Evangelism Coach

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Over the next few days, I will be sharing some articles from guest contributors, as I will be away in Venezuela to conduct pastors training for a couple of days. 

Today’s article is from a close friend of mine, Rob Burns of Crestwood Presbyterian Church in Richmond Virginia.

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“This is the best thing that’s happened in this neighborhood in years!”

That’s certainly enough affirmation to propel us to repeat our Trunk or Treat event another year.

Trunk or Treat is an alternative event we make available to our community on Halloween night. Church members come to the church in costume, also decorating the trunks of their cars, and children come to the safe well-lit environment of the church parking lot and proceed from car to car collecting candy.

We also threw in free hot dogs, a couple bounce houses and a petting zoo to add to the energy.

After several years of offering this event at our suburban campus, last year we moved it to our urban campus where we felt there was greater community need.

We were overwhelmed with the turnout, hosting 200 neighbors in a matter of hours. Our own congregation was energized by the community response, and of course, the neighborhood was tremendously grateful.

Our urban campus is situated in a changing neighborhood which now reflects an ethnic population unlikely to attend our worship services. Knowing that, we still proceeded with the event in an effort to bear witness to Christ’s love for and commitment to those who live nearby.

As far as we know, we did not receive any worship visitors as a result of Trunk or Treat. However, we are engaged with our community for the long haul and believe that events like this grease the wheels for evangelistic outreach, even if it does not result in our own congregation’s growth.

We did not include any obviously spiritual component, other than providing an information handout on our church.

However, this year we expect to offer simple prayer ministry in some form. We also may make our sanctuary available to attenders, though we realize that parents will want to focus the bulk of their attention on their children.

We’re still exploring how best to leverage for the gospel the community participation we receive.

Some persons are troubled by events like this, feeling that Christians would do better to steer clear of Halloween completely. While there is worthy discussion to be had on appropriately engaging the culture, we hope our event in some way helps remove barriers to the gospel for our neighbors.

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Rob Burns is the Associate pastor of Crestwood Presbyterian Church.  He and his family have been close friends of my family since the late 80s.  He has done solo pastorates in Pennsylvania and in Missouri before his current call in Richmond.

I write this sitting at the airport (Thanks for free wireless!), way too early in the morning. 

I’m headed to Tampa for the Transformation Pastor’s Conference, where I will be speaking a couple of sessions on on the role of personal evangelism and evangelism training in transforming a church.

What exactly is Church Transformation?

I’ve spent the last month talking with pastors around the US about church transformation.   A few are in really difficult situations (Leaving Egypt and Not Liking it).

From those discussions, it seems that a common idea is to help move a church that is stuck or in serious decline, and lead them into a new vision of what God has for them, thus launching a new life cycle of growth.

Stetzer calls them Comeback Churches.  I’ve seen other various titles, like Boomerang church, Redevelopment, Revitalization.  Seems the common word now is Transformational.

Moving from Attractional to Missional

Simply based on my conversations and reading, a common thread these pastors were sharing was working with congregations to shift from exclusive focus on attractional tweaks to becoming more missional and engaging their community.

Attractional ministry focused on quality programs, excellent hospitality, and marketing to get people in the door.  This was sometimes called a “magnetic” church.

As I’ve looked at Evangelism Committee reports, church information forms, and mission studies, a lot of churches still think that making small process adjustments to their parking lot, greeting process, or welcoming will help them reach out to the neighborhood.

Attractional ministry is based on the idea that visitors are coming to your church already, and that if you do enough marketing, you can get more foot traffic in your door.  Your hospitality will help the newcomers “stick” (see www.stickychurch.com), and your church will grow.  It’s a variant of “if you build it they will come.”

Missional however moves to help the church re-engage its neighborhood. 

Some pastors are in island churches, meaning their church is mostly commuters who used to live in that neighborhood.  The culture around the church has changed (demographically, socio-economically), but the church has not adjusted accordingly, thus being a cultural island.

Missional helps the church get out of hoping people will visit them to actively engaging the needs and people of the community, and in the process both demonstrating and sharing the faith in Jesus as Lord.

Many of the pastors I spoke with this past month are trying to move congregations in this direction.  They still seek to improve their attractional ministries, but now realize that churches have to be connected to the neighhborhood.

