This week we’ve been looking at the power of personal evangelism — the act of a person sharing the gospel with another — and how it’s the most effective way to bring people to your church.

If you missed Part 1, you can catch up right here.

We introduced a proven equation for effectiveness:

Tools + Training + Timeliness = High Levels of Personal Evangelism

BRINGING THE EQUATION TO LIFE — WITH URGENCY
Recently we put this equation to work at The Journey for a Big Day:

Two weeks ahead of time, we gave everyone in the church a stack of postcard invitations with the series information on one side and our location details on the other (tools).

We explained how to use them (training).

We also encouraged them to invite their friends next week (timeliness).

The issue of creating urgency is an important one. We don’t operate in the realm of the important but the critical. That’s human nature. Lots of people have good intentions regarding inviting their friends to church, but those intentions live in the realm of the important, not the urgent. So it is easy to put it off until next Sunday…and then the next…and the next.

But you can avoid the procrastination by plugging urgency into your evangelism equation. Give your people a deadline for extending an invitation to their friends. Big days — like Easter — create a natural urgency that you can capitalize on.

THE PRINCIPLE OF STRETCH AND RELEASE
The principle of stretch and release says that people perform closest to their full potential when they are given periods of rest between stretches of growth. This applies to evangelism. You can’t stretch your members and regular attenders to do evangelism all the time. They will get tired of hearing you talk about it and begin to tune you out.

The key is to stretch your people for a season — push them hard to invite friends, give tools, talk about it every week — and then release. Let it rest, and then when it is time for the next day, push again. Stretch and release.

Stay tuned for the rest of the series, as we next cover several tools that you can use to equip your people for evangelism.

Your partner in ministry,

Nelson

P.S. For more on growing your church through evangelism, check out my book Ignite: How to Spark Immediate Growth in Your Church.

This book gives you a step-by-step, biblically grounded, proven plan for using a “Big Day” to mobilize your church for evangelism.

Click here to learn more about this powerful book. 

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.