CHANGING LONDON SUMMER 2018 OPEN UP FOR STEPS ON EFFECTIVELY REACHING YOUR NEIGHBOURS THE MAGAZINE OF LONDON AND ITS CITY MISSION

Transcription

1 CHANGING LONDON SUMMER 2018 THE MAGAZINE OF LONDON AND ITS CITY MISSION OPEN UP FOR STEPS ON EFFECTIVELY REACHING YOUR NEIGHBOURS

2 OUR MISSION DOOR-TO-DOOR VISITING HAVE YOU EVER HAD A CHRISTIAN KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR? MORE LIKELY IT S BEEN A POLITICAL CANVASSER, THE GASMAN OR A POLITE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS. THOUGH IT MIGHT SEEM OUTDATED, REGULARLY KNOCKING ON OUR NEIGHBOURS DOORS IS AN IMPORTANT TOOL OUR CHURCHES CAN USE TO REACH THOSE WHO DON T YET KNOW JESUS. HERE S WHY... IT S BIBLICAL In the Old Testament, Gentiles experienced the benefits of salvation by coming to Israel and the temple at Jerusalem. In the New Testament, the church, the living temple of Christ, is commanded to go in the Spirit s power from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). We estimate that 97% of London's population is not part of an evangelical church and 1 in 3 of those don t even have a Christian friend! That's why God s people must go to the people. Paul went to the people to market places and centres of education, riversides and governors' palaces. We must go to the streets, the prisons, the schools and the nursing homes but we must also go from door to door. That s where the people are. BUT THANKS TO GOD, THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO NOW BELIEVE IN JESUS BECAUSE SOMEONE KNOCKED AT THEIR DOOR... AND CARRIED ON KNOCKING. IT S CHRIST-LIKE If churches try too many doors, too sporadically, too many different people visiting they ll almost be starting from scratch each time. There s nothing wrong with one-off visits inviting local residents to special events or regular activities! Lots of church members can get involved, and it requires little preparation. But the kind of door-to-door visiting we suggest doing is different. It involves regular visits to build relationships. It s Christ-like. As the coming of Jesus unfolded, the priest Zacharias said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us (Luke 1:68). Jesus pitched his tent among us (John 1:14) he entered our world, our humanity, our life. The rationale of regular visiting is the same to get alongside people, to speak to them, to share the experiences of their lives and ultimately, of course, to share Jesus. IT S FAITH BUILDING We want to see people s lives transformed by the gospel but this is the Holy Spirit s work, not ours. Our faith in God s saving power grows as we rely on him. We want people to join a church family but the cultural step is often huge, even if the church takes seriously Paul s cultural flexibility (1 Cor 9:19-23). So as we reach out, our love for others and trust in Jesus to conform us to his image grows. IT S DOABLE We can t make anyone accept Jesus, but what we can do, quite easily, is make contact with people sowing seeds in patience, watching and praying for God to grow them and bring fruit. We can also be asking the Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom as we approach each door The right people regularly going to a realistic number of doors to form relationships. RIGHT PEOPLE REALISTIC NUMBER REGULAR VISITS RELATIONAL GOAL The role of those knocking is to be open ambassadors of the church, longing to tell the good news of Jesus. But instead of reciting a rehearsed message, they ll get to know locals, understanding where they stand (see Paul s study of Athens, Acts 17:16-23), telling of the good news of Jesus in a relevant way (Acts 17:22-31) and showing the love of God in a practical way (shopping for the housebound, helping with English language skills, gardening, etc). IT S LOVING Visiting people gives them a chance to voice doubts and objections, so that, like Paul, we can reason with them and persuade them (Acts 17:2-4). Personal contact and friendship often overcomes prejudices and opens opportunities to proclaim truth. Even after no initial interest, a family tragedy or big life change can open people to receive help. When you knock this time, they recognise you and open up. Relationships take time sometimes years rather than months. But thanks to God, there are people who now believe in Jesus because someone knocked at their door... and carried on knocking. ARE OUR CHURCHES READY FOR THIS WORK? Do we have the right people willing to go each month to the homes in our areas? Do we have faith in the truth of the gospel, hope in the promises of God, and love for the outsider? There are other ways of going to our neighbours, but door-to-door visiting is definitely worth a try for the good of our communities, for the growth of the Kingdom and for the glory of God! Adapted from an article first written by John Nicholls, former CEO of London City Mission