It’s a journey process, and some have moved further along than others. 

Block Party to Pre-School

Ten years ago, an island church invited me to do some Evangelism Consulting with them about launching a new worship service.  The average age was 60, and no young families in the neighborhood.  They were in survival mode and needed something to get new people.

The pastor wanted a new worship service, but the congregational elders didn’t. 

Instead, I lead them into a brainstorming process, and out of that process they decided to do a block party.

The congregation organized the block party.  Food, games, inflatables, and so on.  Members hung door hangers around the neighborhood and invited the local community to come.

As a result of that block party 10 years ago (and its continued annual repeats) this church has discerned the neighborhood needs and launched several new ministries to reconnect with the neighbors:

• Preschool (now with an annual budget larger than the churches).
• Meals on Wheels.
• Neighborhood Watch
• And other ministries.

This church has become much more missional in it’s mindset and has lots of new vitality and energy to serve. 

Now they are being more intentional about actively sharing their faith along with serving the area and that is where more intentional evangelism training will come into play.

Tim Schraeder writes “June 22 was a sad day at Park Community Church, we lost a dearly beloved friend … our weekly program.”  (Thanks to Church Marketing Sucks writing Death to the Church Bulletin)

Chris Forbes writes: Diary of an Expensive Church Planting Marketing Outreach Flop.  He writes:

Areas to think about when Planning a Marketing Campaign

Audience: When you buy media you are not buying media per se, you are buying eyes and ears of particular people. Audience comes first in media. When you have done your homework, you know who your audience is and you find the media channels that reach them best. When you don’t have a particular audience in mind, media sales people have a way of convincing you their media is the best way to reach people. Know the people you want to reach!

Use of Media: Think about media as the tools you use to travel to the audience you want to reach. It’s like traveling in a train. Say you wanted to get to New York City by train. You can’t get on just any train to get to New York. Imagine someone saying after failing to get to New York by train, “I tried train travel, but trains can’t get you to New York. The Devil wants to keep me outta NYC!” The fact is trains can get you to New York, if you take the right trains. You have to take a train that is going to New York. In the same way, you need the right media “vehicle” to get to your audience.

Mark Buchanan wrote “Wreck the Roof,” a reflection off of Mark 2 when the religious folk were upset that the friends made a whole in the roof to lower the paralytic.

Roof-tile Syndrome is when we are so caught up in the preaching of Jesus, we turn our backs to the needs of those still outside the building. We become barriers and not gateways. It’s when we care more about keeping things intact than about restoring lives that are shattered. It’s when we’re more upset when stuff gets broken than excited when the broken are mended. It’s when church gets reduced to the preaching of Jesus so that we fail to notice that we’re seeing very little of the forgiveness and healing of Jesus. It is when we are so fearful about upsetting the religious folk (or homeowners) in our midst that we stop taking risks to get people to Jesus.

It’s when my program, my office, my title, my privilege, my influence, my comfort takes precedence over others’ needs.

It’s when the church exists for itself; to hell with the rest of you.

George Bullard asks: When is a Congregation Finished With Transformation?

Actually the answer is never. Congregations must be continually transforming to be in full, active response to the pull of God in the direction of their full kingdom potential.

A better question is, when is a congregation successfully transforming? To that question there are several great answers.

In the course of my consulting and speaking at evangelism training workshops, I’ve encountered many churches that have very active outreach and community service programs:

• After school tutoring
• Shut in or Prisoner Visitation
• Habitat for Humanity work projects
• Medical outreaches for the community
• Participating in Crop Walks for Hunger Relief
• Food pantries, clinics, shelters for the homeless

These are just examples, and I am sure you can add hundreds more from your local community.

The questions I ask and we kick around in friendly discussion:

• Is that outreach?
• Is that evangelism?
• Is that home missions?
• Is that simply good deeds?
• Is that missional outreach?
• Is that marketing in disguise?
• Is that a demonstration of God’s love?

A cup of cold water

What is clear is that we have blurred the line between evangelism and outreach.  Discussions I’ve had bounce all over the map.

In some corners of the church, this is evangelism because it demonstrates the gospel.  No explanation needed.

Other corners argue this not evangelism because the gospel is not verbally shared.  It’s simply social action.

Depends on how you define your terms.

