I’d like to know what you would add.

The actual ministry expressions or measurable results of these things will vary, but these three seem to be the core of developing an evangelism strategy.

1.  Equipping people to share their faith 1-1 in the course of their life.

• Intentional training and follow up practical experience.
• Pastor growing in personal evangelism skills
• Pastor leading staff and other leaders in their growth in personal evangelism.
• Prayer for the community and the lost
• Building authentic relationships with non-Christians.

2. The worship experience to support the work of evangelism

• Hospitality ministries towards visitors
• Assimilation to help people connect , convert, and deploy in community service
• Preaching themes connected to life and community needs
• Regular gospel sharing during sermons.
• Comeback events.
• Church website to support personal invitations

3. People engaging/serving the community

• Finding the heart for the community
• Launching ministries to engage the community.
• Helping people see the faith sharing opportunities during their service.

Actual measurable outcomes will be different.

Ministry expressions will be different.

But these seem to be the general areas of focus.

What would you add?

1. Pray

Launching evangelism in your congregation is not about techniques or right practices.

Evangelism is about God working through you and your congregation to become vibrant witnesses to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Ask for guidance and courage to go where God is leading you.

2.  Study God’s Word

Gather together for Bible study.

Observe in the Scriptures how the Holy Spirit fills people with courage to bear witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

What story about Jesus brings you joy? Who might you tell about Jesus?

3. Preach and Teach the Good News of Jesus

The promises of the Good News of Jesus are meant to be shared with others.

We are not to be complacent, apathetic or bored. The Good News of Jesus changes lives – yours and mine.

How have you experienced the Good News of Jesus in your life?

4. Create an Evangelism Team

Celebrate with those who might be interested in evangelism.

Seek ways to extend your evangelism team to embrace your whole congregation. Don’t let a committee be the only one to experience the joy of sharing the good news of Jesus. Live the joy found in Christ Jesus.

5.  Provide Training

Equip people to become more comfortable about sharing their faith in Christ Jesus.

Provide training and opportunities to practice faith-sharing.

Take time to identify witnessing opportunities. What training might be helpful?

6.  Plan an Event

Don’t make it too easy. Go out on a limb.

Plan an event no one will want to miss.

Have a Fall Fiesta for the neighbors. Offer a jazz worship on Saturday night.

If nothing else, add something extra to your Christmas Eve or Easter worship.

Hire musicians – lots of them. Join the angels to sing “Glory to God in the highest!”

Invite people to come! Spend some money on publicity.

What event(s) might you host for the neighbors or community?

7.  Welcome People

Remember your mission: Bear witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Writer: Robin McCullough-Bade
Copyright © 2004 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
May be reproduced for local, non-sale use provided the above copyright notice is included.

Next Steps

If this is your year of evangelism, what might you plan on doing this year to grow your congregation’s evangelism?

Are there some outreaches to plan?

Seminars to attend or organize?

The event was awesome and I shared the stage with expositors from Costa Rica and Honduras.

The organizers wanted me to share on the theme of “Reaching my city for Christ.”

Reaching my City for Christ

For two to three weeks, I meditated on that theme, praying, reading Scripture, and pondering all that I had learned and done in my evangelism training.

“Reaching my city” is a big theme to cover in a 3 hour workshop, but as I reflected on it, it really boils down to personal evangelism on a massive scale.

One conversation by one conversation.

The funnel can widen out into things like churches working together with organized strategies, church planting, simple or organic churches, pastors cooperating, and strategic planning and stuff like that.  Books have been written on the subject, but what I haven’t seen yet is this theme boiled down to

One conversation at a time.

Key 1: Evangelism in cooperation with the Holy Spirit

Conversational evangelism is a personal work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who Prepares the Way.

Evangelism seems to have the greatest impact one personal conversation at a time.  Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch is the best example in my book of a one to one conversation where Phillip cooperated with the advance work of the Holy spirit.

Other examples that strike me are

• Peter and Cornelius
• Paul and Ananias
• Paul and Lydia

In each of the examples, the Holy Spirit had guided led the Evangelist to the right place at the right time to find a prepared heart.  Little churches got started.  Churches grew.

If we can learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, I believe most of us will discover that evangelism is much easier.

Key 2: Cooperating with the Holy Spirit is rooted in Prayer.

There are plenty of articles on prayer here.

