Prayer Evangelism Strategy
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Let’s Pray
Pray like an evangelist:
Does your own heart burn for the people in the line at the grocery store who will spend eternity separated from God? If it doesn’t, here’s a prayer that God regularly uses to keep my heart soft toward people who don’t know Christ: “Lord, I don’t ask you for much today. Just give me your heart for lost people.”
You may have heard me tell my story of how that prayer broke my heart and moved me from my comfortable church position in Colorado to plant a church in Southern California. And you should know that I regularly go into seasons of praying that prayer to renew my heart for people outside the church. Keep praying that prayer until you find yourself weeping for the lost people around you.
Inspire and equip your church members to be light and salt in your community:
Light and salt can take the form of random acts of kindness, next door events, and partnering with local agencies. Equipping involves teaching your people to speak the name of Jesus and show his mercy in your city.
Invite your community to church:
You may think that your community could show up at your church any weekend, but that’s the problem. Any weekend translates into “someday” which, unfortunately, never comes, unless you do something about it. People need a reason to visit your church. Here are the three reasons that I think work best:
Wow Weekends – you have a special guest who is such a big deal that the people in your city say, “Wow.”
Church Campaigns – you spend four to six weeks on a topic that addresses a big felt need of people outside church, like family, money, or meaning in life.
Comeback Events – you draw back people who came at one time, but have dropped out for one reason or another.
Make your church a place that people want to come back to:
It’s hard to get newcomers to stick around long enough to investigate Christianity if you don’t make them feel comfortable: How’s your follow-up with newcomers?, How do you help them get connected and integrated?, Is your building in the best shape it can be?, Does it smell clean?Can they find friends at your church?
The answers to these questions are your Assimilation System. Yes, I know, you could do wonders if you had more money, but elbow grease, good taste, and friendly social skills cost zero dollars. Use what God has put in your congregation to make your church an attractive place to be.
Follow-up with new believers:
Do you have someone who meets with a new believer at the end of the service to clarify their commitment to Christ? Do you set up a follow-up time to meet with them to help them take their first steps in their new relationship with Jesus?
Our Next Steps team is already scattered around the auditorium when I ask people to raise their hands if they just asked Christ into their lives. They slip a card into the person’s hand with an invitation to meet them at our discipleship booth in the lobby. Then we personalize the new believer process by training Next Step team members to meet personally with each new believer at the time and place most convenient to them.
Have a plan for helping new believers grow up spiritually:
No doubt you already have a system for discipleship in your church. It includes your weekend services, small groups or Sunday School classes, ministry roles, stewardship, and a smorgasbord of church events. I hear pastors complain that the people in their church don’t ever really grow up in Christ. You know them… stuck somewhere in spiritual adolescence… sometimes acting like an adolescent.
What if they just need to know what maturity looks like and to be challenged to get there:
Rick Warren’s Base Path is discipleship genius. He makes it easy for people in his church to see (1) that there’s a goal, and (2) how to get there. The sports analogy knocks it out of the ball park. Guys can relate to it. It communicates that there’s a goal, and you want to try to win.
You can shape your discipleship offerings into a system and strategy with a little thought and prayer, a couple of meetings, and some graphic design and communication.
Preach every weekend knowing that there are people in the audience who don’t know Jesus yet:
I write my messages to include all the different people in the audience:
Mature Christians who want to be challenged and learn something new about the Bible, New Christians who need to see what it means to live for Jesus. Pre-Christians who should see that there just might be something for them in this Jesus thing.
Insider language, assuming everyone is already saved, and polarizing politics will shoo people who don’t know Jesus right out of your church. It’s hard to lead people to Jesus if you scare them off before you ever get to the gospel. Plus it’s harder to get your church members to invite their unchurched friends if you make it awkward.
Present the gospel regularly in your children’s and youth ministries and teach the kids how to share their faith:
Do your next generation ministries present the gospel on a regular basis and give the children and teens an opportunity to live for Jesus?
I hope so! You’ll see fruit and growth in those departments if you make it about a real, life-changing relationship with Jesus. It has to be fun and relational, of course, but Next Gen ministry is too critical for fun and size to be your primary priorities. Be intentional about leading the next generation to Jesus, and to maturity in their faith, and you will have a strong evangelistic outlook in your church.
Have a ministry in your church that teaches people how to share the gospel:
We’ve learned over the years that pastors leading people to Christ from the platform does not make an outwardly-focused church. An essential part of an evangelism system is a class that equips your church members to share their faith. We partner with Gospel Colors Outreach because they have a program that trains adults, teens, and kids to share their faith using the 5 colors of the gospel. We love that families go on weekend missions trips to share the gospel together.
Provide missions trips or local outreaches where your people personally share the Gospel with others:
Mission trips in evangelistically effective churches do more than build a house or lead a VBS. The people on the trip go out to lead people to Jesus. Most people aren’t naturally evangelists, so a mission trip is an intensive opportunity for them to practice sharing their faith. Once they experience it on a trip, they will be more comfortable sharing Christ in their everyday lives. When you equip people to share their faith, and let them practice, and make it normal, you release a cadre of evangelists in your church and city.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen!.
Your church’s evangelism system is what builds layers of an outward, gospel focus that makes it normal… inevitable… for people to come to Christ in your church. Evangelism is not one outreach and done. To be evangelistically effective, you need an evangelism system that permeates your church culture. Don’t get overwhelmed and click away! Evangelism is relatively easy to do, if you start small and work on it every week.
Original Prayer By “Pastor Mentor”
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