Acts of Christian service and charity, social outreach to your community are good and noble efforts.  Many are propelled theologically by the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), giving a cup of cold water to the least of these.

Yet what is it that separates your Christian service from that of the local Rotary club? 

What makes your acts of compassion different from my atheist friend who does community service through the Peace Corps?

How does the recipient know the difference? 

How do the recipients of your outreach interpret or give meaning to your outreach?

Meaning is not always clear

My friends in Panama tell me this story. 

Panama Olympian Irving Saladino won the first ever gold medal for this country during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Bejing. 

The last medal won was 60 years ago and it was bronze.  Irving Saladino won the gold in the Long Jump competition.

During his jumps, nationally televised in Panama around 6.30 am,  the nation was at a virtual standstill.  People were watching it in groups at friend’s houses.  Taxi drivers had pulled over to side of the road to listen to the radio.  Everyone it seemed, went to work late.

On his two or three jumps, he wore one red shoe and one blue shoe, reflecting the national team colors.  However, on his next to last jump, he changed his shoes to a gold color.

The commentators and “man on the street” interviews all got excited:

• “He’s going for the gold”
• “He’s put on his lucky shoes”
• “He’s telling us this will be the gold medal jump.”  

They were applying meaning to the color change of shoes.

That jump turned out to be the gold medal winning jump.

The country erupted in celebration.  Facebook photos from my friends show lots of celebrations, cheering, and national happiness.  People on the street celebrated by blowing their car horns in celebration.  Crowds formed spontaneously on the street.  National productivity of the workforce shut down for the day as Panama won its first ever gold medal.

The meaning of the shoes? 

When asked by a reporter about what he was trying to communicate with his shoes, Saladino mentioned

that the laces in his red and blue pair got tangled up and he didn’t have the time to fix it. 

He put on his gold colored backup shoes so he wouldn’t be disqualified for being late to the starting line.

Very different meaning than what the nation watching on live television thought.

People gave it meaning based on their hopes, dreams, and worldview. 

Meaning is given if not provided

Bring that back to your church’s outreach. 

What might your recipients think about your outreach?

How can they tell that it is a “Cup of Cold Water given in My Name?”

In a post Wrestling with the Definition of Evangelism I mention:

Just this week, the dental assistant told me that it feels good to help people. 

I asked her “Why?”  No immediate answer, but enough to have her reflect. 

She’s unchurched. She didn’t know why people had black spots on their heads last Wednesday [for Ash Wednesday].

She could serve the poor, work for the Peace Corp, or any of the national volunteer mobilization organizations.  She simply feels good.  that altruistic motive propels many people.

But to the recipient, what separates her good service from that of the church?  How does the recipient know it is “In My Name?”

In my experience, meaning is naturally given if not supplied by the giver. 

Outreach in partnership with Evangelism

John Stott asks the question in Christian Mission in the Modern World.

Is social action (thanks to Timmy Brister for summary)

• A Means to evangelism
• A Manifestation of evangelism
• A Partner of Evangelism

Mark Dever has an interesting piece in Christianity Today, also points out what  “What Evangelism Isn’t.”  (adapted from his book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism).  Evangelism is not social action or public involvement (”They commend the gospel, but they share it with no one.”)

In What is Evangelism? – Part 3, which focuses on the “sharing” part of our Evangelism Definition, I mention:

During a health outreach our church did for its neighborhood, one unchurched person commented, “I don’t like to listen to sermons, today I saw one.”

Our service to the community was interpreted as we wanted – a tangible demonstration of the love of Christ that we have for our neighborhood.

It’s a witness to the world thru actions.

Yet that interpretation came about because we gathered all the volunteers at the beginning and I explained to them why we as a church are doing this outreach.

We are serving because God first loved us and we want to demonstrate that to the community.

Good works demonstrate our faith. 

Yet without any overt or clear explanation that our actions are propelled by God’s grace, what makes our good deed any different than what the local Lions club does or what good corporate citizens provide through their charitable foundations?

It’s not an either/or proposition for me.  Both social action and explanation via words are necessary forms of sharing. 

Deeds are love demonstrated, but a further explanation of the gospel is necessary to give meaning to our actions.  Otherwise, our actions are ripe for misinterpretation.

