One frustrating problem for small church pastors is leading a church that has no desire to share their faith. How does that pastor begin to change that and overcome the natural resistance to personal evangelism? If a pastor had no training in personal evangelism (which is likely if the church is a mainline denomination), then …
Zondervan has placed the NIV Application Commentary Series on sale for only $4.99 each through May 20, 2013. I have this entire collection in hardback, and rejoice that they’ve thrown this to the kindle on a deep discount. The first column is for the US Market. The second is for Canadians. This is a flash …
“Overall, 31% of active churchgoers said they would definitely invite someone they know who does not usually attend a church to accompany them to a church service on Easter weekend this year.” Barna Group What the numbers might mean for Easter Sunday Let’s say this statistic would hold true for your congregation.
I’ve been listening to some podcasts from various different churches in the United States as I exercise. (Read: 6 Steps to Get your sermons recorded again to see a cheap and easy way to make them available on line.) One key feature that I’ve observed in the podcast of these growing churches is the regular …
This is what I hear from pastors about their personal evangelism “I don’t have time for personal evangelism.” “I’m not good at doing this evangelism thing.” “I wish I could get out of the office and actually talk with people.” “I wish I had learned this in seminary.” “I have no experience in personal evangelism, …
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I recently picked up and reread my copy of They like Jesus, but not the Church by Dan Kimball, in reaction to a post I read this week at the Christian Manifesto. Kimball gears his book at those who want to get out of the Christian subculture and actually engage people in spiritual conversation. Most of …
Several years ago, I was challenged as a youth pastor to give my leadership away — delegate, delegate, and delegate. The challenger warned me that I could only reach so many people, but if I delegated and empowered, I could lead larger ministries with longer reaches and greater sustainability. The challenger mentioned that my personal …
Mother’s Day 2009 may be a time to conduct special weekend event outreaches. I know several pastors that will give a sermon related to motherhood. But it’s also an opportunity for churches to engage their neighborhood. Some links have since broken.
I’ve been reading Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community and I think it is a must read book for pastors of struggling churches. It’s a book that is based out of years of practical experience, and has much to say to how a church should engage it’s community. How does your church connect with the community? …
For youth pastors, young adult pastors, and others who work with this group, this research gives current insight based on survey data. Lifeway has published a podcast with it, found at Stetzer’s article. From Ed Stetzer’s research: In fact, 73 percent of unchurched twentysomethings consider themselves “spiritual” and would like to know more about “God …
A way of doing ministry in which Christ followers model, encourage, and equip others to be salt and light servants where they live
Why is there no noticeable change even after all time and effort to do training and provide resources?
The short answer: Personal Invitation from a Trusted friend. Charles Arn has surveyed thousands of people: (Source: 3 Questions for Charles Arn) In your research, have you found that there’s one specific reason that visitors come to church? The friendship factor. We’ve asked more than 50,000 people over the last 10 years why they came …
Ron Crandall describes two characterics of what successful turnaround and transformational churches have.
This week and next, you’ll be reading about small church transformation, particularly the role of evangelism, based on a study of small churches first done in 1995 and then updated in December of 2008. These first few posts setup some of the background and are meant to be in small blog-size portions for easy consumption. …
I truly believe that prayer opens conversational doors. One of the principles that I put forth in my Fear Free Evangelism Seminar is that when you pray, evangelism stuff happens. Conversations appear. You don’t have to force a conversation. Conversations about faith simply show up. The challenge is then how to listen to their spiritual …
Some time ago, I was asked in an email What are key training ideas in personal evangelism, or key steps to keeping the evangelistic temperature high in a congregation? These below focus on personal evangelism, not church growth. Evangelism values for pastors: Share personal examples of conversations that you’ve had with non-church goers. Share personal …
Evangelism Training in the local church helps believers to better share their faith
Bill Easum writes a great article entitled How to Grow a Small Church. It’s geared towards pastors looking for the formula. It’s no formula, but their research shows “It’s a pastor who has one-on-one conversations withnon-Christians that leads to their conversion to Christ.” List for the small church pastor He also gives a good list …
