Evangelism Coach

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Our primary model in our seminars for doing personal evangelism is Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

The basic premise:

When God "underlined" the eunuch for Phillip, (with "Go stand next to THAT chariot"), Phillip obeyed and found a spiritually thirsty person.  Phillip then began a conversation that lead to the eunuch coming to faith.

Our model is to encourage the same.  Notice who God underlines, position yourself in the right place, and then engage in a conversation.

In God’s sovereignty, a misdialed number:

Recently, I taught a seminar in a church, where the group had this as their practical assignment.  The testimonies that were shared in small groups were amazing — people found it easy to share their faith when they put themselves "next to" someone that God underlined, and began a conversation.

For example, the phone rang at a participant’s house.  The caller said, "Congratulations, and Happy Birthday."

"Well, I am very happy, but today is not my birthday.  I supposed you’ve got the wrong number" — she replied.

"Oh I’m sorry to have misdialed"

But before he hung up, she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to say  "Even though today is not my birthday, I’m happy all the time because I know that today is another day that God has given me."

"You are a Christian lady?"

"Yes"

"I quit going to church many years ago, but recently been thinking about the mess my life has become .. . .  ." — the stranger confesses.

At that point, the conversation continues in a natural flow, with the stranger ultimately praying with the evangelism seminar participant to rededicate his life to the Lord and return to church.

You can do this!

This participant simply felt prompted to make such a statement that opened the conversation. 

Wondering if perhaps in God’s sovereignty the caller had misdialed, she threw out an opening line to see where the conversation might go. 

Simply, she took a risk with a stranger who crossed paths with her.

This is how simple evangelism can be — noticing who crosses your path in God’s sovereignty and engaging in a conversation.

Let me ask you this: 

Can you see who will cross your path today that God might be bringing you to connect with?

Popularity: 32% [?]

Last month, I posted an entry on Surveying 1st Time Visitors to help improve your church’s welcoming.

I contacted each church mentioned and discovered the effect of such an online survey was a zero.

One was a broken link.  The second seemed to have removed their form since I couldn’t find it on the website. 

The 3rd hasn’t used or promoted the form for a year or so, leaving only one of the four functioning.  In conversations with the webmaster, I learned that not too many people fill it out because there is no effective means of getting visitors to fill it out.

Survey of visitors seems  like a good idea, but  . . .   

The question is:

Why would they come back to fill it out? 

The people who wrote

Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church

have an answer. 

They actually use online visitor surveys and have been very successful in getting them completed.

Here is the key:

Visitors who leave an email address on the visitor card get an email on Monday (personalized) from the pastor who taught that week, with a link directly to the visitor website.

This begs the question — how do they get an email address from visitors?

That church uses a response card system, where everyone fills out a response card, not just the visitors.  When people enter the sanctuary, they receive a program (bulletin in church speak), a pen, and a response card.

At an appropriate time in the service, everyone, including members and regular attenders are invited to fill it out and place it in the offering basket.

The hospitality team processes  the cards and by Monday afternoon around 3, the first time visitors get the email from the pastor who taught that Sunday.  In that email is a link to a short survey and they have found a pretty good click thru rate.

Order your copy of Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church to see their actual response card (I couldn’t find a reproducible one on line).

Let me ask you this:

What do you do to make contact with visitors that come to your church?

Popularity: 24% [?]

Below is an article I wrote for a men’s publication, coming out later in May. 

Mac and Susan (*) were new neighbors that moved into our cul-de-sac. A few days after the trucks left and friends stopped dropping by, my wife and I prepared some welcome cookies (fresh baked oatmeal raisin, still warm from the oven) then went over and introduced ourselves, to give a warm welcome to our community.

We made lots of small talk about the community, about life, and shared a little of our personal backgrounds. Eventually, Mac asked me: “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a pastor.”

Often, that kills the conversation.

But this time, Mac wanted to know more.

He asked me all sorts of questions, and began to reveal much about his spiritual journey. In college, he had been involved with a campus ministry, was busying talking to others about his faith in Christ.

Yet he was always troubled by the problem of evil.

If God is love, then why did Hitler even exist?

Since he couldn’t come to a satisfactory answer, he set his faith aside and decided it was better not to be certain of anything. He stopped going to church, changed his social networks over time, and became a pleasant agnostic. He was quite happy with his choice, and his life was fine without an active faith.

My current neighbor, an Australian wine maker, is simply “on his journey.”

Many of us likely know men who are in the same place: a place where faith is not important, and men whose life is fine without an active faith. Men, like my former neighbor, who might label themselves ex-Christian; men who might take on the label agnostic, or atheist.

Many of us know first hand that it is not easy to reach men with the gospel. Giving up is not an option, and just one man turning to Christ can revolutionize an entire church or community.

The power of a shared life
Effective evangelism to men begins with genuine male friendships, sharing common experiences, and doing life together. In that relational context, men develop the security to share what’s really on their minds.

It is this type of relationship that leads to success with men in evangelism. In all the reading I have done, all the ministry I’ve been a part of, many men’s leaders unanimously agree that building long-term relationships is the best way to lead a man to Christ.

Swinging a hammer together on Habitat for Humanity, crewing on a sailboat, disaster relief, feeding programs, and even golf tournaments some of the ways that I’ve been involved in doing shared life ministry. In the context of doing life together, many men find the liberty to talk deeply.

