Evangelism Coach

First time here? Thanks for dropping by. Get our Monthly Newsletter and get a free article on hospitality. Keep your evangelism passion high by subscribing to my Feed.

Coming up in a few weeks, I’ll be teaching at a missions base in the Far west of Panama. 

I’ll be training missionaries in their concentrated lecture phase before they begin a 6 week outreach working in partnership with local churches among some of the unreached groups in Panama.

This has led me to reflect on different forms of evangelism. 

Conversational

Conversational evangelism is one form of evangelism. 

You talk one-to-one with a person for a while about deep spiritual things and perhaps get to explain the gospel.  Your conversation is one of several that God has brought about in the life of the person being witnessed to. 

This form of evangelism happens over a period of time, and requires fluency in the same language, and assumes that you can communicate as equals about spiritual things.

Children

You wouldn’t do the same for child evangelism.  Your conversation would be at a different level, or perhaps more at a teaching level.  The style is different.  You means of communication is different.  You might use object lessons or story telling to communicate the essence of the gospel.

Cross Cultural

I’ve been thinking recently about how would I explain the Gospel to an unreached people group?  If I had 6 weeks or 6 years?  What if they didn’t have a written language? 

If I am privileged to train missionaries going to work 6 weeks among unreached peoples in the jungles of Panama, how I can prepare them for effective short term work in partnership with the local church?

Are there ways of communicating the gospel in a short term setting like this?  Different worldviews for starters.

I am sure the question has been asked and answered in many different ways by mission groups all around the world during the last 100 years.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Popularity: 17% [?]

We have completed the first full week of our road trip.  In the Atlanta Georgia area, I had plans to meet with several readers of this blog, but I got very sick and had to cancel most appointments.  Even now, strength is beginning to return.

20 Twenty Vision Ministries

I was however able to reconnect with a friend, Chip Buehler, of 20Twenty Vision Ministries. 

Chip and I were leaders (along with several others) of a campus ministry during our college days during a time when God’s spirit was bringing renewal and faith to many people.  At times, our meetings had upwards of 200 people in them.  In reading Chip’s bio, I hadn’t realized how nearly 30 people from those meetings are now in full time ministry today because of what God had done.

Over the past 19 years, Chip has participated in six church plants and ministered to churches and leaders in over 30 nations. His heart for youth has also taken him to over 90 university campuses worldwide.

He is an excellent speaker on all sorts of issues, and I’m sure would be available to you if  had need.  Check out his website at 20Twenty Vision Ministries.  More content is coming from him as he migrates his paper records to a blog format.

Preaching in Charleston SC

The weekend took us to Charleston SC where I had the opportunity to preach at Rockville Presbyterian church (founded in 1850) on Wadmalaw Island on Sunday morning.  I was still weak and not at full speed, but still functional and able to communicate.  Based on the feedback, it seems that the message still found its way home.

That evening, I met with Iglesia Evangelica Buen Pastor that meets in Park Circle Presbyterian.  This church is mostly immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico.  In fact, I don’t think any other Central American country was represented in the church.

Our time in Charleston was hosted by some family friends who are involved at Seacoast church in Mount Pleasant.  We enjoyed some great fellowship and meals along the way and I can see God’s hand in all of the activity in Charleston.

This week as we stay put in one town for a few days, I’ll be sharing some of the thinking that I’ve been doing about evangelism.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Update: Looking for Evangelism Training?  Grab our Monthly Newsletter to stay informed of upcoming training events and webinars.  Check out the other training we provide 

Online Webinars

Distance Coaching

Church Consulting

Seminars / Workshops

Original Article Continues. . . .. .

During our summer road trip, we have been offered free use of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Richmond to provide a live version of our webinar on Fear Free Evangelism.

Details:

• July 10, 2008, 7-9pm
• Westminster Presbyterian Church, 4103 Monument Avenue
• Free, but a love offering will  be received.

More details, registration information, and publicity helps are at the Live Evangelism Training Page.

You can Register online.

How can you help me get the word out?

Bookmark: Use the bookmarking features (SHARE THIS tab) below to post to myspace, facebook, etc. . . .   I’d appreciate you sharing this page to your profile.

