Simple Steps To Practice Fruitful Evangelism
"Evangelism is so far out of my comfort zone I'm not really sure how to begin. But I do see we need it now more than ever."
Building Confidence to tell others about Jesus
STEP 1: Start Where You Are and Ask For Help
Admit struggles and fears but be open to learn, and pray.
Ask for help from the Mission team, or other churches.
Step 2: Rethinking Evangelism
Replace stereotypes of ‘bible bashing’ with simple accessible patterns that work in your context.
| No longer: | Instead: |
| Targeting unwilling strangers | Interested friends and contacts |
| Forcing your agenda | Listening and asking questions |
| One ‘right way’ to do it | Multiple gentle and personal styles |
| I am the expert(I need to know all the answers) | We are both learners on a journey |
| Motivated by fear or 'ought' | Motivated out of love to see the other thrive |
Step 3: Seek Seekers among your existing contacts
‘The work of evangelism is not to try to persuade everyone, but to search for seekers’ (From Leading Your Church Into Growth)
‘I am a seeker, and you are a teacher, you are a reacher, so reach down, reach out and lead me, guide me and keep me in the shelter of your care’ Dolly Parton
Talking Jesus Research shows 20% of people are interested in talking about the possibility of faith.
Not sure who your contact are? Try doing the Mapping Your Galilee Exercise from Leading Your Church Into Growth.
Step 4: Run An Enquirers Course
Research* shows that churches that regularly run enquirers courses - even with very few people - see new people joining their church.
There are many courses out there Alpha, Christianity Explored, Emmaus, Start. The beauty of these is that they do all the heavy lifting for you - with excellent videos, guides and even invitations.
Sharing Faith
This free resource from the Diocese is a short three session course (90 minutes each) for groups, or could be used by individuals, which helps everyone find a way to tell their story of what God has done. It is simple and we think that anyone can do it. It’s free.There are all sorts of ways of sharing our faith, and these will be different for each relationship and person. The truth is that most of need a bit of help and advice in this area.
Word One-One
For many of us the thought of sharing God’s Word with others can be daunting- some would argue that bible study is best left to trained theologians! We strongly beg to differ and offer a super resource that challenges and enables anyone to read scripture with someone who has never read it before and see what God does.
The Word One to One is a resource that was developed to put the Word of God into the hands of ordinary Christians to read (simply read, not teach!) over a cup of coffee with a friend or colleague. It breaks John’s Gospel into accessible parts and it does all the work for you. All you do is buy the coffee, read alongside and watch Jesus come to life for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Some of our churches are already using it with great excitement.
How can you get your hands on it?
Each Deanery has been given a full set of the Word One to One for parishes to borrow. If you have £28 you can buy two sets (one for you and one for your friend) from the '10 of those' website or you can download it for free from The Word One to One website.
Useful Links:
* from Leading Your Church Into Growth
