Creating an effective evangelism strategy

Pastor Kyle here.

 

As I write this, Easter is right around the corner. It’s a unique season in the world (along with Christmas) when folks who are normally not open to attending church will consider it. That being said, the principles I’m going to write about are relevant whether the calendar happens to be close to one of those holidays or not. I want to talk about how to invite people to church without being ignored. On the one hand, the Apostle Paul was absolutely right when he said that the Cross of Jesus is an offense. Elsewhere in 1st Corinthians 1:18 he also said “The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” So as Christians we know two things: the very message of the Cross is what folks need but the fact that we think they need it will offend some. Yet Jesus has left His Church with the #1 goal of reaching the nations for His Name’s sake.

 

So how do we create an evangelism/outreach strategy that actually works in our team. Here are five quick thoughts.

 

1. Know your audience. There are actively churched people (not the type we should be trying to get to come to our church if they attend another bible-teaching church). There are de-churched Christians. These are a great group to invite to any kind of church activity because they are believers who have left the fold of the flock. You don’t have to do any convincing about Christianity. You just have to encourage them to give church another shot. There are de-churched folks who no longer believe. These are tough to win over but my experience is that they are genuinely interested in spiritual conversations and deep friendship. My encouragement is to just try to be a friend to those in this category and the next one. There are folks who do not believe at all. Folks who have a totally different faith structure or none whatsoever are not likely to just show up at a service or want to attend one. For these folks, my encouragement is to bring them to “pre-evangelism” events that are connected to Christians and the church but not a service per se. Bring them into your fold of friends before anything else and see what God does.
2. Show care and concern. In this little instagram reel, I shared the 3 most powerful evangelistic words we can text a person. Ask “HOW ARE YOU?” Then be quiet. It’s been said that people don’t care about what we know until they know we care. Evangelism is not a sermon where we throw a bunch of fliers and Bible verses at people. Evangelism is a conversation that increases in depth as we understand where a person is at and where they’re coming from.
3. Come up with a list of folks and start praying for them. Almost everyone who calls themselves a Christian would probably say they’re passionate about seeing their friends come to Jesus. At the same time, we also know that inviting someone the wrong way can be off-putting and so we often just ignore it. I encourage you to make a list of 10 people you’d like to see come to church and start praying for them. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you which ones are ripe for the harvest. Start texting all of them asking them how they’re doing. Try to get together in person and hang out and see what God does.
4. Ask them if there is anything you can pray for them. In Acts 15:12 it tells us that people were silenced by the signs and wonders the apostles performed in their midst. The knowledge/information about Christianity is one thing. FEELING the presence of the Holy Spirit through prayer is a whole another thing. Folks will be drawn to Jesus when they experience His power firsthand. Oftentimes that comes through prayer.
5. Just go for it and invite them. At some point, we just need to put our money where our mouth is and make the invite. If they say no, just keep loving/praying for them and being a friend. You never know what God will do over time!

 

So that was a long-winded pastoral way of saying… let’s put some action to our prayers. Let’s start ministering to some folks in our lives. Let’s send some loving invites. And let’s see what ONLY GOD can do!

 

See you soon!

 

Pastor Kyle

 

P.S. Here’s the “official” Easter 2023 invite video to share!