Tips for evangelism in the community
These tips have been brought to you by contributors from Church Army Evangelists, Activate, Purpose Driven Church Europe and Christians to encourage you to Share Faith through Words and Actions.
Street party
How can you love your neighbours if you hardly know them? Why not organise a barbecue for your street one weekend lunchtime, and invite everyone in the street? If possible and not too noisy, hold it in the open or with different hosts for each course. Float the idea with the people you know best, and knock on the doors to invite people personally. If people ask what they can bring, ask them to help with something, or to bring a neighbour – get them involved in feeling that it is their event as much as yours.
New home
Keep a stock of small new home cards – if you can make them yourself – and write in them a simple blessing: “May the Lord bless you in your new home.” When someone new moves in, bake them a cake and take it round an hour after the removal van has gone with a card. Welcome them, introduce yourselves, and invite them to knock on your door when they can’t find something vital. Then get out of their hair and wait for them to knock.
Prayer walk
Do a prayer walk around your area. In small groups simply go for a walk and ask the Holy Spirit to draw your attention to anything that he wishes to highlight. Try to become more aware of the environment around you – the sounds, smells and textures as well as the sights. While you walk, talk out loud to God about what you notice. Greet people you meet, and stop for a chat where it seems appropriate. At the end, bring all the groups back together and talk and pray about your thoughts and experiences.
10,000 minute challenge
There are 10,080 minutes in a week, and most Christians only spend 80 of those in church. Challenge church members to give a proportion of those 10,000 minutes to God by doing something they enjoy with those who do not know him – join a sports club, do someone’s shopping, form a tapestry circle, or raise funds for a local cause which is not explicitly Christian. Get people to sign up their time, write it up in your church newsletter, and commission them at a service as your local missionaries.
Door to door
Terrified of door to door visiting or afraid that they will think you are a sect? Drop a leaflet around a few days before to say you will be calling, and be positive. Look for one person God has appointed you to meet, and don’t be deterred by those he hasn’t. Do a community survey to find out what needs you might meet, or ask people if there is anything they would like prayer for. Be ready to be the answer to prayers yourself – can you offer a lift to hospital, help in a garden or visit someone lonely?
Join a club
Whatever your interests, there is probably a club or group for it – salsa, orchids, parents and tots, slimming, sports, local history, books or whatever takes your fancy. Track it down through the library or the internet and join it. Wear something which identifies you as a Christian – a fish badge, cross, or wristband – as a potential conversation starter. Some sports and health clubs offer spiritual spaces, such as yoga, relaxation or alternative therapies – you might be able to offer Christian meditation, Taize, or even an enquiry group.
Street entertainment
How about taking the gospel out in a light-hearted way to wherever people congregate – the high street, shopping centre, park, leisure centre or the streets outside major sporting events? Make use of or learn skills of juggling, mime, short comic sketches or sketch boarding. Use bright colours and a few props such as a kickstool. Keep whatever you do short, have a 5-minute programme which starts by drawing people in, then stretches their imagination and leaves them with a message. Break before restarting to allow people to disperse and for friends in the audience to chat to those watching.
Street pastors
People don’t expect Christians to hang out on the streets – how can you reach those who do? Street pastor schemes are normally set up in consultation with the police and local community, with proper training and safety monitoring. Street pastors wear a high-profile vest; they talk to people, pray for them, offer basic first aid, help people to get home safely, offer a reassuring presence and generally serve those on the streets. Although originally devised for hazardous urban areas at night, it could work just as well wherever people congregate at any time of day. Read about Steve Simmonds and his street pastor scheme.
Fitness for the Soul
If you are a member of a local leisure centre or sports club ask the management if you can act as chaplain. Explain the concerns about fitness for the soul as well as the body and wear a suitable T-shirt with chaplain or mind body and spirit emblazoned on it. Make this a unique selling point for the sports centre as part of the health and well being agenda. Try to get the centre manager to set aside a quiet area where you can offer prayer support and leave cards with times when you are at the gym and available. Leave a box for prayers.
School run
The schoolyard is a great place for building relationships with other parents or carers. Make a conscious effort to befriend those you see regularly and try to introduce faith issues with them in conversation in sensitive and relevant ways- relating to chat about TV programmes, films or books. When you know them a little better you can ask them what’s on their heart and if there is anything you can pray for them about—you’ll be astonished at how positively this is received. Go that extra mile to help with ferrying kids for school trips and events so they can see the generous spirit of Jesus working in you.
Always keep a seat warm for the Gospel
If you are a fan of a local football or cricket club, and can afford it, why not buy a spare season ticket that is used primarily for outreach purposes. Invite someone who is on the fringe of church to come along and enjoy the game and then stay on for a meal or drink. An excellent befriending method for those interested in sport and for showing that Christians are interested in the game as much as anyone else.
We love our community
Valentine’s Day is all about hearts, chocs and flowers. In the run up to February 14th ask your church to club together and by enough chocs and flowers to deliver to the local community with your own style of valentine’s card saying something like: “This card and small gift is brought to you by your local church because like, Jesus, we want each and everyone of you to know you are loved.” Give a contact phone number or email address for local residents to ask more questions and perhaps include 10 reasons why you are loved by God.