In fact, I did a brief case study on a church that is rapidly growing through high adult conversion rates because of prayer (read 3 Keys to Church Growth — Case Study)

But to plow the field for evangelism, consider How to Lead a Prayer Meeting Focused on Evangelism.

Build an Evangelism Prayer List of people you are praying for regularly.

Read Ten Prayer Points For your Friends if you don’t know what to pray for.

If you want to be involved in reaching your city for Christ, prayer is the foundational work.

Paul wrote in 1 Tim 2:1

I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone. (NIV)

Prayer should be our priority (urged, first of all).  Our first priority, rather than our last resort.

Prayer should be for everyone – that could be the whole group collectively, or each one in a group individually.

At the end of our workshop in the congress, we spent time interceding for the city, and crying out to God for those whom we know personally who do not yet know the Lord.

I believe that as we pray for the city, as we pray for those who don’t know Christ, as we cultivate listening to the Holy Spirit, we will reach our city for Christ, one conversation at a time.

An ex-Christian friend of mine turned to me and said

“Chris, what is the gospel?”

Excitement bubbled up within me.  I’m an evangelist and this conversation was near and dear to my heart.  However, I got too excited.

The end result was confusing half thoughts, and verbal commas: “bluh, bluh, um, uh, it’s ah, hum”

My explanation of the gospel was clear as mud.  I left my friend more confused than satisfied.

You want me to do what?

Other people may have a paralyzing fear when they are asked a simple question like that.  In my evangelism training workshops I will often ask people to share the gospel one with another.

In that little command, the tension in the room rises high.  People stare at me like I just broadsided them.  But they turn to their neighbor and try to explain the gospel.

The general response: Confusion, panic, freaking out, because they suddenly realize that they can’t wing it.

For years, they thought they could explain the gospel but given a moment (even in a workshop) to do so, they stumble over their own words and realize they don’t know how.

Share Jesus without Freaking Out.

Let me give you some principles that can help you.

1.  Make sure that your relationship with God is going well.

Have an active prayer life. Pray about who He would like you to talk to, and ask Him to bring people into your path to talk to about Him. Have an evangelistic prayer list of people you are praying for

Fast as you seek God’s direction.

2. Practice kindness to others you encounter in your daily life.

Take the time to notice people around you and be aware of the people you run into while “on your way.”  Read The Art of Noticing People.

3.  Listen

Take the time to learn the stories of the people you want to talk to about Jesus.

Use Questions.  Read What is the Question Behind the Question?

Ask them questions about their lives and listen actively as they talk. Show genuine interest in them as people.

4. Share stories of God’s work in your life

After you learn about others, tell them about your life.

Then share the story of how and why you began a relationship with Christ and how that relationship has made a difference in your life.

You may want to outline your personal testimony, then edit into text that will take you only about three minutes to present.

Read: 8 steps to using your personal testimony

5.  Share the gospel story

Then share God’s story with people by presenting His plan of salvation using key Scripture verses that address:

• people admitting that they have problems that separate them from God (sin),
• believing that Jesus is the Son of God
• confessing that they believe and
• trust Jesus to connect them to God.

Try to present the gospel as clearly as possible, giving people enough information to enable them to make informed choices when they respond.

Using Gospel Scripts is helpful.

Adapted from How to Talk About Jesus without Freaking Out with Study Guide.  Order your copy from Amazon

Your thoughts

What are some tips that you have found helpful in being able to talk about your faith and the gospel clearly and simply, without freaking out?  Share with us.

I propose one accountability group as an Evangelism Training Small Group.

Here is a sample 6 week group.

Week One

• Read together Mt. 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8. Use a flip chart or poster paper to list as many observations as you can from these verses.
• How you would define your “Jerusalem?”  Is it a neighborhood, workplace, your circle of acquaintances, or something else?
• Do the same with “Judea” “Samaria” and “ends of the earth.”
• Brainstorm how your small-group members can reach their Jerusalems. Write your ideas on a flip chart or poster paper.
• Commit to pray daily for one another to become more evangelistic.
• Ask group members to spend the next week asking the Lord for the names of three people they can reach out to.  See Evangelism Prayer List
• Close in prayer.  Read How to Lead an Evangelistic Prayer meeting.

