An Effective Model of Modern Evangelism
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- Magdalene Boone
- 5 years ago
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1 An Effective Model of Modern Evangelism It would be an understatement to say that times are not what they used to be, and it would be a grand delusion to try and say that they are. Church attendance is no longer an expected activity for Americans, and moral relativism is rapidly increasing. Advancements in technology and shifts in generally accepted moral values have created a challenging environment for any congregation that would desire to fulfill their Great Commission responsibilities. But there is hope. While the many changes in our society can make evangelism seem more difficult today than it was twenty years ago, the truth is just the opposite. The changes in society may have made some of our more traditional approaches to evangelism less effective, but they have also created many new opportunities. It is the responsibility of our churches to be aware of these opportunities and to develop an effective evangelism program that takes advantage of them. The model of evangelism presented here will be discussed in four different phases: background work, creating contacts, connecting visitors and new members, and empowering members to be evangelists. While the information will be presented in phases, it is important to note that the phases are indicative of a process that is ongoing and in need of constant review and that it is not a one-time formula for outreach. Also, to prevent this document from being a lengthy novel, we will address each point in a much abbreviated fashion. Much more information on each item can be presented later. Background Work Before any effort to reorganize a congregation s evangelism program can take place, a certain amount of background work should be performed. This period of background work will involve mostly information gathering and evaluation. It is during the part that the church develops a good picture of themselves and the people in their communities that they will be serving. Evaluation of Community A thorough analysis of the community surrounding the congregation should be conducted. The information from this study will help determine specifics of future outreach efforts and serve as a guide for congregational comparisons. Areas to be evaluated are: - Geography: church s location within neighborhood, city, and surrounding community, proximity to other congregations, both Churches of Christ and denominations, mapping of major highways and other roads. - Psychographic: the values and attitudes of the community. - Demographics: population, age, race, sex, income, etc. of surrounding community. Brad Palmore Page 1 5/28/2006
2 Evaluation of Congregation This is a similar analysis as that of the community. Not only will you find a great amount of information about your congregation, you will get important data that lets you see how your congregation compares to that of your community. Since congregations grow easiest and fastest along lines of similarity, it is very important to identify the common ground that exists between the congregation and the community. Areas to be evaluated are: - Demographics: identical areas as that of the community for comparison purposes. - Organization: chart existing ministries and leadership. - Members: identify gifts and abilities of members. Professional experience and hobbies are included. Evaluation of Resources One of the greatest limitations on growth comes from very controllable factors involving physical resources. Areas to be evaluated are: - Building: auditorium, classroom, and parking lot capacity for percent occupancy analysis. - Equipment: offices, computers, copiers, etc. - Vehicles: busses or vans, etc. - Community resources: parks, meeting areas, and rentable locations. Evaluation of Ministries and Programs A careful accounting of all ministries and programs will give a good snapshot of the activity of the congregation and will reveal areas of focus that may not have been initially realized. Areas to be evaluated are: - Services: times and attendance as well as differences in environment. - Classes: breakdown of children s classes and evaluation of types and sizes of adult classes. - Fellowship: men s and women s programs, small groups, fellowship program. - Evangelism programs - After ministries are evaluated, a careful comparison with the needs of the community found in the evaluation of community. Brad Palmore Page 2 5/28/2006
3 Evaluation of Image This is one of the most important and controllable items in a congregations outreach efforts. This category covers items that fall into a group of efforts that can be termed passive evangelism. The colors of the walls and the typeset on our brochures have a subconscious but powerful impact on our visitors and contacts. Image should be evaluated for impression and continuity between the following areas: - Signs - Logo - Stationary - Brochures - Advertising - Bulletins - Visitor/member cards - Power point slides - Color schemes used - Building condition Conclusion of Background Work In order for congregations to be successful in evangelist efforts in the modern world, they must be informed. They need to know themselves, their community, and what they have to offer to that community. A careful period of evaluation will reveal much to the leaders of a congregation that will empower them to make good decisions for the wellbeing of the church and the community. Creating Contacts After a period of evaluation and introspection has been completed the congregation will be ready to move into the phases of active evangelism. The first of these is creating contacts for evangelism. There are multiple sources for evangelistic contacts, and most congregations are already using some of them. Strategic use of all available sources of contacts will maximize the effectiveness of the evangelism program. Visitors to Services One of the most obvious categories for evangelistic efforts falls right into our laps. People will visit a congregation for various reasons, but every person that comes in the door is a golden opportunity. One of the hardest parts of evangelism is just getting people to come to church. When people choose to visit on their own, the hard part is handled for us. Careful cataloging of all visitors is a must for follow-up to be effective. Newcomers to the Community Another great source of contacts is people who have just relocated to the community. If a family was going to look for a new church, this would be one of the more likely times. Plus, relocation is a great stress on the family. Church promises an immediate source of social interaction and community information, which can be a great Brad Palmore Page 3 5/28/2006
