Hi guys, I would like to share some outreach ideas I read from a book.
Evangelism Styles:
l Confrontational (Peter)
l Intellectual (Paul)
l Testimonial (Blind Man, John 9)
l Interpersonal (Matthew in Luke 5)
l Invitational (Woman at the well, John 4)
l Serving (Tabitha, Acts 9).
Outreach Preparation:
1. Prepare a self-testimony note to carry with you
1Peter 3:15- always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
l Before & after I decide to follow Christ- the change God has done on me (so people can see your difference)
l Why I realize and decide I need Christ to survive? What is that? When it happens? Where? How to follow Christ? (Salvation)
2. Prepare some Christ-helping-me or Christ-teaching-me experiences.
3. Focus on self-testimony instead of bible verses. (People have more resistance for objective arguments/saying and they tend to doubt or argue with it; but they rarely argue with personal testimony/experience)
4. Make a list of 3 names (non-believers or new-believers close to you) and share with them!
Outreach Essentials: (how to do)
1. Care first-Listen first-Support first (show people that you care and have passion in helping them to be happier- start with showing interest in listening his/her stories first before sharing your testimony; people usually want to listen to you after you listen to them)
2. Attention- Relevance: it’s not how many Bible verses or stories you remember, but how much/well you can relate Bible verses to real-life experience (that’s when the Gospel becomes concrete and powerful instead of an abstract, not-useful idea)
My sharing: I bought a large (1foot x 1.5foot) aerial scenery book of British Columbia, which is freaking amazing and beautiful. I read it with my non-believer friend. He loves the scenery. Then I shared; God’s creation is so beautiful. God is so beautiful and loves us so much.
3. How to start? What to talk?
l Pray to God Almighty, he will prepare
l When you listen first and carefully, the person will give you many clues on where to start with.
E.g. He might talk about meaning of life (it means he has struggle/interest in meaning of life- start here)
My sharing: I ask my non-believer friend “what do you think about church or fellowship?”- He then gave me ideas and I was able to expand on them
4. Outreach is a simple, normal human activity: (it’s not a philosophical/theological argument/debate) you don’t have to read the whole bible first before reaching out, you just have to love and care (every one can out reach)
Analogy- do you have to read the whole Bible before dating your boy friend or girl friend or making new friends?
If you cannot answer some bible questions, introduce them to your credible Christian friends, or bring them back to fellowship/church/bible study/get-together.
Key Point: people around actually have a burning passion for the meaning of life, God, truth... once we can relate our abstract Bible ideas into real-life, they will just love it
God bless us all to be a good testimony of you and use love given by you God Almighty and love like Jesus. Amen
In God
Joseph
-- Edited by servant Joseph at 12:46, 2004-09-27
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The Fear of the Lord is to hate evil & to shun evil. Whoever walks in the counsel of the wicked lacks judgment, little knowing it will cost him his life...
1. Pray and trust O God! Recently I outreached a couple of my friends. There weren't any signs of interest. However, after I prayed, my friends phoned me and ask me about God! Miracles!
2. What is the goal of our actions? Spread the seed! Right, but what is "spread the seed"? Is it just telling a stranger about God? Many people won't want to listen to a foreign God and words just can't enter their mind. However, we can do 1 powerful thing: help them and encourage them to "re-think" about their life! Inspire, motivate and guide them to re-think about their meaning of life, their personal value, "how to be 100% happy?", their life goals, definition of success, marriage, etc... Merely telling people about Jesus without raising their motivation to search for a better life is very ineffective.
2. Ministry ~ Evangelism:
Ministry- serving & loving people is actually a very good way of sharing the Gospel! Becoz, you not only share some abtract notions about God, but also put ideas and words into actions! People can concretely experience the power of the Gospel- God's love! In addition, in serving, we can build up a closer relationship or friendship.
3. Strategyof outreach:
Focus on listening and asking good questions. Focus on "catching" people (raise their interest in joining Christian-oriented activities for follow-up) instead of "teaching" people. A good way might be- ask people about their identity, ask ask ask, after you got enough information, you can ask some tentative question to challenge, say "how good/secure is your meaning of life (or similar values)?" Guide people to re-think, and to clarify or challenge their own beliefs. In this case, we act like a guide instead of a teacher (coz people themselves find their solution instead of we providing it).
give thanks to God Almighty!
-if you can, please pray for all people who haven't known God personally.
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The Fear of the Lord is to hate evil & to shun evil. Whoever walks in the counsel of the wicked lacks judgment, little knowing it will cost him his life...
I'd like to add one recent inspiration~