Email: Create an email to send to your friends that direct them to the following links.

• About Us: http://www.Evangelismcoach.org/about-evangelismcoachorg
• Online Registration: http://www.evangelismcoach.org/fear-free-evangelism-live-Richmond
• Sample Video: http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2008/05/fear-free-evangelism

Flyers, Bulletins: Post the flyer or print copies of the bulletin inserts (includes registration information)

• Half Page Flyer, for bulletin Inserts or to simply give away to your network.
• Full Page Flyer, for posters, or inserts

Register online.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Some time ago, I was asked in an email what I think are key training ideas in personal evangelism, or key steps to keeping the evangelistic temperature high in a congregation.  These below focus on personal evangelism, not church growth.

Evangelism values for pastors:

• Share personal examples of conversations that you’ve had with non-church goers.
• Share personal examples of good conversations that help a person make another step towards Jesus.
• Share personal examples of conversations that failed and what you would have done differently.
• Of course, to give personal examples, you have to be ‘out there’ having conversations. Be intentional in getting out of the office.
• Model for people how to talk about your faith as a current experience, not ancient history.
• Find those who are passionate about evangelism and train them further.

Evangelism values for all:

• A deep and vibrant relationship with Christ.
• A deep prayer life .
• Out of the overflow of grace, there is a passion to share.
• Learn how to share recent stories of God’s activity in your life.
• Learn at least one script to explain the simple gospel when it’s time. See our Gospel Script Series
• Learn how to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to “Go stand next to that chariot” (from Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch)
• Launch an evangelism training group where you don’t study a book, but report your spiritual conversations.

See also:

• Evangelism Training in the Local Church
• 3 Evangelism Tips for Pastors
• 4 More Evangelism Tips for Pastors
• 5 Evangelism Tips for Pastors

Popularity: 21% [?]

Many churches (particularly in mainline contexts) ask me about evangelism training

• Are there good programs available?
• What program do you recommend?
• How do I as a pastor train my church to do evangelism?
• What resources are good for us?

The best form of personal evangelism training is simply to do it and have debriefing sessions afterwards to help one reflect on the spiritual conversations that have occurred. 

It might feel clumsy at the beginning, and a little awkward, but with the progress of the training, conversations will get easier to have and become more comfortable.

One Example of Evangelism Training

One idea is to consider a small group that focuses on accountability to have a spiritual conversation each week.  The conversation can be between friends, or with a stranger that God underlines for you.

The group could meet weekly with the sole purpose of

1. Praying for each other to have the eyes to see whom God is underlining.
2. Discuss your evangelistic conversations since the prior meeting.
3. Debrief the conversations to discern what worked and what didn’t.
4. Dismiss again till next time.

The group doesn’t study an evangelism book, think about welcoming visitors, or read academic treaties between incarnational evangelism vs. proclamational evangelism, missional vs. attractional church growth, or emergent postmodernism.

The group simply focuses on the spiritual practice of evangelism — having evangelistic conversations and holding each other accountable to it.

Debriefing the conversations

Some questions I like to ask are:

1. “How did God point out that person to you?”
2. “Where did you notice God was already at work?”
3. “What was their spiritual thirst?”
4. “What would you do differently?”
5. “What did you share about Christ?”

Let me ask you this?

• Do you have a similar evangelism group?
• What does your church do for personal evangelism training?

Let me suggest:

Send me via email what your church does for evangelism training and I will send you a list of 99 questions to launch an evangeslistic conversation. Send email to

 

See also: Effective Evangelism Training Lab Time, Evangelism Training.

Popularity: 20% [?]

We crossed a small mile stone today in page views.  30,000 was from an IP address in Pennsylvania about 11:00am EST this morning.

A word of Thanks

I want to thank those readers who have been using the site to help increase your evangelism passion and further your study. 

This week, I received the following comment from a pastor in South Carolina:

Also, I am so grateful for the ‘god-incidence’ to come to meet you.  Your Evangelism Coach website has already been very helpful to me and my own learning about sharing my faith.  THANKS!!!!!!!!!!