4 help to those moving into town. These contacts can be found through both local and national sources which can be either free or for a small fee. Ministry Contacts Every congregation receives requests for assistance. These people should be viewed as evangelistic contacts. In addition to benevolence, some congregations have other ministries like daycare or preschool. These can be used as a source of evangelistic contacts as well. Advertising Well placed advertising can be a good source of contacts. Areas of advertising to consider are yellow pages, newspapers, billboards, and direct mail. When considering yellow pages ads it is a good idea to pay extra for some feature that will set you apart from the other churches on the same page. Direct mail is an excellent source of advertising when we want to target large numbers of a certain demographic. This method is a very good idea around holidays and special events. With a non-profit permit, postage starts at 7.1 per piece. Special Events A great source of contacts that requires a little more work than the others is hosting special events. Special events are more effective than the other sources because in addition to generating a contact they begin the bonding and connecting phase for those that participate. These events can be specially tailored to address a specific demographic. Religious holidays and secular holidays are great opportunities for these events. Website The use of the internet to find a church has increased rapidly over the last several years. Any church that wants to evangelize their community should strive to have a strong web presence. A well designed and functional church web page should be easy to use and provide easy information to those who happen to browse by. There should also be a way for those who visit the website to make contact with the congregation. The congregation should also consider subscribing to a search engine service. There are both secular and religious options in this category. Secular options include paying to be a featured site on Yahoo or some other search engine. Religious options include specialized search programs designed to help people find a church. One place that is definitely worth checking out is This site offers a substantial amount of options to connect seekers with churches plus many data tracking tools for the churches. Brad Palmore Page 4 5/28/2006
5 Conclusion to Creating Contacts Thanks to some of the developments in technology, media, and graphic design, there are a substantial amount of contacts available for congregations that are willing to look. Like with any phase of evangelism, creating contacts must be routinely evaluated and modified to achieve maximum results. With a little work and experimentation, a congregation can develop a system of contact generation that will keep them plenty busy and add a significant advantage to their evangelistic efforts. The goal of the creating contacts phase is to get them to the building. Once they are there, the next phase takes over. Connecting Visitors and New Members After the contact has been made and the person or family has visited one of the services or other functions, the next phase is to connect them to the congregation. This is accomplished through a series of congregational and individual efforts. Connecting them to the congregation is really the first step in the discipleship process for many people, and can have lasting effects for them spiritually. A good system of connecting people to the congregation will yield amazing results for church growth and evangelism. Environment The first step in connecting visitors to the church is to create an environment that says that visitors are expected and welcome. It is very easy for us to focus on preparing our environment for members, but it is the visitors who are influenced most by our setting. The average visitor will decide within the first 5 minutes whether they will not return. There are nine crucial things that must happen in order for visitors to feel welcome that include direction signs inside and outside the building, greeters in multiple locations, and clean bathrooms. Making the visitor feel like we really want them to be there is essential for connection. Follow-Up Effective follow-up is essential for securing repeat visits by our guests, and only repeat visits will ensure their connection to the congregation. C. Peter Wagner reports in Church Planting for a Greater Harvest that if a member of the congregation contacts a visitor within 36 hours of their visit, the rate of return the following week is 85%. If there is a 72 hour wait before contacting, the rate of return falls to 60%. If a congregation waits 1 week before contacting a visitor, the rate plunges to 15%. Interestingly, if a minister makes a contact instead of a member these percentages are cut in half. This information provides us with two important facts. First, follow up must be immediate to maximize the return of visitors. The contacting process should not occur any later than Monday evening following a Sunday visit to get within the 85% return time frame. Second, the contacting must be done by members instead of ministers. Ministers are often viewed as the hired gun of the congregation and are viewed as the salesman/recruiter of the church who does it because it is his job. If a member voluntarily follows up on a visitor it can only be because the member finds value in Brad Palmore Page 5 5/28/2006
