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Preparing Your Church to Evangelize
Getting a big crowd to a special event is one thing; getting them to church is another.
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At least four times a year, we hand out a bringing-and-including packet. It includes training tapes on how to include your friend in a small group or an outreach event (which we call bringer-and-includer services). The packet includes cards to give to friends; each card lists service times and shows a map to church. We also survey our people: "What would your friends be most disposed to come hear?" Several times a year we use those results to create messages geared toward people without church experience. One sermon series on the family, for example, targeted the unchurched. We assumed hearers were unconvinced about God's plan for the family, so we explained and illustrated why God's plan works. In such an outreach sermon, we begin with our culture—a contemporary song or current film—and work toward the Bible, ending with exposition. We follow up visitors based on the assumption they have been brought by friends. When visitors make a decision to receive Christ, we'll say something such as, "If you brought a guest today, and he or she would appreciate assistance in learning more about the Christian life, we encourage you to go together to the reception room. There you can pick up packets geared for those who have just made a decision for Christ. Please consider setting a time this week—perhaps over lunch—to go through the packet together. "Then, you can do several good things for your friend. First, if you're not in a small group, join one with them. Our information booth will direct you to a good one. Second, get into our Church 101 class with your friend." (Often a friend's conversion becomes the bringer's first step in full-blown discipleship.) In the weeks following an outreach event, we make one call to that visitor, but we make three phone calls to the bringer. We ask, "Are there specific issues we can help you with?" Several years ago we thought about how to make our church less pastor-driven and more lay-driven. It struck us that we encouraged our people to minister, and, as a result, they would often bring a friend to Christ. But then we took the celebration away from them: the pastors, the paid people, did all the baptizing. So we made a decision: "From now on, no pastors baptize. If someone brings a friend to the Lord, he or she gets to baptize that friend." Immediately we saw an explosion in the number baptized. Big burly guys would step into the baptistery tank and start crying. Joe the mechanic would tell how his buddy Bob came to one of our musicals and three months later received the Lord. Other churches may have theological reasons for not doing that, but the point is this: We emphasize the convert's bond with the body of Christ, not with the professional. The strategic step is to invest in the layperson, viewing pastors as lending assistance and giving tools to the people who are really doing the ministry. |             |
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