecution and hardship. Paul's letters are full of examples of him carrying the faith burdens of the churches he planted, praying for them, encouraging them, and supporting them through difficulties.

The doctrine of the communion of saints teaches that believers are connected across time and space in ways that transcend individual experience. We're part of a larger body that includes not just living believers but also those who have gone before us. Their faith becomes part of our inheritance, and our faith becomes part of the legacy we leave for future generations.

Even the Trinity itself models borrowed faith dynamics. The Son intercedes for us before the Father. The Spirit intercedes for us when we don't know how to pray. The Father sends the Son and the Spirit to carry our burdens and meet our needs.

Borrowed faith isn't a departure from biblical Christianity—it's at the very heart of what it means to be the body of Christ.

Your Borrowed Faith Journey Starts Now

As we wrap up this exploration of borrowed faith, I want to leave you with both an invitation and a challenge.

The invitation is this: if you're currently struggling with doubt, questions, or a crisis of faith, you don't have to carry it alone. There are people in your life—or people you haven't met yet—who would be honored to carry your faith burdens for a season. You don't have to pretend to be stronger than you are. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to be willing to be honest about your need and open to receiving help.

The challenge is this: look around your life for people who might need you to carry their faith burdens. Maybe it's a friend who's going through a divorce. Perhaps it's a coworker who's dealing with a health crisis. It could be a family member who's questioning their beliefs. You don't have to be a spiritual giant to help them. You just have to be willing to show up with whatever faith you have.

Remember, borrowed faith isn't about weakness—it's about wisdom. It's about understanding that God designed us for community and that we're stronger together than we are apart. It's about participating in the beautiful, messy, sacred work of carrying each other through life's inevitable valleys.

Some days, you'll be the one who needs to lean on others' faith until your own strength returns. Other days, you'll be the one whose faith becomes a lifeline for someone else who's drowning in doubt. Both roles are sacred. Both are necessary. Both are part of what it means to be the body of Christ in a broken world.

Your borrowed faith journey starts now. Whether you need to borrow or lend, receive or give, the invitation is the same: step into the beautiful tapestry of communal faith that God has designed for His people. You'll discover that in carrying each other, we all become stronger. In lending our faith, we all become richer. In borrowing hope, we all become more hopeful.

The sacred gift of community in times of doubt isn't just a nice idea—it's God's design for how His people navigate the challenges of following Him in a fallen world. And you, my friend, are invited to be part of this beautiful, life-giving community.

So what's your next step? Who do you need to reach out to for support? Who might need you to reach out to them? The borrowed faith community is waiting for you to join the conversation.