Week Two

• Tell each other about the three people you want to share Christ with.
• Divide into prayer partners, and pray for each other and the people on your lists.
• As a group, brainstorm ways you can reach out in kindness to your three people. Refer to the ideas you came up with last week.
• Look at gospel scripts and work at getting to know just one.  See How to Use a Gospel script
• Role-play sharing the gospel with each other using these presentations.

Week Three through Six

• Discuss your evangelistic conversations since the prior meeting.
• Debrief the conversations (see below) to discern what worked and what didn’t.
• Plan an outreach event–a picnic, hike, potluck dinner, etc. Invite the three people on your outreach list, plus others who come to mind.
• Continue role-playing your gospel presentations. Discuss together how to answer difficult questions that arise in your conversations with nonChristians.
• Dismiss again till next time.

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?”

Do you have an Evangelism Strategy for 2008?

In the that article, the writer’s specific action steps in his plan:

1. Study and Read.  Do you need books?  Check out our books on evangelism page.
2. Evangelism Journal. Make notes of quotes, books, and experiences.
3. Evangelism Plan.  Make a plan to be intentional about sharing your faith.

I like Gary’s idea of an evangelism Journal.  I keep a file on my computer that captures thoughts, quotes, and stuff like that.  I need to find some additional form of capture when I don’t have my laptop with me, or when I’m traveling to and from Evangelism seminars.

Church Evangelism Strategy

• Send your church leaders to an evangelism training seminar.
• Host an Evangelism Training Seminar.
• Find an evangelism program like the Alpha course and implement it.
• Conduct a church hospitality assessment and seek ways to improve the welcoming of visitors.
• Set a goal for the number of professions of faith, conversions, or baptisms (whatever statistic is an important measure of growth for your church or denomination).
• Host a regional Evangelism training event.
• Invite speakers on Evangelism to share a passion.
• Set your outreach events that are intentionally geared towards your target audience.
• Host “Invite a friend” Sundays.
• Develop your holiday sermon series (Easter, Christmas, Mother’s day, etc)?
• Develop an Evangelism Coaching Group in your church to nurture the passionate.  (See Evangelism Training in the Local Church)

Personal Evangelism Strategy

• Read at least 3 books on personal evangelism (see our Evangelism Books Page for some ideas).
• Participate in a group like the one described in Evangelism Training in the Local Church
• Pray daily for those who do not know Christ.
• Look for the daily opportunities to have a conversation about your faith.
• Think through your witnessing conversations and consider what you might have done differently.
• Journal your evangelism conversations to reflect and learn.
• Learn a default setting — a basic evangelism gospel script.
• Instead of counting conversions, count the number of conversations you have.
• Review your day to see if you missed an opportunity to share your faith.
• Spend time “doing life” with people apart from the church.  Quit doing Bible Studies all the time. (See: 10 Ideas to Reach Out To Your Neighborhood)
• Build genuine relationships with your neighbors.

Grab our Free Evangelism Newsletter and you can stay in touch with at least one source that will be reminding you monthly about evangelism to help keep your passion high.

If you need some help developing a plan, consider a mentoring or coaching program.  See the Evangelism Mentoringpage to explore our services.  Do you Need Evangelism coaching?

Let me ask you this?

What would you add to this list?

One of the joys I get in my travels as an evangelism trainer is meeting new people all over the country. 

Pastors from various denominations and gifted lay ministers. 

At this conference, new initial groundwork was laid to start a new track of the Dunamis project sometime next year in multiple places in Washington state as well as perhaps just over the border from southern Western Canada.

Tierra Nueva Ministries

Prior to The Evangelism Dunamis, I had an extra day, and spent the morning with Mike Neelley (left) and Bob Ekblad of Tierra Nueva Ministries. 

Bob (right)  had returned from the southern tip of Argentina the night before, as he is an international speaker and trainer. 

Tierra Nueva (New Earth) is an ecumenical ministry located in Burlington, Washington, that seeks to share the Good News of God’s liberation in Jesus Christ with migrant farm workers, new immigrants, and permanent Hispanic residents in Western Washington.

Tierra Nueva is caught up in a vision of a shepherding ministry that seeks after lost sheep until they are found (Luke 15:4).  They have consciously structured our ministries to:

  •  seek after lost sheep until they are found–through Skagit County Jail Ministry, migrant chaplaincy, and Tierra Nueva Honduras.