Practically what does this mean?

Many churches are actively engaged in good works in their community. 

Yet can their members explain their personal faith along the way?

Can churches train their members to grow comfortable talking about their faith with the people they are serving?

What if, as part of the planning for outreach events, the church provided a training opportunity about talking about your faith?

What if, as part of praying for the outreaches, the church also prayed that conversations about Jesus would happen?

What if, as part of serving the community, the people were able to provide meaning of their service by talking about their personal relationship with Christ?

These questions are on my mind as I prepare for the upcoming Transformation Pastor’s Conference. 

I will be presenting on what does Evangelism look like in a church that is undergoing revitalization or redevelopment.  One of my co presenters will be speaking of the missional direction of the church and the need for evangelism.

Let me ask you this?

Think about your church’s outreach.

In what ways can your church provide meaning to the recipients through the verbal sharing of your faith?

I invite your comments and reflections below.

Adrian Warnock asks: Should You be a Church Plant Leader?  In it he gives video and a list of 20 questions that every church planter should ask.  I was a church planter one, and I work with church planters now.  This is a great inventory to add to the list.

Joshua Cody at Church Marketing Sucks has two great articles that speak to marketing and church.

• Nitpicking our Marketing (Is the breakfast served out of love or a marketing strategy?)
• Semi Automatic Assault Rifle offered as an incentive to visit church (What was that guy thinking?)

Mark Driscoll has been writing about Charles Spurgeon:

Evangelism

The hyper-Calvinists in his day disdained Spurgeon for his passion for lost people to meet Jesus and his continual offering of the gospel of grace to the masses, which led to the baptism of 14,692 converts during his ministry. Despite much mean-spirited opposition, Spurgeon never shied away from calling all people to repentance and used unconventional means, such as meeting in a public theater (not a church) and preaching from a stage (not a raised pulpit), in an effort to be more culturally relevant with his ministry style. Curiously, however, he forbade the use of choirs, organs, and other musical instruments in his church services.

Spurgeon has deeply impressed upon me the importance of always inviting people to repent of sin and trust in Jesus. He rightly shared God’s heart for lost people and his example reveals that one can believe in both election and evangelism, as the Apostle Paul did also. Too often those of us who are theologically reformed spend more time criticizing evangelistic methods than doing evangelism ourselves. I too consider myself something of a reformed evangelist and appreciate that Spurgeon shared a deep love for lost people that God used to save many lives.

Source: Spurgeon Prayed, Laughed, Cared, and Evangelized - Part 3

David Fitch writes 10 Ways to Engage the Poor in the Suburbs.  He took the time to prayer-walk his neighborhood and it didn’t take him long to find ideas.  The poor are not just in the inner city slums, or the rural outskirts of the countryside.  They are indeed right around you. . . .

As we have been looking at houses, praying over the neighborhoods, seeking where we might buy a house, I have walked the neighborhoods trying to open my eyes to where mission could be engaged. I find the suburbs difficult for mission. The poor are so hard to find. Yet as I walked and prayed, I found my imagination stoked by the Spirit. Mission was all around the rhythms of this place. The poor could be found. Here are ten missional places I noticed . .. . . .

Gary Rohyrmayer finds Seven Surprising Facts of the American Church.  Here is one.

The increase in churches is only ¼ of what’s needed to keep up with population growth.

• 3,000 churches close every year
• 3,800 new church starts survived
• Net annual gain: 800 new churches
• Net annual gain needed to keep up with population growth:10,000 new churches

California church reached out via Garbage:

First Christian Reformed Church in Bellflower CA reached out to its community in an unusual way in July (2007), arranging for six huge dumpsters along the road beside its building.  Church members manned the dumpsters to help community members dispose of unwanted items.  They also handed out information about the church.  This marked the third time the church has partnered with the city to help clean up the community
Source: The Banner Magazine (www.thebanner.org), October 2007

On Friday’s, I usually share some of what I’ve been reading on other blogs that is of interest to me.  Some of the material is integrated into our workshops, or into my mind, as this collection is like a journal for Evangelismcoach.org 

There is no real theme other than evangelism, church growth, and things related to them.  You’ll not find links to Obama and McCain insights, or gossip about Paris Hilton, or even a summary of Twitter and Facebook and their value of wasting time or connecting.

