Evangelism 2012—What Are We Waiting For?
It’s a new year. Opportunity is always staring us in the face, but for some odd reason we have an easier time staring back in the earliest days of the new year.
How is your church going to approach evangelism this year?
There are two methods:
- Wait for people to come to you
- Find a way to reach people
The waiting game is always available and used by most churches. You wait for someone to attend a first service or event. This method of evangelism can be effective if you are prepared for visitors and have visitors. It is otherwise useless. Here are some guidelines to maximize waiting for visitors to come to you:
- Are your members trained to be welcoming? Will they all do their part or will you have designated welcomers?
- Is your pastor on board with your evangelism efforts? Will the pastor make an effort to greet each visitor and engage in a short conversation?
- Will your visitor leave knowing the name of someone from the church? Will you know your visitors’ names? Make sure your greeters listen as well as talk. When a visitor leaves you should know something about them!
- Will someone have the time and responsibility to personally lead your visitors to fellowship or to another person in the church they might like to know? If they haven’t met the pastor, introduce them. But don’t stop there. (Example: You learn your visitor is a young professional new to the neighborhood. Introduce them to young adults or business people in your congregation.)
- What events will you invite your visitors to attend? Make sure they do not leave without a specific heartfelt invitation to return.
- Help them fill out the guest book. Make sure you have a mailing address and before Sunday is over send a card.
The second approach is to find a way to reach others who otherwise will never venture into a church. This approach is necessary if your congregation is not attracting visitors. Here are some thoughts about how to do this:
- Wear your colors. Help your members open the door to talking about their church. Invest in attractive T-shirts for your young people to wear with pride, so that they have an opportunity to talk about their church. Similarly invest in “campaign buttons.” Create a small pin that adults won’t mind wearing on a business suit or jacket that might prompt conversation. Neither idea is expensive and is giving your members a useful tool.
- Make your presence known in the community. Use all the tools professional marketers use. Have an active web presence which addresses the lives of the unchurched or the seeking. Use all the social media tools — video, blogging, social networking, etc.
- Participate in community events. Sign up for the runs and walks and make sure your web site reports and encourages others to follow.
- Respond to community news immediately. Example: Was there a tragic house fire? Be ready to respond with basket of food, clothing and emergency money for the victims. It doesn’t matter if they are members or not. It’s the right thing to do. People will notice over time that your congregation practices what it preaches.
You can see that this approach is actually creating ministry!