  •  care for, defend, and protect–through the Family Support Center.

  •  gather, feed and heal–through our English and Spanish faith communities, bilingual jail services and healing services.

  •  equip and send out–through the People’s Seminary events and courses.

Mike told me of one gang member he disciples who is smoking a joint while studying the Bible.  He told me of a sex offender he meets with.  He told me of former meth addicts who are now working for the ministry trying to get their life reoriented around following Christ.

This kind of Christianity on the edges is messy as God works transformation in real life.  People on the margins.  This takes a special calling and is the prime opportunity for evangelism as broken people seek to find their purpose in life.

Bob has written two books that are now on my reading list of books to get

• Reading the Bible with the Damned
• A New Christian Manifesto: Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God

Presbytery of North Puget Sound

The executive of the Presbytery of North Puget Sound, Corey Schlosser Hall (right), organized a lunch for us. 

Some Cambodian church planters (left) joined us at lunch.  It seemed to be a divine appointment for Bob Ekblad (tallest one in the back)  to meet these church planters at lunch.  I had time to visit and talk with these men about their work among Cambodian immigrants they work with.

Leadership Coaching visit with a small rural church

That evening, I had the joy of visiting with Pastor Tom Ross of Deming Presbyterian Church and Mount Baker Presbyterian Church.  He and 3 elders for some evangelism coaching — talking about the burning questions on their mind. 

These were small rural churches in the hills of Northwest Washington, with about 15-25 in worship.   A 3rd elder was from a church of about 600, tucked in the back of a subdivision, away from the main traffic flow.

Two questions were on the minds of those gathered:

• How can we increase awareness in the neighborhood.
• How can we talk with individuals who are comfortable with their non-Christian spirituality.

We spent about 90 minutes brainstorming.  They reported to me what a blessing it was to have me lead that session and they felt energized with a new list of ideas (see Church Leadership Coaching Session).

One elder wrote (edited for spelling and clairty):

 Thank you for the wonderful evening when Chris
Walker visited.  I found his style very natural
for our little church.  We needed his calmness and
small town way about him.  I know that what he does is
truly from the heart.  He allowed us to express
ourselves and our needs.
He responded to our questions and gave us his
undivided attention.  I
believe we found in his answers some answers that were
right in front of us. 

Evangelism Training 101

The Evangelism Dunamis is focused on personal evangelism training.  (See related article: 10 Practical Ways Of Sharing Your Faith)

It began on Thursday morning and ended in celebration on Saturday afternoon where people offer their stories of what God was doing in their life during the event.  Several people from lots of different Christian traditions attended.

Much of the content for The Evangelism Dunamis is found in various pieces here on Evangelism Coach, and it is always fun to present the material live. 

This time, my co-presenter was Susan Finck Lockhart (See Guest Article: Sharing your faith in the ordinary course of life), who is part time pastor of El Calvario Presbyterian Church in Waco Texas.

We focused on some theology, including the wonder of grace, but much of the teaching time was also given over to lots of practical work, praying and sharing in small groups:

• Sharpening the focus of your testimony
• Using a Gospel Scripts.
• How To Practice A Gospel Presentation 
• Praying for those who don’t know Christ.
• Listening for God’s call to a particular region or people group.
• Sharing in small groups about your faith journey.
• Learning how to recognize Kairos moments.

Conference Follow up.

For my newest subscribers through the EvangelismCoach feed and Monthly Evangelism Tips Newsletter, here are some important links that I highlighted at the Evangelism Dunamis.

• Using a Gospel Scripts.
• Personal Testimony Questionnaire

• Evangelism As Storytelling
• The Power Of Testimony
• A 2 part Questionnaire

I will also post over the next few days, the actual slides that we used for the event since I wasn’t able to get them printed as handouts.

Feedback?

Did you attend the conference?  I’d love for you to put your words of encouragement in the comment form, or email me privately if you wish.

Victory Bible Camp

In just a few weeks, I am scheduled to go to Victory Bible Camp in Palmer Alaska to help facilitate a workshop on personal evangelism, as part of the Dunamis Course series for Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International (www.prmi.org).

The Evangelism Dunamis in the Power of the Holy Spirit emphasizes learning God’s vision for evangelism, and motivations and skills on personal evangelism

The Evangelism Dunamis also seeks to develop practical evangelism  skills in cooperating with the Holy Spirit in doing the work of personal evangelism.