6 his/her church. This perceived value gives a huge credibility boost to the member that the minister cannot achieve without having a relationship in place. Another important statistic to remember has to do with the number of contacts a visitor must have within a congregation to achieve retention. The magic number, reported in Why Churches Grow by Flavil Yeakley, is seven. With seven connections in a church, the long term retention rate is 90%. With fewer than seven the retention rate falls to less than 30%. Because of this, each visitor should receive multiple contacts after each visit. To avoid over powering the visitor, these contacts should come in different forms such as phone calls, letters, cards, and visits. The benefit of this approach is that we can use the gifts of each member to work in follow up. If someone is nervous about visiting a house, they can make a phone call. If someone is nervous about calling, they can write a letter. Each contact should end with an expressed desire to meet them and get to know them better the following Sunday. This way people can work within their comfort zones as a team to accomplish the evangelistic efforts of the congregation. More advanced methods of congregational follow up would included sorting and organizing follow up efforts based on contacts geographic proximity to member s residences or small group meeting places. Fellowship Immediately following the initial contact phase, the visitor should be introduced to a system of fellowship designed to enhance the relationships that were started in the follow-up phase. The fellowship will fall into both congregational and individual efforts. These efforts include: - Immediate invitation to join small groups and Sunday morning Bible classes by group and class leaders and members. - Invitation to attend a getting to know you event. These events should be hosted every six weeks. The visitor/new member should be invited to every one for a year, with them serving in some kind of hosting position for the last few. - Monthly calls by a minister and an elder. - Random invitations to eat with members of the congregation Education and Assimilation Every repeat visitor should be invited to participate in a Bible class and small group study. People will come to a church from various backgrounds and situations. Through a prolonged period of participation in a Bible class or small group a church can steadily guide a person s development in areas of discipleship and Christian education. In addition to a regular Bible class, each new member should be expected to attend a New Members class. To help with the problem of whether to have the class focused on new members or new Christians, the class should cover both. That way, the church can be sure of presenting the Gospel to everyone who wants to affiliate with the congregation and we give those who have already heard a refresher course. This helps with the question of do we quiz them on their baptism before we let them in? Instead of beginning a relationship on awkward terms, we welcome everyone warmly and let the Brad Palmore Page 6 5/28/2006
7 New Members class sort out the issue. The class can be taught by anyone trusted by the leaders, but and elder or minister should stay involved in the class. Also included in this class should be the history of this specific congregation, how the leadership in the church works, a Biblical perspective of what a church is, and how they as members can fit in and work. Ministry Another key thing in new member retention is ownership. A church should try to instill ownership of the congregation into the new member as soon as possible. This is done easiest by getting them involved in some ministry they can call their own. The New Members class will cover this some, but churches should train their individual ministry leaders to be constantly recruiting new workers. Since people new to a congregation can experience some intimidation issues, each ministry should identify essential but non-threatening jobs. Some examples are filling communion cups and changing the letters on the sign by the street. Both of these are essential, but neither is very intimidating. Conclusion to Connecting Visitors and New Members The process of connecting people to a congregation is one that takes both time and intentionality. The processes of forming bonds between visitors and members and getting visitors to take ownership of the congregation are not going to happen overnight. It is important, however, to not leave this process to chance and good will. To adequately connect new members to the congregation we must provide them every chance available to cement the new bonds. Empowering Members to be Evangelists One thing that should be quite clear by this point is that there is no way one person can hope to accomplish all the things necessary to establish an effective system of evangelism in a congregation even if that person were full time and dedicated to the effort. In order to get all the tasks accomplished, it is very important to empower the members of the congregation to be an active part of this process. Create an Environment of Expectation Personal evangelism should be talked about or mentioned at every service. A simple reminder of opportunities or discussion about upcoming evangelistic efforts are usually enough to remind members that they can do something. In addition to this, discussions should take place in classes and small groups about what people are doing in their personal evangelism efforts. A very easy, non-threatening way to do this is to ask for people to submit prayer requests of people they know who need the Gospel. This is enough to get them thinking. Brad Palmore Page 7 5/28/2006
8 Tools and Materials The congregation should provide materials that make it easy for members to invite friends and acquaintances to church. These should come in various forms, and should all be personally produced by the congregation. Two must haves are business cards and information packets. The business card should contain simple congregational information that people can give to their friends when they invite them. The card should also include web site information so the contact can get more information. These cards can also be used in non-direct invitations by leaving them on grocery counters or wrapping them inside the tip a member leaves at a restaurant. The informational packet should include detailed information about the church including its mission, ministries, and programs. Special attention should be given to children and youth programs. Quality is a must in any materials a congregation presents to the public. Special Functions The church should provide several functions every year for members to invite their guests to. These can range from special Christmas or