In considering the preparation for an effort as to its mechanical aspects, let us go back to the beginning. In making plans for our series of meetings while in Minneapolis, we met with our conference president and treasurer months before the effort began, and in turn they met with the committee in order to lay coordinated, effective plans for soul winning. This is the first step in planning and executing an evangelistic program. Counsel strongly with your conference president. Take him into your confidence. Share with him your hopes and your fears, and the counsel given you will be of inestimable value.
Ten Steps in Evangelism
I. INITIAL STEPS.—After the program has been broadly outlined in your conferences with the president, the first step is to find a good hall or theater, or a suitable location for a tent or tabernacle. It would be well to give diligent thought to the location. This is highly important. Taking a big piece of the budget in order to secure a proper meeting place is money well spent. Much time must be given to it when planning the effort.
The second step in the preliminary planning of the effort is to secure radio time if a radio station is located in the community where the effort is to be held.
The third item of the preliminary planning is to make contact with the newspaper or newspapers, and to find out the amount of space available. Space is difficult to secure in certain localities.
After locating the meeting place, securing radio time and newspaper space, the next plan would be to fit these items together into a budget by preparing a full financial program. The budget should, of course, include sufficient funds for a liberal literature program, as well as other advertising mediums.
2. SECURING CO-OPERATION OF CHURCHES.— The second phase of our evangelistic planning now comes into focus. First, we should consider taking the church or churches into our confidence in the locality where the effort is to be held. Tell them of your vision, and what you hope to be able to accomplish. Let your faith reach out to God for a large harvest of souls, and let the church know that your vision encompasses the needs of their locality. Plan carefully with the church officers, explaining your evangelistic program to them; and then widen your confidence by taking in the church board. After this has been done, it is highly important to plan for church revivals with a special emphasis placed upon holiness among God's people. Then invite them to share in a financial way in the evangelistic program.
Experience has shown that where the church participate in a financial way in the program, their interest in the meeting increases proportionately. Should the church get the idea that the effort is a conference proposition, they immediately lose the personal interest that the evangelist must maintain if he is to succeed fully. Then, of course, the church should be so organized that every member will have some part in the program. I have never found it to be a handicap to advertise our meetings as those sponsored by Seventh-day Adventists. When we work to the plan of identifying our evangelistic program as a Seventh-day Adventist meeting, the church's enthusiasm rises.
Also, in the second phase of our evangelistic preparation there is the matter of dividing the city into various districts. Provide maps,to the members of the church who will take these small segments of territory and distribute the printed announcements at the beginning of the meeting. I explain to the people that they will be asked to distribute handbills only four times during the effort. We use handbills the first two weeks of the meeting and then two more weeks at the time of the presentation of the Sabbath question. We utilize the newspapers and enlist the cooperation of those who attend the meetings. And, of course, we use the standard forms of advertising—outdoor billboards, window cards, radio logs, and special invitations mailed to business and professional people of the city.
I explain to the church that at the close of the effort we will have a fellowship meeting, at which time the new converts will be introduced to the church member who worked the territory in which the new convert resides. Those fellowship meetings are the happiest meetings I have ever attended or conducted. Tears of joy flow freely as our people see the results of their labor. Then the older member is asked to look after the new member, and when the new member is absent from the service to report it at once to the pastor. Thus the follow-through work is greatly simplified.
Two weeks before the meeting was to begin, we sent out a specially prepared card, inviting the people to write in for a special reserved seat for the opening meeting. A we-pay-thepostage postal card was attached to the announcement. In this manner we started our meetings with approximately one thousand requests for reserved seats. By using the reserved-seat idea for five consecutive weeks we had over a thousand requests each Sunday night for reserved seats. What evangelist would not be inspired by such a response!
3. ALLOCATION OF RESPONSIBILITY.—Now. we shall discuss the fifth phase of the evangelistic preparation. We should organize our group of fellow laborers by giving to each one definite responsibilities. We should work in mutual confidence and with absolute faith one with another. By dividing the responsibilities, such as the bookstand, arranging for ushers, the music, the stereopticon operation, treasurer's work, and so forth, each worker will have his responsibility and task.