Bless this house
Choose an area in the community that your church would really like to pray for- and then pray for them! But also produce some cards signed by Church members from those same streets or surrounding area and deliver them by hand to the streets to show practically that they are being prayer for. Again be sure to give contact phone number and email addresses.
Walkies witness
Here’s a simple tip from Church Army evangelist Phil Clark. If you don’t have one already, get a dog. Strangers will happily chat to you if you have a dog with you. At parks, on the streets, in shopping centres, or wherever you happen to go for walkies, a dog seems to make you much more approachable. You will make new friends.
As a conversation starter, choose an unusual name for your dog, maybe from the Bible. People will inevitably ask why you gave your dog that name, and then you can explain!
Community Service
God wants you to be salt and light in your community. Select someone or a group of people in service in your local community- mayor, MP, councillor, town centre manager, police, fire service, teachers and take some goodies along to their place of word with a card enclosing a suitable encouraging message.
Street Interviews
Gather some video cameras and send teams of between 3 and 6 people to different places to interview people on the high street or shopping centre nearest your church. Ask non threatening questions about God, worship or prayer and then use the findings to show in church to your congregation to help them to understand the thoughts and feelings of those in your community about God. It should help develop a fresh perspective on outreach and mission in your church.
Work Party
Find a family in your community that needs some work done on their home. Get some members of your church together and help with whatever needs to be done. Even better if you can get someone to cook lunch for your team and the host family to enjoy together. Explain that this is an act of love from your church.
Garage sale with a difference
The next time you and other church members have a mountain of clothes, toys or bric- a brac you would normally give to a charity shop think about the opportunity of using a garage sale on your drive to witness the gospel in a different way. Choose a faith based charity you are supporting and advertise it by saying something like- Garage sales to benefit Tearfund- Christian action for the world’s poor. 5 families working together to make s difference. As well as items for sale have literature available about your church and the cause for which you are fundraising.
Surveys show
Surveys show that well over half the population claim to have had what they would describe as some sort of spiritual experience. But be aware that the vast majority of people may be hesitant to discuss this. We need to give them time and encouragement to talk openly- it may take months. If you listen long enough, you may be privileged to hear what those experiences are. But it takes time. When it happens people find it helpful to share what then have felt and experienced.
Rogation around the fields
If you live in a rural community take a tip from Churches Together in Carlton Beds and mark Rogation Sunday with a walk taking your church through fields of cows, growing grain, allotments and villages. In each case stop and invoke God’s blessing on animals and crops and give thanks for what God provides to make country life possible. This has proved attractive to local villagers and is much appreciated by local farmers.
Prayer cards
Go round the community each month dropping off cards through letter boxes inviting people to write on them requests for prayer. Make clear that these will be collected by volunteers. Whilst some households will find this intrusive, and will probably say so, most people will be appreciative of the church’s concern for them and a number will request prayer. Have a special service each month at which the prayer requests are used in intercessions. Also put a prayer collection box at various locations within the community such as a supermarket or doctor’s surgery. In Eltham, local churches set up prayer points in local high street stores.
How Green is Your Mission?
Addressing environmental issues might be a way for the church community to engage with the local community. For example, a church in Coventry Diocese decided to put on a special meal for local people as part of their mission weekend. The food was produced locally, organic, animal friendly and fair trade as far as they were able.
This supported local food producers, it brought the church into new relationships with people in the community, and it helped to raise issues about our relationship to food production as consumers – for example, local grocers going out of business because of big supermarkets.
Deliver a DVD
Church Army evangelist Martin Garner suggests making a DVD that you can pop through people’s letterboxes. It’s easy and cheap to produce a DVD and you are likely to find somebody in your church that will have good quality video equipment.
Martin says: “Choose a theme for your DVD. One I use a lot is ‘labels’. Somebody talks for a moment about how people get labelled easily. Then have two or three short testimonies from people whose faith has made a difference to them.”
If the DVD is in local dialect with local scenery it will have far more impact.
Something for Nothing
Church Army evangelist George Newell recommends that churches do “giveaways” – in other words, giving something for free to people on the streets and in pubs. He says it changes the community's perception of the church.
Things he has given away in the past include small bags of potatoes coming up to Harvest, pot plants to those moving into new homes, and tea and coffee at bus stops in the morning for those heading to work.
This form of outreach is easy to do. You don't need to be a gifted evangelist. All you need is a smile on your face.
Get Involved in Your Local School
Church Army evangelist Darren Fraser says, “Church Army Sunday’s theme is ‘Get Out More’ and that is just what I have done. A relationship has begun to develop with the local primary school, and I have been invited to join the governors because they value a Christian presence and input within the community school.”
As a result, Darren had 400 children in his church just before Christmas. He has also been invited into the local senior school to share his Christian faith as part of the curriculum.
Get involved in your local school and be a Christian presence there.
