Considerations For Evangelism

A Model For Effective Evangelism for the 21^st Century

Vision Statement:

Develop devoted and passionate followers of “The Way” (Acts 9:2; John 14:6).

 Mission Statement:

Identify the gifts and talents of our people and to provide a platform in which they can become spiritually mature at all age levels, working together to impact their culture and the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Values:

·         We will be Incarnational and Inspirational  

Ø  Following Jesus’ model (John 1:14), we will endeavor to be a presence within the community – seeking to understand their world, ministering to their needs, answering their questions, easing their doubts and providing a safe space in which to grow. We will be Inspirational by adhering to the Bible as the normative source for all of living.

·         We will be Missionally driven

Ø  Answering God’s call (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:10), we will endeavor to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”

·         We will be intentionally prayerful

Ø  Following Jesus’ example (Matthew 9:35-10:5), we will have compassion for the community and prepare and send workers out into the harvest.

·         We will embrace a Servant Leadership model

Ø  Following Jesus’ example (Mark 1), we will make the effort to “Identify with the people we serve, get our priorities straight, rely on the Bible, believe in our message and minister to our team members” (Robbins,74-76).

The Process:

Community – All the people we are trying to reach.

There are two focus groups within the community:  The IN - group and the OUT- group.

§  The IN- group – This group comprises young people belonging to families and friends already attending or have visited the church at least once by association

§  The OUT- group – This comprises members of the surrounding community, business places, schools and other institutions. Members of this group may not have already attended the church/are unfamiliar with this ministry. We would do well to develop an Incarnational strategy to recruit within this community intentionally to make converts.

Crowd – Those that have made a commitment and shown an interest in ministry and personal

                growth and development.

Core – These are a smaller group of people having the highest degree of commitment to faith in Christ and the ministry. This group includes the leaders and mentors who provide instruction, support training, or a very committed and dependable volunteers or members of the ministry.

The Strategy

In accordance with our core values, we will utilize the Incarnational Missional model.

1. Working with available resources and ministries, we will target the Community – use of ministry Facebook and media platforms, the radio program, direct mail, benevolence packages, visitor follow-up, enrollment drives and the bus ministry, school/campus ministries
2. Recruits are directed to the appropriate age-group ministries where they are encouraged to become disciples of Christ. This includes a New Convert class and a Baptismal class.
3. New believers are then dispersed into the Crowd after becoming a disciple. It is here that there will be an intentional effort to train up these new believers according to Ephesians 4:11-13.
4. Within the first 90 days, new disciples will be given a spiritual gifts assessment. This will help them to identify their God-given gifts. A process will be in for ongoing development of gifts and growth through the study of the Bible.
5. All age-groups within the churches will have trained leaders who can mentor individuals to the next level. They will also learn to become more like Christ from being a part of a community where spiritual development and growth is normative. Strategies like going out into the field in two’s (according to the 1 Timothy 2:2 principle) will be a great start. We can provide platforms for giving and receiving feedback during the training and mentoring process. We will achieve this through intentional ministry programs that consider the spiritual maturity of the audience, awesome fellowship and ministry mission opportunities.
6. Select individuals with leadership skills will naturally flow into the Core group. It is here that they will enter into greater mentor relationships geared at reproduction. Leaders pour into students who reproduce themselves into both the crowd and communities. The mandate here is Jesus call to ‘Bear Fruit” (John 15:8). Deployment occurs after individuals have been trained and given the opportunity to engage others. Reproduction occurs once the individual has successfully recruited someone from the community and they became a part of the crowd.

These core members will become leaders of congregations or new church plants. We may also consider replacing status quo existing leaders with men and women who are bought in to the vision of reproducing. The goal will be to plant new churches every year and this will require a constant flow in and out of the Way Missional Model.

Strategy Application

·         There must be a greater emphasis placed on Baptism: Ø  Each church will have a Baptism class/program with a unique curriculum that accommodates the leaning needs of each people group ·         There must be a greater emphasis placed on Evangelism: Ø  A key piece of the Sunday School and Bible studies curricula will include training on: 1)      Promoting the Gospel through Christian Behavior 2)      Being the Light of the World 3)      The Missionary Mind of Ordinary Christians 4)      Promoting the Gospel through Daily Conversation 5)      The Role of the Christian Ambassador 6)      Presenting the Gospel to Postmoderns 7)      Utilize “Response Filtering mechanisms” (Garrison, D.) Ø  Consideration given to reaching other ethnic minorities. ·         There must be a greater emphasis placed on presence in the Communities and Marketplace: Creating Christian outposts within the communities: Ø  Campus ministries, training ministers to work with schools’ guidance counselors Ø  Encouraging saints to join boards of organizations, running for political offices and finding ways to contribute to educational institutions and media companies ·         There must be a greater emphasis placed on Apologetics: Ø  Start Christian schools with a solid offering of Bible Doctrine courses and encourage members to pursue theological degrees Ø  Feed members of the church community a steady diet of how to give an “Apt Reply”. We will teach them how to be prepared to give answer for their faith (1 Peter 3:15) [Dickson, 172]

·         There must be a greater emphasis on Prayer ·         There must be a deliberate effort made to plant churches Ø  We should set goals and make commitments to reproducing after our own kind. We will utilize several models including house-to-house and cell groups and traditional church plants Ø  We will employ the P.O.U.C.H. strategy as part of training.

References:

Carson, D.A. Telling The Truth. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (2000)

Dickson, J. The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (2010)

Garrison, D. Church Planting Movements. Retrieved from: https://cccb.instructure.com/courses/297/files/70659?module_item_id=22453
GoogleImages
Written by Kevin A. Hall