Finding people and bringing them to Christ we call it evangelism, the very word scares people. Why? Because they think of an evangelist pacing back and forth on the platform with his Bible open expounding on the word of God so eloquently, or knocking on strangers doors, giving Bible studies and they think; I could never do that.
These are great avenues of outreach but there are simple ways and means to do outreach.
What do we fear?
• What will my friends think?
• Will I offend them?
• Will I come across as obnoxious?
• Will they reject me?
• Will I get it wrong?
What if evangelism
• Wasn’t awkward?
• Didn’t take a whole lot of guts?
• Was as normal as breathing?
Why share:
For God’s sake: 2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
For others sake: Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For our sake: woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
“It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we are brought near to the Savior.” MH 102
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“God could have reached His object in saving sinners without our aid; but in order for us to develop a character like Christ’s, we must share in His work.” DA 142
“The very life of the church depends upon her faithfulness in fulfilling the Lord’s commission. To neglect this work is surely to invite spiritual feebleness and decay. Where there is not active labor for others, love wanes, and faith grows dim.”
DA 825
Witnessing is not an event it is a lifestyle! Wherever we go what ever we are doing we are a witness whether working out at 24 Hour Fitness or pumping gas.
There are a variety ways to witness all our necessary. There are eight personal styles of evangelism.
CULTIVATE
· Intercession
· Friendship
· Service
SOW
· Testimony
· Invitation
· Conversation
REAP
· Proclamation
PRESERVING
· Small Groups
· Hospitality
· Spiritual Friends
Which style best fits you?
Intercession
Praying for the salvation of friends, family, and work associates. Praying prepares both hearts for the witnessing encounter. Mark 1:35, I Tim. 2:1,4
Friendship
Uses natural friendships as an avenue to communicate the gospel in a low-key, non-threatening way.
He (Jesus) accepted their invitations, attended their feast, made Himself familiar with their interests and occupations, that He might gain access to their hearts, and reveal to them the imperishable riches.” MH 24 & 25
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How to build relational bridges:
· Initiate contact
· Discover interests, concerns, needs
· Respond appropriately
Ideas: Take strolls through neighborhood, greet and treat new comers, host part, join work associates for lunch, volunteer in community, civic clubs, softball league, joint choir, community events.
Not everyone is going to be on the same level to receive the gospel. Some are agnostic and will be closed to hearing the gospel but through nudge of kindness they might progress a little further in their journey.
Service
Meeting real needs in practical ways – opens hearts to God’s love. “And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” Titus 3:14 NKJV
Examples:
* Dorcas The Bible says, “This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.” Acts 9:36
When she died there were many who felt the loss.
Servant Evangelism – How to reach people who do not want a Bible study
Start out by asking the following questions to yourself. Who can I touch today? How can I show someone kindness? When these questions come naturally to our hearts true satisfaction and contentment follows.
Every small group or church needs to have some form of evangelism going on in order to maintain health. The Goal could be one outreach activity every other month. If we want to be relevant in our communities we must be practically involved in the lives of people who have real problems.
1. Oil Changes for Single Parents Sunday
Involve mechanically inclined group members on Sunday Morning providing an oil change, a new oil filter and topping off of windshield washer fluid. You will need to know the make and model of the car in advance in order to purchase the correct oil filters.
Caution: You will be asked to do more repairs on cars than the oil change. Just say, “Maybe someday we’ll be doing more, but not today.” Then smile and change the oil of the next care in line.
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What you will need:
· Scooters for getting under cars
· Oil pans
· Waste oil container
· Motor oil
· Oil filter wrench
· Connection cards
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Also to avoid compassion fatigue, most people cant’ sustain a high level of enthusiasm on a project for more than about two hours. Don’t make the mistake of taxing your group with more ministries than it can sustain. Two hours is plenty of time for doing an outreach –including gathering, giving instructions, traveling to the outreach site, doing the outreach for a little over an hour, and reconvening to share stories.
2. Bike fix-up Clinic Sunday
Where to go? - Bike trails
What you will need: Two signs: “Free Bike Repair” repair tools, Connection cards
Choose what repairs you want to do:
Chain repairs, lubes, spoke repairs; bolt tightening, and simple cable adjustments on gearshifts and brakes. If you have a Bike mechanic lift makes the job easier and look a lot more professional.
3. Leaf raking
Where to go: Neighborhoods
What you will need: Rakes, Plastic leaf bags, and Connection cards
With rakes in hand, go in teams from door to door and literally sweep through neighborhoods. This is a project that is best done with more than one group teaming up. Even a small yard with just a few people can be a bit overwhelming. Ideally raking teams are made up of twelve to twenty high-energy members. With that number, you will make short work of someone’s front yard. Limit your offer to the front yard.
The whole neighborhood will come outdoors just to watch! To keep the momentum rolling with this, have someone going several houses ahead of the team to explain the project. After the raking has been finished, have that same person stop back by the houses that have been served to say that you are done. At that time make the offer, “Is there anything we could pray about for you?”
Note: If you have to bag the leaves, rake them into reasonably small piles. Designate some of your team as baggers. If you’re fortunate enough to live in a community that vacuums the leaves from the curb, rake the leaves to the curb for the city to pick up.
What about leaf blowers? They don’t allow as many to be involved in the team process, and they don’t do as good a job at picking up all the leaves from the lawn.
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4. Lawn Mowing
Where to go: Neighborhoods
What you will need: Mowers, three to four of them, and five gallons of gas, connection cards.
