God’s Plan for Sharing — A Church Vision for Outreach

The North American Mission Board is developing a new evangelism initiative to fulfill their 2020 vision of “Every Believer Sharing, Every Person Hearing.”

“God’s Plan for Sharing” is meant to encourage Christians to prayerfully and thoughtfully engage in the most effective approach for making Christ known.

GPS lays out four biblical mileposts to lead your church outward with the gospel in the discipline of evangelism.

1. PRAYING: Every church praying for every lost person.
(Evaluation – How can your church actively pray for lost people?)

2. ENGAGING: Every believer sharing as a trained witness.
(Evaluation – How many believers are trained to share their faith?)

3. SOWING: Every lost person receiving a complete witness.
(Evaluation – How is your church creating intentional opportunities to share the gospel?)

4. HARVESTING: Every church harvesting and celebrating every salvation experience.
(Evaluation – Are people finding Christ through the ministries of your church? Are you celebrating that growth?)

(HT: Ed Stetzer)

When you visit the main page, there are resrouce pages for each of the four initiatives listed above.  Here is a sample from the one on prayer:

Here are some ideas to get your church praying for people in your community.

NAMB Resources for Prayer

1. Prepare God’s people (your congregation) to faithfully pray. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Experienceing God – Henry Blackaby
   • How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life – Greg Frizzell
   • Returning to Holiness – Greg Frizzell
   • Prayer 101 – Elaine Helms
   • Pray in Faith – T.W. Hunt
   • Kingdom Focus Praying – John Franklin
   • Cooperate – Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening
   • And the Place Was Shaken – John Franklin
   • If My People…Pray (How to Develop a Local Church Prayer Ministry) – Elaine Helms
2. Mobilize your church to prayer walk your community. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Taking Prayer to the Streets – NAMB
   • Prayer Walking Made Simple – Chris Schofield
3. Continually discover your community and examine their needs. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Mapping Center and Center for Missional Research, both found at http://www.namb.net/cmr
   • Witness to the World (Growing Disciples Series) – Claude King
4. Pray for the people in your community. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Personal Prayer:
     • Study Guide for Evangelism Prayer – Evelyn Christenson
     • Praying Your Friends to Christ – NAMB
     • How to Spend a Day in Prayer – Rick Shepherd
   • Partner prayer (triplets/small groups)
     • Pray for Your Family – NAMB
     • Prayer Triplets – NAMB
   • Prayer gatherings/sacred assembly
     • And the Place Was Shaken – John Franklin
     • Returning to Holiness – Greg Frizzell
5. Praise God continually.
   • Corporate praise
   • Celebrate baptisms
   • Answered prayer testimonies (live or video)
   • Prayer walk testimonies (live or video)