I also want to thank my feed subscribers who have chosen to receive new articles automatically, by email or in their favorite reader.  It continues to be a privilege to speak into your life.  I value your feedback, your comments, and your private emails that you have sent me over the year.

I also want to thank those of you who have signed up for the monthly newsletter.  In it, I share evangelism tips before they appear on the webpage, and communicate upcoming ministry trips.  In fact, we leave Monday, so check out our Travel Plans.

I also want to thank those of you who order books off the website, or who visit www.evangelismcoachbookstore.com.  Product fulfillment is through Amazon, but the ministry gets a small percentage of each book sold through the links here. 

Since the last milestone was reached at 20,000, we’ve added webinars, a few new series on gospel scripts and we’re in the middle of a series for pastors.  We’ve added distance coaching to our services, and doors are opening up for us in many places in the United States and Latin America.  The ministry is growing.  Perhaps you’d like to Write for Us?

Top Links in the last 5 days

During the last 900 page views, here were the 10 most popular links:

• Church Hospitality Assessment (Free Download)
• 6 Hints for Welcoming a Visitor
• Gospel Script Series
• Back to Basics in Church Evangelism
• Evangelism Category
• Gospel Scripts Category
• Business Cards that Members can give away
• Hospitality Series
• What is Evangelism Part I
• Hospitality Category

Grab my Feed and get new articles delivered to you automatically. 

It is my hope that the ministry of Evangelism Coach will continue to bless you and your church.   If we can be of service with coaching, training, or help with your evangelism training, simply contact us or explore our services under the Live Training Section on the right panel.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Gary Rohyrmayer writes in Developing a Sowing Mentality-Part 2:

4. Those with a “sowing mentality” are not particular about methods, “…whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well…”

In my experience too many church leaders get stuck or inebriated with a particular style of evangelism. Yet leaders with a sowing mentality understand it is never an “either/or” proposition but more of a “both/and” conviction. Equipping your people through a highly relational and incarnational style of evangelism is the first place to start but it does not rule out doing a systematic visitation or follow up process that is built on the connections with your public worship service. Equipping your people to be includers and inviters does not nullify the use of social networking, various types of marketing and branding your vision and image throughout your city. The old revivalist Leonard Ravenhill said, “Any method of evangelism will work if God is in it.”

Are you stuck with one form of evangelism?  Can you use the many different forms that are available?

What’s in a sign’s name?

A few days ago, the Washington Post published a report about churches renaming themselves in order to avoid a perceived stigma that the name “Baptist” carries in the mind of some people. 

Claude Mariottini speaks about the article but moves into four reasons why churches are unable to bring people into membership.

1. Lack of Spiritual Power
2. Lost Missionary Fervor
3. Lack of costly discipleship
4. Universalism.

Along the same theme of a church’s name, Chris Forbes of Ministry Marketing Coach asks “Does the Name of Your Church Really Matter to Unchurched People? No!“.  He sites survey information that goes against what has become conventional wisdom about denominational brands in church  names.

Rapture site

I can’t tell if this article is serious or not.  Website let Christians email their friends after Rapture. 

YouveBeenLeftBehind.com lets subscribers send an e-mail message to up to 62 people exactly six days after they’ve disappeared from the face of the Earth, Wired Magazine’s Threat Level reports.

The website, run by Mark Heard along with four other Christians, dispatches the e-mails when at least three staff members fail to log in for six consecutive days. Its main purpose is to give Christians one final shot at evangelism.

In addition to the e-mail function, users of YouveBeenLeftBehind.com can also store personal and financial documents on the site. Up to 150 megabytes of information would be sent to up to 12 people after the presumed rapture.

“In the encrypted portion of your account you can give them access to your banking, brokerage, hidden valuables, and powers of attorneys,” explains the site.

“There won’t be any bodies, so probate court will take seven years to clear your assets to your next of kin. Seven years, of course, is all the time that will be left. So, basically the Government of the Antichrist gets your stuff, unless you make it available in another way.”

For a monthly subscription fee, you to can pay to have your witnessing automated after the rapture via auto responder.  Wow,  I don’t know if I’m to laugh or be embarrassed.

Popularity: 14% [?]