Lori met Gail at a knitting club in their local apartment complex. They became friends, and Lori invited Gail to church. They began Bible studies, and Lori asked Gail to attend a Bible study series at her local church. They came every night together, and Gail responded to the invitation to give her life to Jesus. Lori had expressed a need to be rebaptized. During an altar call that Gail came forward for, she encouraged Lori to come forward. They were baptized together as sisters in Christ!
Evangelism creates an atmosphere like nothing else can. It revives every department and member of the church. Hearts are transformed in a providential way when the truths of the Bible are proclaimed publicly, Christ is uplifted, and prophecy points to a message of hope and the importance of accepting Jesus as Lord and coming King.
Complete the cycle
Evangelism is a command; Jesus told us to preach the gospel. It does not always work, though, because we only complete part of it, not the whole evangelism cycle. A healthy cycle includes preparing your church through prayer and organizing, preparing the community through outreach events, preparing participants through felt-needs seminars and Bible studies, conducting a reaping series of evangelism, and follow-up work where newly baptized people are visited and in classes to ask questions and build a solid understanding of and commitment to what they have learned. None of these parts work effectively alone; they must be done together.
Here are seven simple tips to help make evangelism a priority in your church:
- Pick three members every month or quarter and ask them to accompany you on Bible studies. Invest in them specifically each week and watch them grow.
- Challenge each of your elders to personally win a soul this year. Likewise, challenge every church department to win a soul. Help them make plans that will accomplish that end and celebrate when they do.
- Make evangelism the top priority of your board meetings. Ask God to help you form your plans to make mission your key focus.
- Have weekly mission challenges that allow members to grow by giving them specific guidance on how they can share their faith. Examples: Hand out 10 tracts or books this week. Invite one person to church. Share your testimony with one person. Offer to pray with three people and share encouraging literature with them. Change it up each week. Have the sharing materials ready for the members to take with them.
- At every church social, concert, or event your church has, give a short one-to-two-minute invitation to visitors to take a free Bible study course. Have a table nearby where people can sign up. You will be amazed to see how many you get over a year!
- If you have a school, train the older students how to give Bible studies to the younger ones. It can start a true revival to have youth leading youth to Christ. Also, let members in the church who desire to give studies but are nervous share with youth who have an interest in baptism. They can gain confidence and build lifelong friendships and discipleship as they grow together!
- Make sure you are utilizing the entire cycle of evangelism. Do not do community service projects only and call it evangelism. Do not only do prophecy seminars. Follow the entire cycle and let God bless your entire growing season, harvest, and discipleship!
There is nothing more thrilling to witness than people who give themselves to Jesus and become a part of God’s family. However, some continue to spread the false idea that evangelism doesn’t work. To those people, the response is, “Tell them that.” Tell Lori or the countless others who came to Jesus through personal and public evangelism. They will tell you it is what led them to the most profound journey with Jesus they have ever experienced.
Evangelism still works!