3 STORIES FROM THE DOORS THOUGH KNOCKING ON DOORS MAY SEEM SCARY, WE VE FOUND IT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO GET TO KNOW PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITIES, SINCE FEW PEOPLE SET FOOT INTO CHURCH BUILDINGS ANY MORE WITHOUT KNOWING SOMEONE FIRST. I ve defined an area of a thousand homes to visit 3 or 4 times a year my goal is to bring everyone I meet into the knowledge of Christ so they can turn to him if they choose. Even when people don't seem to care, I love to help them practically and regular door knocking means that when a crisis arises, I ve had some contact with people and can support them in their time of need - my heart s desire being to always to find opportunities to speak about Christ. I don t do this work alone though. A team of us at church meet an hour after the Sunday morning service to knock on doors and then pray for those we ve spoken to. Other commitments mean having a regular-sized group is a challenge but it s a real joy to work alongside brothers and sisters when they can. I'm thankful that our church s leadership wants to see this ministry grow. When it snowed earlier this year, I helped Bill with some shopping because of the slippery roads. After a bad experience of our church as a child, he vowed never to set foot in the building again. But he was so touched that I would think of him, he told the pastor that no one from the chapel (the church s previous name) had ever helped like this. This small act of service helped bring the barriers down, and I pray he might one day come to a church service. A Muslim man we met recently in front of some flats was keen to voice his concern about the state of the world. We tried to talk about Christ, but he was so passionate about his topic, the conversation didn't go very far. But the following week, we happened to knock on his door! We spoke about his concerns and why the world is in such a mess. He s visited our church and I can now regularly visit him and point him to Christ. I spoke for a while with a man I met on the door when handing out invites for our Christmas service. I went back to visit him a couple of times and we now meet weekly for a game of tennis. Recently he has been asking me question about Jesus. AARON CLARK MISSIONARY AT GRACELIFE, CLERKENWELL While going door-to-door in East Dulwich, Daniel Douglas (LCM Pioneer) and I met an ex-deacon of a church who has concluded that Christianity is untrue. He now devotes his time to hosting an online radio show debating with church leaders and others involved in pan-african Christian movements. In our conversation, we reasoned with him from the Scriptures and offered truth counteracting the false beliefs he s taken on. He was glad to meet Christians who knew what they believed and could answer some objections to Christianity. We exchanged numbers and met with him twice at a coffee shop. JEVON WALKER MISSIONARY TO HMP WANDSWORTH AND AT CALVARY CHAPEL, EAST DULWICH Friday mornings are now set in stone as our time for door-to-door community outreach on the estate. During one of our visits we met Rozhin, a Kurdish lady from Iraq, who shared a lot about the awful situation there. She said she was Muslim but that she loved Isa (Jesus). I gently challenged Muslims apparent love for Jesus as the Bible clearly states that those who love Jesus keep his commandments. About six times throughout the conversation, I said that Jesus is more than prophet he is God. She asked me why I believed that. I shared that the prophets spoke about the Messiah as one being born from eternity (showing he was more than human), that Jesus raised himself from the grave (and not by Allah's leave), and finally that he didn t deny the worship his disciples gave him, worship due to God alone. She then opened up more about her circumstances, her immediate family s struggle with mental health problems. We re pleased for this warm contact, and pray God will be moving in Rozhin's life. BYRON LEWIS MISSIONARY AT ECCLESIA, LEWISHAM My colleague Jill and I went out with two volunteers from Inspire Church where we re based. Praise the Lord that we all had an encouraging time, and met Ma for the first time. She s very hospitable and invited us in for tea. I asked her about the church in her home country and she shared her desire for her grown up children and their families to go to a Roman Catholic church. But if she s willing, we ll keep visiting her, even though we re from a different church! KERI LIM MISSIONARY AT INSPIRE, OLD STREET Don invited us in when we knocked on his door. A lady he used to work with is now at our church small world! We had a good conversation, shared the gospel with him, which he showed some interest in. We re also building a friendship with a Bulgarian man we re visiting. He is non-practising Orthodox, and allows us to pray with him, but won t let us read the Bible yet. STEVE DOWNE MISSIONARY AT ENFIELD EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH A team of six young people from Texas came to serve in various activities with us at Woodford Evangelical Church for a week, including lots of door-to-door visiting. Though it was a blessing to reach a wider area, it was new to them and we had little time to train them. So we used a survey around engagement with the Bible. Praise God that eight Bibles were ordered, thirty Gospels of Mark given out, and these volunteers moved out of their comfort zone to learn new skills for future ministry. MARTIN LAWRENCE MISSIONARY AT WOODFORD EVANGELICAL CHURCH Recently, my pastor asked me to lead our church s weekly door-to-door evangelistic ministry, Friendship Friday. A larger number of folk came to hear about the new vision and fresh strategy for the ministry, following London City Mission s model. It was well received and we prayed together afterwards. Attendance doubled when we launched the new ministry the following week, in spite of the cold weather! So far we ve had significant gospel conversations with seventy of our local neighbours in our community, a diverse group of British white working class, British Asian Muslims and Eastern European Roman Catholics, all of whom agreed to be revisited. The highlight was meeting a totally unchurched white working class lady, who was very receptive to taking about God. She came to visit our church on the following two Sundays with her children, and stayed for a church lunch. She s been warmly welcomed by the church family, is meeting with several folks in the church and with our women s pastoral worker regularly for one-to-ones. A number of us at the church also help care and provide for her practically. She acknowledges that although she doesn t yet follow Jesus in the way that we do, she is on a journey of discovery and now believes in God. We continue to help her on that journey and show her God s love. Praise God for the progress of Friendship Friday! We pray for relationships to be built and for more opportunities to share the glorious good news of Jesus with our community! SIMON KNIGHTLY MISSIONARY AT REDEEMER, CROYDON AND TEAM LEADER FOR SOUTH LONDON IN CROYDON/LEWISHAM FRIENDSHIP FRIDAYS ARE A VITAL TIME IN OUR WEEK. As we focus on repeat visits in a specific section of Croydon, we re slowly building relationships with our neighbours. We re having great gospel conversations with them as well as offering to pray for them. Friendship Fridays are an opportunity for evangelism, but discipleship is also happening as the team works closely together. DUSTIN TRAMEL ACTING LEAD PASTOR OF REDEEMER CROYDON.

