I came across an entry at www.jumpstartchurch.com (domain hijacked, so delinked) that has a great prayer walk exercise for personal evangelism, and it is similar to one we use in our workshops.
Try this prayer walk evangelism exercise.
Assignment for today:
Go to the nearest mall.
If the nearest mall is more than a 30 minute drive from your church, then send me an email and I will give you further instructions.
Purchase a large cup of coffee. Have it filled nearly to the brim. Do not put cream or sugar in it. Do not drink it.
Holding it in your hand, walk through the mall and take the time to notice people.
While you are doing this, pray, “Come Holy Spirit, show me the hurts and hearts of these people, show me how I might help.”
Walk slowly enough that you don’t spill the coffee. Do this until the coffee is cold or until you can’t stand it any longer!
Then, go back to the coffee vendor and buy a cup of your favorite factor and with pen and paper in hand jot down the whisperings of the Holy Spirit and your observations and insights on your “coffee walk.”
Every Life has a story
We have done this exercise as part of workshops, and encourage people to notice God’s activity.
One of our participants despised taking his kids to the mall because it was wasted time for him waiting around.
But after doing this exercise, he was excited about going to the mall. He described his experience with these two words: “Antennas Up.” An exercise like this keeps our spiritual antennas up, sensitive to what God is doing.
Sometimes this activity does lead into spiritual conversations on the spot, other times not. But it is a good way to practice looking for the working activity of God.
Let me ask you this:
How often do you prayer walk and pay attention to the needs of your community?
Image credit: xiaohuan / 123RF Stock Photo
Curious re: alternate activity for malls that are considerably over 30 min away.
We don’t listen to the cries of our community i.e. town, workplace environment, etc. nearly often enough. Busyness and self centeredness would be the culprits methinks.
I’m not sure what the exercise would be if the mall was over 30 minutes away — i clipped it straight from his website.
When we do this at Dunamis, we’ve had a mall nearby, so I’ve not had to think thru it.
Pastor_Chris