4. PLANS FOR FIRST MEETING.—The sixth phase- is planning for the first meeting. Great thought should be given to the selection of an appropriate and attractive title for the first lecture, and that lecture should be made the biggest event in town. It is always desirable to have some way of knowing just who attended the meeting the opening night, and yet it is not always best to ask the people to sign a card at that time, for people are a bit suspicious of signing cards, especially so since they know that the meeting is Seventh-day Adventist.
For the opening night in Minneapolis we worked out a plan whereby people were invited to register for a free souvenir. We have been using as our souvenir, a lovely silk-embroidered, Bible bookmark of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's prayer, and the beatitudes. Along with this souvenir we send a message printed in the form of a scroll, encouraging the study of the Bible, and a mimeographed letter of thanks for attendance at the meetings.
By means of this souvenir offer we received 1,300 names. This gave an excellent basis for a mailing list to follow up the interest. Some may object to signing a card requesting one thing or another, but they do not mind nearly so much registering for a souvenir. This plan has worked very successfully.
Be sure to have everything thoroughly organized for the first meeting. Have the ushers well organized and the music fully co-ordinated. Make the platform as beautiful as possible. Emphasize to all your fellow workers that friendliness and sincere kindness should be most pronounced. We must keep our dignity, yet bend enough to be warm and wholehearted.
5. VARIOUS WAYS OF GETTING NAmEs.—The seventh phase of our work is the getting of names. I have already mentioned that we secure a great number of names through the souvenir offer and the registry on the opening night. Other names are secured by special lists from our own people, radio offerings, reserved seats, sermon requests, prayer list requests, and the Bible correspondence plan.
Let me say a word about the Bible correspondence plan. We offer, among other things, a special Bible correspondence course. We use the Home Bible Course, published by the Southern Publishing Association, but we have worked out a series of true-and-false questionnaires to go with it. The plan is for the people who enroll in the Bible course to bring in their questionnaire, and deposit it with the one in charge of the Bible course at beginning of the evening service; then at the close of the meeting they stop by and pick up the corrected questionnaire with the next lesson. When the student finds it difficult to understand some part in the lesson, it affords the Bible instructor a wonderful opportunity to simply say, "Mrs. ___________ , I haven't time to discuss this matter now, but I will be glad to come by tomorrow, and We will study the question together." How easy it is to gain access to a home in this way.
6. WELL-ROUNDED FOLLOW-THROUGH.—The eighth phase of the evangelistic program is the follow-through. The first on this list, of course, is the heavy visiting program. The personal visiting program must not be neglected. It is here that many evangelistic companies fail in their objective. Mailing the correspondence and printed literature will not substitute for the friendly smile and soft-spoken word of the personal worker. It is highly important that in the follow-through we win the victory by praying for the individual in a direct appeal to God.
There must be intense personal work, and the worker must keep alert for every sign of interest. We have a specially prepared card upon which the degree of interest is recorded. In our workers' meeting we 'go through the plan together, step by step along the way to final decision.
Other points in the follow-through phase are the conducting of a Bible class, aftermeetings for groups remaining for prayer, the community course of Bible study, the correspondence course, and the radio Bible correspondence course.
7. REAPING THE RESULTS.—The ninth phase of our evangelistic program is reaping the harvest, or in other words, planning for the baptism. I believe that it is entirely possible to realize a large number of baptisms in a big city effort, and still have candidates thoroughly prepared. Simply because fewer in number are baptized does not indicate that they are better prepared for baptism. It is true that it is easy to have folks step into the baptismal waters unprepared in the large effort, but it is equally true in a smaller effort. The first part in the long step toward baptism must be to lead the people to a full conversion. Where a large city effort is being held, a well co-ordinated plan should be worked out with all the pastors, concerning the manner of handling the baptisms. so. ANCHORING THE CONVERTS.—The tenth phase of the evangelistic program is anchoring the people. The visiting campaign must not be stopped after they have been baptized. By organization of the laity a well co-ordinated visiting program can be carried out. A new revival should be planned and new meetings organized, so that the new people may get a taste of the joy and thrill of soul winning. Then they too will start to work for Christ, and the evangelist will find himself beginning all over again in the leading of souls to Christ.
(In forthcoming issues of THE MINISTRY we will deal in greater detail with some of the specific phases of evangelism mentioned in this chapter.-34. K. E.)