What methods of evangelsim does your church use?

[Frame1520]

I've asked this before with limited response, but I'll ask again. What methods of evangelism does your church use? It seems that the biggest trouble with RM churches is their lack of outreach. Last year, our focus was on reaching out the the community. Something we called, "Thinking outside the sanctuary." It was fairly successful. We did twon large scale outreach "fests" and had a signup for what we called the "summer blast" program. The blast was like a Vacation Bible School, but designed for all ages from kids to adults. The main goal was to activate all members for Sunday School, and bring in newcomers by giving them rides to church if they needed it.

Any other thoughts?

 

[Randi]

We do have VBS every year which seems to be the outreach we do with the greatest results. Many people in the community love bringing their kids and a lot of adults stay too.

We also have what we call the Encouragement and Evangelism Ministry. We meet on Sunday nights and send cards to people who haven't been to church in a few weeks. (whether from sickness, vacation, or whatever) But besides encouraging people in the congregation we also have the evangelism aspect. That's where we come up with ideas to reach out to the community. A lot of it is getting gift baskets together for people in the community who are suffering in some way, especially loss of a family member.

Mostly we just encourage the members to get to know people in the community as friends and then reach out to them for Christ.

 

[DiscipleOfIAm]

Well, we have VBS in the summers.

There is a website that is pretty good. There is a message from the Senior Minister that describes the RM and our local church in depth. There is also a short movie that shows the inside of the church and what a typical service looks like.

At Christmas, the church members go carolling, but usually just to other church members' houses.

That's about it besides the shut-in visits and nursing home / hospital visits. Oh, and they do have a section in the local newspaper on Saturdays that has a lot the local churches and their service times.

Other than that, no real outreach that I can think of. This does seem to be an issue with RM churches. We're quick to invite people to church, but no real follow through or community-wide evangelizing.

 

[Frame1520]

This does seem to be an issue with RM churches. We're quick to invite people to church, but no real follow through or community-wide evangelizing.

This does seem to be an issue.

Some of the other stuff I've used is creating direct mailings, mostly to new move-ins in the community. I get a list of all the home transactions in the area mailed to me. Then, I create a database of the new move ins (mainly for use of mailings in the future). Then I send them a mailing thats kind of a "welcome to the community" and has all the church info on it.

We also do calling on anyone who comes to visit (if they leave their contact info, of course). That seems to leave a good impression most of the time.

But with most of our outreach, we try and create something that people would want to come to, like a live nativity, or a "Family Fest" in the summer. This is a good way to get people there, where we are then able to give them a packet of info that has pens, and chip clips, or a frisbee in it. In the packet is church info, and what the RM is all about. The thing I really want to work on is a short 5-8 minute mini-DVD to put in there, similar to what you were saying, talks about what the church is, and shows some of the services, etc.

Good ideas though...VBS seems to be a staple in most churches.

 

[SoulFly51]

Its all about relationship.

Anything you can do to be a friend to people, and through that friendship share Christ with them.

 

[Frame1520]

Its all about relationship.

Anything you can do to be a friend to people, and through that friendship share Christ with them.

I've noticed that a lot of people who come thru the church doors an be pretty intimidated. Well, they seem intimidated, or at least not always willing to get to know you. I can think of at least 5 instances where people have come in and myself or others have talked to them, or even invited them to lunch, or a church event, and we never see them again. Even when going for a call, we have gotten the cold shoulder, or when calling on the phone they are always too busy to talk or whatever....That can be quite frustrating.

One example is a couple that came to our church and immediately became friends with my brother-in-law and his wife. They had a lot in common, and really hit it off. They even asked my brother-in-law to play on their indoor soccer team. Yet, they haven't come back to church but once since they initially came. Its very odd.

As I try to build relationships with newcomers, it gets easy to become discouraged when people are unresponsive to us showing them the love of God. Especially when it happens frequently. Seems like the church is drawing a lot of people lately who either a) never been to church, b) are from a denomination and don't like straight biblical teaching, or c) don't know what they want. Getting people in seems to be the easy part. Getting them return is what is most difficult. Especially within a small yet growing congregation.

 

[Splayd]

I see a lot of churches trying to address evangelism through programs and events and they can be useful tools, but I've always found personal relationships to be the most effective way to reach people.

