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Evangelism Substitutes: Which one does your church commit?

Last Updated: April 20, 2019 by EvangelismCoach

Since many people are afraid of personal evangelism, many church leaders have allowed other programming to replace the work of personal evangelism and called it evangelism.

As I do seminars across the country, heads nod in agreement as I lay this out.  You might see your own church in here.

Today’s substitute:

Many church leaders have allowed other programming to replace the work of personal evangelism. Its an evangelism substitute. Do you do these?

1.  Study Committee on Evangelism

In my training and coaching, the biggest evangelism substitute that I see is “Make a study group or Evangelism Committee“

With great enthusiasm, a group decides:

“Let’s form a committee, or let’s form a small group and let’s study a book together.  Since we don’t know how to share our faith, let’s study it for 10 weeks, 12 weeks, or even a year.

Let’s spend 5 weeks choosing a book, and then talk for 7 weeks about what we are not doing, and then spend a couple of months figuring out what we want to avoid doing.” {slight sarcasm here}

You may have been part of such a group.  I know that I’ve been part of a few.

But how many of you have participated in many book studies never really turn into practical action?

Conversations in these group meetings get into

  • what does evangelism mean,
  • why we can’t do it “that way,”
  • how we are not ready to do evangelism,
  • and a variety of other topics.

I once chaired an evangelism committee that spent several meetings trying to agree on a definition of evangelism.  Since we only met monthly, it took us several months just to get that far.

Many times, such conversations are useful to help groups clarify their perspectives on evangelism.

But the key element to successful evangelism training is real life experience of having one on one spiritual conversation about Jesus.

The key to successful #evangelism training is real life experience talking about your faith Click to Tweet

Many group studies on evangelism do not effectively give people actual experience through sharing their faith.

They don’t have spiritual conversations with strangers, nor do they even have spiritual conversations with friends and acquaintances.

In my experience, even if the group study has homework assignments, people are hesitant to initiate spiritual conversation and reflect on it.

So we spin our wheels.

Let me ask you this?

If you are a group leader, what steps can you make to encourage personal experience in evangelism in a group like this?  Let’s have a conversation.

small groups

(Image Credit: Nutmeg)

You might like to read . . .

  • Evangelism Substitute #4: Community Service
  • 10 Roles an Evangelism Committee Can Have in The Church
  • Evangelism Subtitutes #3: Educate our Members
  • Personal Evangelism Substitute #2: Hospitality
  • What is THE BIBLICAL WAY to do evangelism?
  • Book Review: Reimagining Evangelism
  • The church and personal evangelism
Related posts:
3 Personal Evangelism Lessons from the Disciples
5 Habits of Personal Evangelism for the Church Planter
What does Spiritual Thirst Look Like?
Book Review: The 7 Principles of an Evangelistic Life
Video: Evangelism in the 21st Century by Nicky Gumbel
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Originally Posted: June 6, 2010 Category: Personal EvangelismTag: evangelism committee
Previous Post:Evangelism Mind Map
Next Post:Personal Evangelism Substitute #2: Hospitality
Many church leaders have allowed other programming to replace the work of personal evangelism. Its an evangelism substitute. Do you do these?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gloria

    July 1, 2011 at 10:10 am

    I agree. Our churches in many cases are not focused on the seekers and the un-churched. We have become introverted, having our seminars, webcasts, podcass, meetings, classes, study groups, etc. for the mature Chrisitan, and this teaching is usually over the head of a new member, seeker, or un-churched individual. They don’t get because we do not bring it to an every day level that can be understood. Our big vocabulary and armload of Christian books will not impress nor subsititute for our open arms, welcoming, relationship building, one on one conversation with them

Trackbacks

  1. Evangelism Substitute #3: Christian Education says:
    June 9, 2010 at 7:42 am

    […] is a slightly different twist than the first substitute for personal evangelism (a study committee or small […]

  2. Do the Work of the Evangelist says:
    June 8, 2012 at 8:23 am

    […] Evangelism is an action.  But many of us have substituted evangelism for other things: […]

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