Dates for the conference

October 8-12, 2008

Location for the The Evangelism Dunamis

VICTORY BIBLE CAMP is located near Mile 94.8 of the Glenn Highway. A well placed sign points to the turn from the highway.

WHAT TO BRING: bedding, pillow, towels, Bible, notebook.

TRANSPORTATION: If you need help between Anchorage and Victory Bible Camp or can HELP TRANSPORT, please contact Pat Cook (local coordinator — I can put you in touch).

DIETARY: Meals served at VBC can not accommodate dietary restriction. There are kitchens available in some of the dorms for personal food preparation.

Training Seminar Fees:

Early Registration, $172.00, To Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Late Registration, $182.00,  From Thursday, September 25, 2008

To Register

Fill out the form below to register for The Evangelism Dunamis in Palmer Alaksa.  You will receive a conference registration link via email.  You’ll also be added to our newsletter list to receive monthly news about our website.  You can unsubscribe at any time.

Registration is now closed.

Find Confidence to Share your Faith

in the Ordinary Routine of life

Space is limited.

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See full details for the seminar:

We’ll tackle questions like:

• Do I have to be brave?
• How can I share my faith without being obnoxious?
• What are some good books to help me share my faith?
• How can sharing my faith become a natural part of my life?

My default setting is the Bridge Illustration.

The Bridge Illustration is the one that I use the most often.  When I was a youth pastor, reviewed with my teenagers at least once every three months.  No one left our youth group without knowing this script inside and out.  I use it in all my seminars on personal evangelism.

Why I Like the Bridge Illustration

I like it for various reasons:

• Simple
• Visual (for those visual learners).
• Free
• I can make it my own and customize on the fly.
• I can use questions to keep it conversational.

Theological Concerns on the Bridge Illustration:

David Fitch has a good series of posts and discussion about some of the theological questions about the Bridge as a gospel script.  The comments raise great issues, and point to some other scripts. (See also Part 2 and Part 3).

I think an excellent addition to the bridge is to stress some of the benefits of following Christ:

• The reality of our global brokenness from God’s good creation: war, famine.  Not just individual brokenness.
• Inclusion into the community of faith (adoption).
• Christ’s forgiveness also helps us deal with our corporate sin
• Calling to Participate in God’s plan for the new creation.

Practical tips on using the Bridge Illustration

All you really need is a writing surface and a instrument.  I’ve used markers on a whiteboard, pens on a napkin, my kids’ crayons on the back of a paper placement in a diner.

Step 1

When you sense that it’s time to share, ask for permission unless it seems very natural in the current conversation that you are having.  “Can I share a drawing with you that explains what we are talking about?”

Step 2

Draw two lines horizontally, making two columns. Write God on the right side line and draw a little stick figure on the left.  I space about 2 or 3 inches between them.

Step 3

Explain  about the separation between the person and God.

Most times when I share this illustration, the person I’m speaking with is well aware of the Separation — that’s why they are look for God to start with.

You can draw two vertical lines from the inside of the horizontal lines to show a cliff of separation.

A good verse to share here is Romans 3:23, and I might write the word sin or separation at the bottom of the gap.  Another might be Hebrews 9:27 about the coming judgment for our sin.

Step 4

I explain that people try to reach God through all sorts of means: drugs, philosophy, good deeds.  I ask the person I’m talking with the share with me what things they have tried to do to reach God.

Step 5

Draw a cross that closes the gap while sharing how Christ died for us.  A good scripture would be Romans 5:8.  That gift is free, sharing from Ephesians 2:8-9.  We can believe and receive (John 1.12).  This is showing God’s solution to the problem of our separation

Step 6

I ask the person I’m speaking with, “Where would you put yourself on this drawing?”

That helps me to discern where that person is spiritually, and helps to suggest the next part of the conversation.  Perhaps there is something to debate, discussion, or an objection to resolve.  Perhaps a person wants more time to consider what is being heard.

See NavPress’s Official Version of the Bridge Illustration

http://www.navigators.org/us/resources/illustrations/items/bridge

Video Examples of the Bridge Illustration

Here is another video I found on You Tube.

If you want live coaching on using gospel scripts, see our 1-1 mentoring program. We’ll be glad to provide distance training, or live in person  Contact us for more info.