I just make friends with people. I put myself in situations where I can meet people, like joining a sport/interest/study club or group. I befriend people and I invest in them: time, energy, prayer, me. I'm always open about my relationship with God and over time I get to share more and more. There have been times I've spent an incredible amount of time with someone over a period of 6-12 months and they've come to know God. From there it's snowballed. They've been excited about their relationship with God and shared it with their friends who have shared with their friends. I never intentionally set out to "build a church" but I see people that need God and my heart goes out to them. Pray for a heart for the lost.

When I was 16 I started sharing with my sister's boyfriend. Over time he came to know God and then his bestfriend started coming over to our house and he too became a christian. Within a period of about 12 months I found myself running a youthgroup of 40 teenage boys, all new Christians, desperately in love with Christ. When I moved to a new town the process started all over again with the same results. I've found that for this sort of evangelism to be effective you really need to be prepared to have an open house policy and to spend a lot of time with people. Essentially we're discipling people.

Now that I'm older I'm more interested in helping to equip others to do the same. I figure my "job" now is to make myself redundant. If I can "train" someone to do what I'm doing I can leave them to it and go and train someone else. I like to use the acronym BONDS: Bridge Building, Outreach, Nurturing, Discipleship, Service. Without even knowing it - that was essentially the process I was using. I'd find a way to build bridges with others, I'd share Christ, I'd study the bible with them, I'd teach them and I'd let them loose for the Kingdom. As a larger goup we can institutionalise the process too - 1.Run events and provide services for the community. 2. Provide opportunities for people to hear the Gospel. 3. Run Bible studies for new believers, invite them to church. 4. Run small group fellowship programs like prayer cells. 5. Get people actively involved in serving. Everyone in a church should have something to do. We're a body after all.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[SoulFly51]

We should all evangelize to this guy!!! ... how can we reach him?? He seems well intentioned but he needs to see that Christianity is perfectly in line with the way the world is!! We need to show him the love of Christ!

the website is:
(edited by staff to remove external link)

I wrote a response to his latest post on nature.

 

[Easystreet]

.
I like your idea, although I don't agree in part, only time will tell if the original goal can be maintained. It is very difficult to maintain anything without some structure and definition.

 

[SoulFly51]

.
I like your idea, although I don't agree in part, only time will tell if the original goal can be maintained. It is very difficult to maintain anything without some structure and definition.

True.

The character of Christ should be our structure for reaching out - not some class on evangelism or some program.

 

[Frame1520]

But we have to admit that we do a pretty terrible job of continuing the growth of new christians after they are baptized. We have to do better at this. There is no other way around it. Yet, it all does come back to being "Christ centered". If our lives aren't in order, how do we expect to exude the qualities of Christ? We are growing in Christ daily, but we must remember that once we are "in Christ" we are all ministers to the church. Great comments on this topic.

 

[freespiritchurch]

But we have to admit that we do a pretty terrible job of continuing the growth of new christians after they are baptized. We have to do better at this. There is no other way around it. Yet, it all does come back to being "Christ centered". If our lives aren't in order, how do we expect to exude the qualities of Christ? We are growing in Christ daily, but we must remember that once we are "in Christ" we are all ministers to the church. Great comments on this topic.

I think this is something that RM churches can really contribute to other Christians. When we become Christians, we become priests--that means we're the people who are responsible to mediate between God and the rest of the world. We should be doing everything we can to make Christ's presence in the world visible to everyone.

 

[Frame1520]

I think this is something that RM churches can really contribute to other Christians. When we become Christians, we become priests--that means we're the people who are responsible to mediate between God and the rest of the world. We should be doing everything we can to make Christ's presence in the world visible to everyone.

I could not agree with you more. There seems to be a lack of responsibility, which is very disturbing. People get too wrapped up in their own lives, and forget the lost. It is sad, but if we exude the positive characteristics of Christ, and do our job, then we will be setting an example for others as well.

 

[Franko18]

I could not agree with you more. There seems to be a lack of responsibility, which is very disturbing. People get too wrapped up in their own lives, and forget the lost. It is sad, but if we exude the positive characteristics of Christ, and do our job, then we will be setting an example for others as well.

Yeah its very true that the're few people that do what their suppose to do, I don't know I guess if we all united as one we with God's help could reach alot of lost souls out there. Anyways our church uses Chick's booklets, all the teenagers meet at 11:00 in the morning on Saturdays and we go out to several places of our city to pass them out. So far it's been a blessing, theres nothing more beautiful on the world than to serve the God who created you!

 

[deed02392]

so, what is this all about any way????