Doesn’t happen every Friday, but as there is enough to share.

As part of our 5 week road trip, we are collecting stories of evangelistic outreach ideas, and learning what some churches are doing successfully or not.

Meeting a Community Need

One community church had heard that a local city council banned people from walking their dogs in the local park. 

If you owned a dog and wanted to take the dog for a walk, you were not allowed to legally take your dog for a walk in the city park.

The church took a different action. 

Seeing the need in a community, they fenced in their front yard and set up a dog park for the community.  Of course, some rules were in place to keep it clean and pet friendly.  Benches were provided for people to sit on and visit while their dogs played.

Over the few years, this park has become a vital spot for the community to gather, even though the local council has changed it laws. 

People have formed clubs around the type of dog: beagle club, poodle club etc.

Between 5-7pm, when the owners get home, the dog park is very busy with lots of community members gathering.

Sounds like a great outreach idea: it serves the need of the community, allows the church to be more visible.

Does the church connect?

This sounds like a great idea to help a church connect with it’s community, to build relationships with people in it.

• Perhaps the pastor can get a dog and join the club for that breed.
• Perhaps church members can get dogs and start visiting and connecting with people.
• The church can "do life" with the community, providing the grounds for great discussions about faith, for opportunities to invite people to church.
• The church can connect with its neighbors.
• Imagine having hundreds of people and their dogs on your church’s front yard each week.

From the second hand conversations I have had, it appears that people in this particular church do not visit the dog park in their front yard. 

A few folks were asked if church members are connecting with people, and no one knew of any. 

Perhaps the church is missing a great outreach opportunity that is meeting regularly in their front yard.

Let me ask you this?

Consider how the general public uses your building outside of worship service times: dog park, AA or NA meetings, day care, after school tutoring, etc.

How are church members connecting with people already visiting your church on a regular basis outside of Sunday morning?

Are church members inviting these people to your worship services?  Are church members talking about their faith?

Do you know your Neighbor?

Something I experienced when I lived in the suburbs of Richmond VA was the lack of a sense of community in our neighborhood. 

Sure we all bought nice houses, but with the exception of one family, we didn’t know any of the neighbors. 

What a contrast to our former subdivision where we knew everyone on the cul-de-sac, and had regular time with them all.  Over the course of 5 years there, we prayed with many of them, and several eventually came to faith in Christ and got connected with a church.

Jesus says that we are the light of the world, yet how many of us commute more than 10 miles to go to church, bypassing 40 homes in our same subdivision? 

How can we live out the notion of “every house a lighthouse” or “every house a church?” 

How can we break through the bubble of not knowing our neighbors?

If God has appointed the time and season of where you live, how can you be a tool in God’s use to impact your neighborhood with the Gospel?

TEN ideas for building neighborhood relationships.

1. Host a neighborhood block party on your street.
2. Host marriage enrichment seminars in your home for neighbors.
3. Start a playgroup with other stay at home parents.   Don’t forget the stay at home dads.   I was a stay at home dad so I know how important this is.
4. Distribute homemade gifts to your neighbors at Christmastime.  Include a tactful card that points to Christ.
5. Invite those without nearby family over for a holiday meal (for example: singles, internationals, divorced or widowed).
6. Conduct a Backyard Bible Club during the summer for neighborhood kids.
7. Host a baby shower for a neighbor who is expecting. Make sure you include their friends not just yours(!)
8. Offer to host a weekly discussion group or Bible Study. Invite Christian and non-Christian friends to participate.
9. Coordinate a Bring your Own Main Course night. You supply the grill, and everyone brings their own meat or veggie dish.   Have some families bring side dishes while others bring drinks or dessert.
10. Invite the neighbors over to watch a ball game or the mother of all sporting events-the Super Bowl. 

For that last one, no matter where in the world we personally live, we are American that Super Bowl Sunday and will invite the neighbors over.  Other times, we’ll join them for the World Cup soccer games, even  though I still don’t know the rules.  

Build genuine relationship that allows room for spiritual conversation.  Once a good relationship is built, look for opportunity to share your faith in Christ in a manner that is appropriate and real.

Let me ask you this:

What do you do to build relationship with your neighbors?  When was the last time you actually spent time with your neighbor?