Welcome to week 4 of my 6-week blog series, “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” Happy Thursday to you. I trust that this weekly series is driving you deeper in your study of evangelism by giving you a sneak peak (or review!) of my new book, Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church.
Last week, we discussed how pastors can use the staff, stage and structure of the church to keep the evangelism temperature hot. This week, we are going to shift our focus away from the pastor and talk about our people’s personal evangelism. How can you light a fire for personal evangelism in your regular attenders and members? Read on…
Today’s Topic:
Personal Evangelism: x = tools + training + timeliness
As we discussed last Thursday, challenging your people from the stage is essential, but it won’t get you far if you aren’t also equipping them for the challenge. So, how can you give your members and regular attenders what they need to be able to invite their friends to church? What can you do to increase the likelihood that they will step out on faith and ask that often uncomfortable question?
Personal evangelism is all about helping your people see the opportunities they have to invite their friends and then helping them to seize those opportunities. You want them to see and seize every opening God provides.
Getting your people ready for the work of evangelism is, well, work. You’ll have to invest some time and effort. But if you commit to putting certain elements in place, you can ensure a heightened level of effectiveness.
There is a proven way to grow the percentage of your people who are actually extending invitations at every opportunity. You just have to put the Personal Evangelism Formula to work for you. This formula looks like one you may remember from your algebra days. It follows the form of x = a+b+c.
If x = high levels of personal evangelism, let’s take a closer look at the other elements we need to plug in to bring those high levels into being…
a = TOOLS. People are more likely to do what you ask of them, if you give them some tools that will make things easier.
b = TRAINING. They will respond even more favorably if you provide them with a little training, so they feel confident in what they are being asked to do.
c = TIMELINESS. With tools and training, you will have your people on the right track, but there’s one more thing that will greatly increase the likelihood that they’ll start inviting people to church. Give them a reason to do it “now.” Provide a sense of urgency.
x = TOOLS + TRAINING + TIMELINESS
That’s the true formula for personal evangelism. If you give people the tools they need, train them how to use those tools, and then give them a period of time in which they need to carry out their task, you will send your evangelistic temperature soaring:
HIGH LEVELS OF PERSONAL EVANGELISM = TOOLS+TRAINING+TIMELINESS
Don’t miss any of these three elements. Too often, we train people from the stage or through small group studies, but we don’t give them any accompanying tools. We don’t put anything in their hands.
Then again, sometimes we give them good tools and training, but set no timeframe. Successfully equipping our people means ensuring that we provide them with all three variables of the Personal Evangelism Formula.
For more in depth information on how you can keep the evangelistic temperature of your church red hot, make sure to pick up your copy of Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. You may also want to check out my popular resource, “The Evangelism System.” Just click here.
Did you know that you can also use promotion to ignite your church’s evangelism? In fact, promotion can be incredibly effective and lots of fun. It also provides great “air cover” for your people as they put their new evangelism skills to work. We’ll talk more about that next Thursday!
– Nelson
P.S – If you missed the first three posts, don’t worry! Just click here for Week 1. Click here for Week 2. And click here for Week 3.
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