Drive around look for long grass. Often when the grass is long at a home, the people who live there have some sort of difficulty going on in their lives.
As they come to the door say, “We’re doing lawn mowing outreach in your neighborhood today for free – no donations – Just to show you God’s love in a practical way.” Confine your services to just mowing. There have been some amazing stories come out of lawn care outreaches.
5. Roof Gutter Cleaning
Where to go: Neighborhoods
What you will need: Ten-foot ladder, rubber gloves, plastic bags, and connection cards
You will get pretty dirty on this one so wear old clothes
6. Address number printing on Curbs
Where to go: Neighborhoods
What you will need: Four-inch stencils of numbers, cans of black spray paint, paint remover, connection cards.
Go through the neighborhood a week in advance with a flyer explaining what you are doing and when you’ll be coming by.
7. Snow removal from walks and drives
Where to go: Neighborhoods
What you will need: Snow shovels, connection cards
8. Christmas tree giveaway or after-Christmas tree collection
Where to go: College campuses, Neighborhoods, shopping centers -(Ask permission for shopping centers)
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What you’ll need: Christmas trees, truck, gloves, and connection cards
Some people can’t afford a tree, but a couple of days before the holiday, people in your small group or church can get them for free or just a few dollars per tree. Negotiate to get several dozen trees and get them with pickup trucks on about December 22. Drive through needy neighborhoods and give them out. A tactful way to do this is to knock on doors and say, “We’re giving away Christmas trees to families who don’t have one yet. Do you happen to know anyone who can’t afford a tree this Christmas season?” If the person you’re talking to needs one, he or she will speak up, or they can refer you to one of their neighbors. Usually the needy are well networked.
9. Christmas Gift-Wrapping
Where to go? Malls, Shopping Centers, Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Sears (Get permission)
What you will need: Tape, wrapping paper, scissors, bows, folding tables, post it type notes, pens, connection cards.
This can be done between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Do not do more than you can handle. Buy the gift-wrapping paper in bulk from a distributor to get the best prices. Some have used the “Bow Magic” bows (made by 3M). They go from flat to pop up when the end is pulled. Some feel they are well worth the cost of about ten cents apiece. I recommend you do a practice session or two before beginning to wrap in earnest.
When wrapping presents, open up the conversation with those you’re serving by saying, “You know, we aren’t employees of the mall. We’re here on our own. We bought and paid for all of these materials and we’re doing it all for free to show you and the community the love of Christ for free at Christmas.”
10. Local church provides school supplies for needy children
Saturday evening churchgoers and volunteers handed out over 100 backpacks filled with school supplies to needy families in Ypsilanti, MI.
important to show "love to the community. ministering to people's needs
26 states to cut education funding for the fiscal year.
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Volunteers from the Ypsilanti Seventh Day Adventist Church pass out backpacks, school supplies and clothes to needy children and their families on Sept.8, 2012. Photo by James Tatum.
"It's not much," Mills said of the supplies. "But it made so many people happy."
The community was very thankful, Mills said.
"We had people come and say 'thank you very much,'" she said.
11. Single parent’s house repair
Where to Go: Neighborhoods
What you will need: Tool kit (basic tools that fix-it people will have)
The challenges that come with being a single parent are enormous. You’ll find this a gratifying and fruitful ministry to single parents by following a few simple rules: Don’t get into projects that you can’t complete in two hours. Two hours is about the maximum length that most volunteers can handle before a project moves form being enjoyable to being a burden. Tell them you only have so much time which one or two things would you like us to put at the top of the list?
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12. Friendly pet outreach to convalescent and retirement homes
Where to go: Neighborhoods, retirement homes
What you will need: Pets (calm ones) pet treats, connection cards
Research has shown that physical contact with fury house pets can bring a lift to the spirit of patients. Take two or three dogs (no cats) to local homes and walk them on leashes from room to room to greet patients. It’s amazing what a little tail wagging can do to lift a downcast attitude. Bring a bag of treats for the patients to feed to the dogs while they pet them. Its only natural to offer to pray for the patients while they are open-heartedly engaged in petting the dogs.
“First meet the temporal necessities…and relieve their physical wants and sufferings, and you will then find an open avenue to the heart, where you may plant the good seeds of virtue and religion.” T 4 P. 227
Romans 2:4 - the goodness of God leads you to repentance
Things to remember: Be organized. Do your behind the scenes preparation. Get permission if necessary to be where you are doing the outreach.
What to say when interacting with those we serve. “We’re here today doing a community service project to show you God’s love in a practical way.”
It is important that those being touched with these acts of kindness have some means of getting back in touch with you if they so desire. Be sure to leave a connection card. In essence, you need to briefly explain what you are doing, then offer a phone number, address, website, and so on for follow-up. Here is an example of a connection card.
13. Donut Giveaway during morning traffic
What you’ll need: Folding tables, donuts, pastry wax paper, (for handling donuts)
Connection cards, wet naps (to clean up after – You’ll get sugar on your hands.
Buy a few hundred glazed and chocolate donuts (get the quantity discount; glazed donuts are about the easiest for motorists to handle while driving). Set up at a freeway off ramp, on a traffic island, or at a long traffic light – anywhere that affords enough time to step into traffic with your box of pastries. Don’t handle the donuts with your hands. Don’t ask, “would you like a donut? Instead say, “Which would you prefer, a glazed or a chocolate?” They get a donut, a connection card, a very brief explanation of what’s going on, and something to ponder on their way to work.