Evangelism Coach

First Time Here? Browse around, particularly check out our current series: Evangelism Scripts. See our popular series on Definition of Evangelism and Hospitality

Hospitality, or welcoming visitors, is only a part church based evangelism, but it’s not evangelism as we define evangelism.  It helps create a context for evangelism to happen in a church context.

Who takes the initiative to greet?

When visitors show up at your church for the first time, how quick are your members to take the initiative to greet?  Do they approach people they haven’t met with

• I don’t think I’ve met you yet, I’m . . . .
• This church has so many services, I’ve not met you yet.  I’m. . . .

An important part of helping people connect to the church is the quality of welcome they receive upon their first visit.  Take the initiative and make the greeting.  See also: 10 Tips for Greeters

A cultural note about hospitality

Since the ministry of Evangelismcoach.org is to the Americas, we see many churches in Latin America that do their hospitality very different than what is expected in North American churches. 

In the Hispanic churches that I have visited or coached at, I’ve not been to the coffee section after a service, because there usually isn’t one.  If there is some snack, it is for sale, with all the proceeds going towards the building.  As I’ve been translating the article "Avoid First Time Visitor Nightmares" (free with your subscription to our newsletter),  my helpers note the difference between hospitality practices in North America and in Hispanic churches in Latin America.

Some practices:

• Coffee and snacks after the worship services
• Teams that make home visits Sunday afternoon with cookies or bread and more information about the church
• Take home materials that explain the church and its programs
• Ushers that serve as additional greeters and campus guides
• Parking lot attendants to steer visitors to available spaces
• Videos on church website with testimonials about how people connected to a church.

Let me ask you this?

What are some things that your church does to welcome visitors and help connect them to your church?  Please comment here.  I’d love to have you share.

Popularity: 35% [?]

God has appointed us to live in certain places at certain times (Acts 17:26).  It’s reasonable to extend this to the church that you are connected with being planted in the neighborhood.

• Who are the unchurched in your community that your church could easily reach?
• Who are the unchurched, that your church could read with some effort?
• What would it take for your church to reach the “easily” and “some effort” group?
• What changes in philosophy, program, and structure would you need to make in your church to reach the “easily unchurched?”
• What might block your church from reaching the unchurched?
• Who has God brought to your attention that is unchurched?
• Would you feel comfortable inviting them to your church?

Source: Brian Clark, PC USA church planter in Northern Virginia.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Some churches play hard to get!

• Websites don’t list any contact information
• Worship Service times are not on the telephone responder,
• Service hours are not on on a sign near the front door or on the road.

Here is one low-cost idea that you can use to help advertise your church and raise awareness in the community.

Print up business cards that are about the church — not a person or the pastor, but about the church.

Include items like service times, a phone number for the office, maybe a map, your website. 

Print them by the thousands for your members to give away.  My church in Richmond did this and I was giving away several each week or so to people that I’d see in line, customer service people in fast food joints, or people standing around pumping their gas.

Here is a sample from my church in Richmond.

• It features the church name.
• Worship times.
• And a map.

The back contains phone numbers and website information.

You can print these by the thousands for your members to give away.

People may not be comfortable talking about their faith, but many are excited to invite people to church.  This gives you a tool to put in the hands of your members to help them invite others.

Let me ask you this?

What kinds of invitation tools do you use?

Popularity: 66% [?]

On April 5, I’ll be presenting “How Presbyterians do Evangelism” at a workshop for the Presbytery of the James in Richmond VA.    It will be at Chester Presbyterian Church.

My workshop is mislabeled as “ETS Workshop”, but the real title is “How Presbyterians Do Evangelism.”

I’ll have the privilege of sharing the morning with Eric Hoey, the Evangelism Director of the PC USA and Gustavo Vasquez who will be sharing a workshop on Hispanic Ministry.

It promises to be a good morning.  If you are in the Richmond area, consider registering and sending a team from your church. 

It’s not just for Presbyterians, so feel free to come no matter what part of the Body of Christ you are in.

Other workshops include:

• Introduction to Presbyterian Pilgrimage
• Congregational Evangelism in the Missional Church
• Becoming a Contagious Christian
• Moving church outside of Church.

Registration

Register closed.  Cost is $25 for the Saturday event.  Lunch is included.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Evangelism Committee

Sometimes the question is asked of me

• “how to start an evangelism committee?” or
• “what does a committee do?” or
• “where does a committee start?”

There can be evangelism committees at a judicatory level (such as the Presbytery) or at the local church level.

Evangelism Committees: Judicatory Level

I have served on the evangelism committee for several years, and have been the moderator of it.

We saw our role as helping the local church with their evangelism efforts.  We’d sponsor conferences and workshops about evangelism, we’d talk with churches that are doing successful outreach, we’d help serve as a network of information about what is working and where.

Things we did:

• Sponsored workshops by nationally recognized experts.
• Connected presenters with various workshops on evangelism methods.
• Organized conferences about evangelism and all the various breakouts.

Evangelism Committees: Local Church Level

In my work, I have met with several committees as a consultant to help them think through what they might want to do.  I’ve seen evangelism committees who’s purposes were

• new visitor follow up.
• doing the servant ministries like food pantry or homeless shelters.
• training on the welcoming of visitors.

I have not personally encountered an evangelism committee at the local church that actually does evangelism through sharing their faith as part of their purpose.  I’m sure they exist, I’ve just not run into it. 

Is the evangelism committee simply a hospitality committee?  Surely hospitality is a vital function of church life (thus all the articles here on welcoming visitors).  Yet, it’s not evangelism.

So what can a local church evangelism committee do?

I suggest the following, perhaps you have ones to add:

• Get familiar with books on evangelism.
• Find an evangelism program that fits with your Church’s DNA and implement it (Just Walk Across the Room Video Curriculum,Alpha).
• Gather testimonies of recent stories and share them in the newsletter
• Be the champion for evangelism themes in sermons and small groups.
• Pray for the evangelistic work of your congregation (do you actually pray in your committee, more than open a meeting with prayer?)
• Help shape outreach events, and remind the congregation that such events are meant for bring a friend type stuff.
• Get creative — think how your church can have a local impact.

There are lots of ways a church evangelism committee can do more than just sit around and drink coffee and remember how it used to be in the old days.

Let me ask you this?

Does your church have an evangelism committee?  What does it do?  I invite you to share your comments here.

Popularity: 39% [?]

One church, Solana Beach Presbyterian in Solana Beach California, has and effective small group ministry.  One thing they are doing a little different this year is using the small groups to help people grow comfortable in doing evangelism — a place to practice telling their stories —

“stories that testify to why they have put their trust in Jesus Christ.

To help implement this idea, the senior pastor gave a 10 week sermon series devoted to evangelism as storytelling, which modeled story telling as a way to communicate your faith.  

Some of the sermons used principles found