Easter services to Halloween alternatives to big picnics or barbeques or even a special sermon series. Hosting these events and giving them the materials to invite with will remove some of the insecurities involved in inviting people to church. Education Special classes to teach the importance of evangelism as well as techniques involved in evangelism should be a regular part of a rotating adult education program. Exposing members to evangelistic theory and practice in a controlled environment will remove the intimidation factor so that evangelism can be seen for what it really is, the vehicle though which we can communicate the Gospel of Christ. Gifts Oriented Follow-Up Program One of the pitfalls of most congregational outreach efforts is that they are presented in a one size fits all fashion. There is an ongoing assumption that to be involved in evangelism one must be able to do everything including contacting people you don t know, setting up a Bible study, leading a Bible study, following up with your contact, and getting to the final conversion. The truth is that there are very few people who are actually gifted in a way that would allow them to handle the whole process. Those who aren t gifted in this manner feel like sub-standard Christians for feeling the way they do, when in fact they are often the way they are because God made them that way. An effective program of follow-up will take that into account and offer opportunities ranging from leading Bible studies to simply writing letters or offering prayer support. Through this approach, the entire congregation can be mobilized in the evangelistic efforts of the congregation. Brad Palmore Page 8 5/28/2006
9 Conclusion to Empowering Members to be Evangelists In addition to effective evangelism, there will be several surprising benefits for the congregation. First, as members become involved in using their gifts to help the congregation, each member will begin to take greater responsibility for the well being of the congregation. When they can see the result of their work, they will say, Hey, I helped do that. Second, as people begin to experiment with different tasks and roles, they will discover more about the specific gifts God gave them. Ephesians 4:16 makes it clear that the body will grow most as each part does its work. As members of the body begin to find where they fit in the church, the church will benefit as they grow. Third, the faith of the congregation is strengthened through the fruits of their work. God wants His church to grow. As the members of a congregation see the evangelism in action, their faith is strengthened. When you get a congregation working together that sees evangelism work, the mutual strengthening becomes a powerful energy generator in the congregation. Finally, relationships are strengthened between people as they toil together in evangelistic tasks. Since we are focusing on individual abilities, several people will have contact with the same visitor. As those people work together to bring this person into the church, they gain a greater appreciation for them as individuals and in their gifts. The results are a closer, stronger congregation. Conclusion While an effective system for evangelism can be presented in four separate phases, it is important to note that each phase is dependant on the others, and that the phases will often overlap each other. That is why it is necessary for us to remember that these phases do not represent separate steps in a formula for evangelism, but instead are all part of cyclical process of evangelistic activity. Breaking the system into these four parts, however, allows us to better manage the somewhat intangible material involved in a discussion of organizational evangelism. Accepting this kind of evangelistic methodology requires one to approach evangelism with somewhat of an open mind. You will notice that the idea of a gospel meeting and door knocking campaigns are not mentioned in this discussion. The reason for that is simple. Generally speaking, they are not nearly as effective as they once were and they are no where near as effective as the ideas presented here. A little bit of honest reflection into gospel meetings will reveal that most of those in attendance are active church members and visitors from other congregations. One will also notice that the number of invitational responses at a gospel meeting is significantly lower than times past. Jimmy Allen, one of our greatest gospel meeting speakers, recently commented that in the past it was common for him to get upwards of 100 responses for a week long meeting. Now it is common for him to get less than 5 per meeting. The traditional gospel meeting may still serve a purpose in being an event for church members, but changing times require us to reevaluate the methods in which we want to achieve evangelism. Another important point to make about this system is its dependence on the process of discipleship. When an evangelistic contact is made, that person is welcomed into the church and under the wings of the mature members. They are encouraged to attend Bible class and small groups, and are required to attend a New Members class. The intense Bible study and mandatory baptism before fellowship will not be found in Brad Palmore Page 9 5/28/2006
10 this type of system, and the reason is that discipleship is a process that occurs over time and cannot be taught but must rather be experienced. The way we experience the process of discipleship is through exposure to the Word of God and the people of God. Through the experience of discipleship, which includes all of the traditional steps to salvation, we can ensure a complete conversion. The Spirit of God is alive and active and is seeking out people to bring them into the family of God. While evangelism may seem more difficult today than it was in the past, nothing could be further from the truth. Effective methods of evangelism are still available to the congregation that wishes to find them. It is up to our leaders to instill a vision for renewed evangelism into the hearts of our people. It takes time, faith, and prayer to reach that goal. One thing is sure, however. God wants people to come back to Him, and He will be faithful in helping us get the work done. Brad Palmore Page 10 5/28/2006
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