4 HOW MANY PEOPLE DO WE KNOW BY NAME ON OUR STREET? ONE OR TWO? NONE? The Bible says to love our neighbours, but how do we begin to love people if we don t know them? If, like many Christians, you d like you and your church to be a better witness in your area, here are 8 steps to get a regular door-to-door ministry up and running. PRAY GET TO KNOW YOUR AREA MAP OUT THE AREA IN SECTIONS We always recommend starting by gathering to pray with church leaders and members before starting any kind of ministry. The following verses could act as guides to study and prayer: The parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) Elijah going to the Shunammite widow (2 Kings 4:8-37) Jesus sends out the seventy-two (Luke 10:1-12) Do a survey of the area: research stats, demographics, census findings, council youth work, GP surgeries, community centres, neighbourhood watch, etc. See what other churches and charities are doing in the area and what other places of worship are nearby. You could even survey locals about their thoughts on what the area needs, their experience of church or the Bible, their beliefs, etc... People love to be heard! Buy or print out a detailed ordnance survey map (with all streets listed) of a 1 2 mile radius around your church Divide into coloured sections that are manageable for the size of your church (you should be able to get round to each door 3-4 times in a year.) Start with who can see into your church s windows. Then go out from there in concentric circles around your church/church boundaries, using major A-roads or other landmarks as natural boundaries. GATHER TO PRAY & PLAN Encouragement works better than guilt...could someone who s done it share a testimony? Go over do s and don ts of door knocking (see back page). Have a clear structure (eg Saturday, 11-12:30, Grove Road to Elgin Avenue) Prepare physically: What will you take with you? Prepare mentally: How will you introduce yourselves? What are you offering? How will you share the cross? Prepare spiritually: Pray for yourselves, and ask for prayer from others while you re out. Ask the Holy Spirit to be at work in the hearts of the people you re about to meet. START KNOCKING Meet first to pray, but keep it brief the hardest door is the first one! Choose a start point and start knocking! Divide into teams of two, no more or less. START CHATTING Be friendly, patient, consistent, prepared, authentic, confident, and passionate. Explain why you are there. After a conversation, make brief notes so you don t forget names and other basic details such as flat number/ block (making sure you adhere to your church s GDPR policy!) SOME QUESTIONS TO GO DEEPER... Have you got any beliefs yourself? You seem to have given that a lot of thought how did you come to that belief? What does God mean to you? Do you think there s more to life than this? DEBRIEF REVISIT Once finished, meet again to discuss Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 every week so encouraging conversations. you can aim to visit people three to four Pray for contacts you ve made. times a year. 2 PEOPLE VISITING 100 HOMES EVERY THREE MONTHS WORKS OUT TO ROUGHLY 1½ HOURS EACH WEEK.

5 GET INVOLVED GET TRAINED DO YOU WANT TO FIND OUT A BIT MORE ABOUT KNOCKING ON DOORS AS AN OUTREACH TOOL? Are you ready to start knocking but still feel unsure how to begin? Are you already running a door to door ministry but want to fine-tune it? We re so passionate about door-to-door evangelism that we offer FREE resources and low-cost training sessions for you and your church! HERE ARE 3 WAYS YOU CAN LEARN MORE: ONE DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE to door-to-door ministry (includes do s and don ts of door knocking) at lcm.org.uk/howtoguides) THREE CHURCHES OUTSIDE LONDON Throughout the year, we run practical evangelism courses to help your church do mission to those on the margins. Keep an eye out for the next one at lcm.org.uk/training. TWO LONDON CHURCHES Request an LCM trainer to come run a two-hour training session at your church on a weekday evening of your choice. Enquire about booking your session at lcm.org.uk/training. WE PRAISE GOD FOR THE WAY HE PURSUES US, saves us into a life full of purpose and meaning. As we serve him by visiting people at home, he s opening doors to share the gospel. If you re not already doing it, we d love you to enjoy the blessings of this rewarding ministry and see your neighbours put their faith in Jesus. CONTACT London City Mission Nasmith House 175 Tower Bridge Road London SE1 2AH T E enquiries@lcm.org.uk W londoncm londoncm The London City Mission is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales, No Registered Charity No