10 Roles an Evangelism Committee Can Have in The Church

Why does your evangelism committee exist at your church?

Is it just another meeting, or does it really fulfill the role of helping the church do the work of evangelism?

Recently I’ve been asked to comment on the role of an evangelism committee or evangelism ministry in the local church.

I want to give you ten roles that an evangelism committee can play in a healthy congregation.   The committee should be both doers of personal evangelism as well as leaders of congregational evangelism.

Some churches will overlap these roles with their hospitality committee, outreach committee, marketing team, or new member committees, so these role silos are not precise but general guidelines.

What is the job of an evangelism committee at church?

To use a phrase of some others: What is the job of the hospitality committee at church? (see #6,7,8)

1. Do the work of evangelism

Each evangelism committee member should be doing the work of personal evangelism

• Praying for the lost
• Building authentic relationship with lost people
• Actively sharing faith with those who don’t know Christ.

You can lead where you haven’t been yourself, so make sure you are on the leading curve of personal evangelism in your church

2.  Provide Ongoing Evangelism Training

Many church members are afraid of evangelism and find themselves wanting to simply invite people to church and let the professional do it.

One way around this is to provide regular personal evangelism training in different areas

• Conversational skills
• Listening to the Holy Spirit
• Evangelism in Relationships

You might want to run short courses via small groups, sermon series, or even virtual classes with an outsider like me.

3.  Run a course or group that investigates Christianity

There are many great resources in the market place to help you run a seeker oriented group.

You might run courses that allow people to investigate Christianity and allow a safe place for people to ask their questions.

The Alpha course is one example of such a study, or you can do a topical study aimed at life skills which helps a person see the relvancy of the Christian life.

4.  Lead and organize evangelism programs

If you are familiar with servant evangelism (activities such as

• handing out water to joggers on warm days,
• handing out cookies or ice cream at a grocery store,
• handing out candy at parks,
• providing batteries to local residents for changing their smoke detectors, etc)

your team would need to lead and organize such events.

You might also lead some invitational programs like

• Bring a Friend Day
• Concerts
• Block Parties
• Appreciation Banquets for community servants (teachers, police, fire and rescue)
• Preaching Evangelists

5. Carry the banner for reaching the lost.

As other ministries of the church plan their events and activities, members of the evangelism committee are always raising the banner of reaching those who don’t know Christ.

They ask questions like:

• How does this help people know Jesus?
• How does this help us share our faith?
• What steps can your group take to reach lost people?
• Can we make this event more public and increase invitations?
• Would we feel safe inviting our friends to this retreat or small group?
• Are we meeting too much and not out in the community?

6.  Oversee the hospitality ministries for first time guests

Some churches recognize the role that church hospitality plays in the faith journey of her guests.   The church can play a role in

• creating community
• allowing space for faith discover
• ministering to a person during journey to Christ.

Churches cannot increase their influence towards salvation if a person doesn’t come back a second time.  Hospitality practices aid in getting multiple visits.

Focus on developing greeters and a great guest experience.

Make sure your volunteers can access training to improve their hospitality skills as well as conversational skills.

7. Welcome center and guest gifts

If your church has a welcome center, this committee will make sure it’s staffed and that visitor appreciation gifts are given out.

Make sure gifts are appropriate for the season and/or the sermon series.

8.  Develop your system of next steps

Evangelism committees are interested in helping a newcomer connect with the church.

After their first visit, what is the next step to buildling relationships?

Many churches will plan

• post church service reception,
• contact steps after the first visit
• a ‘meet the pastor’ social,
• new membership classes
• other discipleship connections.

One potential role of the evangelism committee is to organize and manage this process.

9.  Develop community outreach events.

Evangelism committees should always be thinking about how the church can reach its community.

Churches are not a fortress, but are the people of God on the mission of God.

Evangelism committees brainstorm ways the church can bless it’s community and ask the question “How can we be the best church for the neighborhood?”

You might do that through organized prayer walks, prayer stations, and prayer booths.

You might do the community exegesis of visiting with local officials to learn about the community.

You might do the visitation of local non-profits that are serving in various needs to learn more about what the church might be able to do.

Evangelism committees would lead the research and project development and empower volunteers to rise up and serve.

See

• 10 Ideas to Reach Your Neighborhood
• Finding needs in your community

10.  Marketing.

Your community needs to know your church exists.  Focus on areas like

• New Movers marketing
• Website
• Facebook Page for your Church
• Pastor’s Blog

Effective low cost marketing will assist your normal word of mouth efforts to increase the number of first time visitors to your church.

What about your church?

What role does the evangelism committee fulfill at your church?  Share with us in the comments below then tweet or share on facebook that you answered.