Talking about grace in a quiet space

Jorge (*) was an architect. He stopped going to church nearly 30 years prior simply because it didn’t make sense. One afternoon, I served as the crew on his racing sailboat, joining him for the best of three in the afternoon. It wasn’t a very windy day, so the skill was catching the mild breeze correctly to move forward. With lulls in the breeze, we had nothing to do except talk.

Jorge shared his life with me, shared with me his struggles of faith, and I shared some of the answers that I have found in Christ. We talked about the definition of grace, and how I discovered an amazing grace. The conversation was genuine, not preachy. The tone was polite and respectful. The breeze picked up and we raced on.

Months later, during another race, we experienced another lull in the wind, Jorge picked up the conversation from before. My comments had intrigued him and we continued to talk deep.

Reaching Men
If you want to reach men, consider how you can help the men of your congregation do life together. Help your men see the value of inviting others to something besides a church service.

• Service projects for housing or disaster relief efforts
• Golf tournaments, Fishing events, or other sports events
• Cookouts, BBQs, Block parties and other such social events
• Retreats around practical life, such as how to love your family, or not to marry a jerk.

As church leaders, our goal is to help provide the space for men to connect and do life together. We can encourage them to notice the moments when talking about faith is appropriate. We can model how to do that with our own lives.

Let me ask you this?

What does your church do for men’s outreach?

Popularity: 24% [?]

Some church outreaches:

A church in Iowa has a growing impact by serving its neighbors.  The Harvest Vineyard has a Spirit of Recovery on Mondays, Fighting Eating Disorders Spiritually every second and fourth Wednesday, Moms Off Meth support group on Fridays and Come Broken Hearted on Saturdays.  The church is located where over 60 percent of its attendees can walk to it.  Read about the Heartland Vineyard.

Noticing People

David Foster writes a post on Noticing People.  Noting the countless people who cross his path each day, he wonders: “What do you see when you really see the people around you?”  Just last week in the food court of the busy mall, I noticed a wife standing with her husband.  She was crying quietly over some news she had just received.  Her husband was busy consoling her and being present with her.

Part of the art of listening evangelism is to notice the people around you.  Who is God underlining for you?  To whom might the Spirit of God prompt you, (as He did to Phillip for the Eunuch) to “Go stand next to them” and perhaps minister some aspect of God’s grace?

Other links

Johnathan Mason writes up “The Ethics of Evangelism.”  It’s a good post to remind us about making sure we treat our conversation partners with respect.

Seminarian Alan Reynolds kicks around the whole subject of “Good Evangelism” and “Bad Evangelism“.  I like the collection of scripts in the Good evangelism article, pointing out

Later, as a senior in high school, I learned the F.I.R.E. (Family, Interests, Religion, Evangelize) method of evangelization. I learned Sharing Jesus Without Fear–which is basically the Romans Road on crack–and later went on a summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ, where we memorized and used the 4 Spiritual Laws (which is now called “Would You Like to Know God Personally?”).

Speaking of scripts . . . .

The Bridge Illustration

David Fitch opens a great discussion about the shortcomings and strengths of the script for the Bridge.  The comments are just as valuable as the post.  He asks in his comments: “How do you all feel about the Bridge Illustration? Do you see any of the above weaknesses in it? Do you have a tool for initiating new converts into the basics of Life in Christ and His Mission?” 

Popularity: 18% [?]

In addition to our one-to-one evangelism coaching and mentoring services, EvangelismCoach.org launches new services as an evangelism consultant to come along side local church sessions, presbyteries, other governing bodies or judicatories.

Here are a few questions to consider:

• Has your church hit a “plateau” in the area of growth?
• Do you need help to motivate and train your congregation in personal evangelism?
• Have you hit a brick wall in developing new ideas for reaching the community around you?
• Does your regional governing body want to provide resources for evangelism training?
• Do you have a desire to see more people in your community come to know Jesus and become an active part of your congregation?

If the answer to any of the above questions is “Yes”, then I can help you.

Benefits of an Evangelism Consultant

An independent viewpoint. Precisely because an evangelism consultant is not a member of your organization, a consultant brings objectivity and detachment to the problems faced by the organization.

Special qualifications.  An experienced evangelism consultant is a subject matter expert and possesses special knowledge, skills and a variety  of personal attributes through years of study, application, and personal experience.

Ongoing resource.  An evangelism consultant is a resource that you can draw on as needed. 

Change agent.  A consultant is a catalyst for change if the church is open to making changes and implementing any steps recommended by the consultant.

Want to know more about Evangelism Consulting?

Visit the Evangelism Consulting to find out more about what EvangelismCoach.org might be able to do for you, or simply Contact us directly via webform, email, or telephone.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I have a friend who gave me his personal business card.  On the back, however, was a brief little gospel script.

This might be a useful idea for a person to give away, and makes for a little conversational piece.  Of course, the script is not complete.  It doesn’t explain everything that is contained in the gospel, but not a single script does. 

This little summary gives a person a conversational piece to fill in the blanks, to adapt to the moment’s context.

Click to enlarge the image:

Thanks to my friend, the Sterlings, in Enfield CT for this image.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Uhh… Should we be doing that in church?

Originally uploaded by Diamondduste

One should always proof read their church signs. This was an awful choice of words.

Popularity: 15% [?]