Church Strategic Evangelism Plan

Luke 14:15–23 (NLT)

15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.

17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’

18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’

19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20 Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’

23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.

INTRODUCTION:

“Evangelism: the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ, which arises naturally from believers’ love for God and appreciation of all that God has done for them. The NT stresses the importance of evangelism, and provides guidance as to how it should be carried out.”

“Strategy: a careful plan or method; a clever stratagem.” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)

Key Word: Intentionality

What is an evangelism strategy?

Jesus commands us to take the gospel to the whole world. The Great Commission is for all believers in all times. Pastors (who are called to equip the saints for the work of ministry, Eph. 4:11-12) must do their part to mobilize their churches to fulfill the Great Commission. God has placed your church in your community and intends for you to lead it evangelistically.

Ephesians 4:11–12 (NLT)

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

An evangelism strategy attempts to mobilize your church to proclaim the good news. The pastor serves as a thoughtful navigator that organizes his people for evangelism success. He develops a careful and thoughtful plan to move the church from the pew to the people.

Examples:

Jesus (Luke 10:1-12)

Luke 10:1–12 (NLT)

1 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.

2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.

4 Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.

5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’

6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you.

7 Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.

8 “If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you.

9 Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’

10 But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

11 ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’

12 I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on judgment day.

Paul (Acts 17:2-3)

Acts 17:2–3 (NLT)

2 As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people.

3 He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.”

STEP 1: THE EVANGELISTIC VISION

The first step to develop an evangelistic strategy is to develop an evangelistic vision.

When thinking about an evangelistic vision for your church, consider the following:

• Why did God place your church where it is?

If this church could accomplish only four evangelistic tasks in a year, what would they be? • How much of your ministry is geared toward the harvest, and how much is designed to take care of the grain? • If your church had only had one year of existence left, what would you do? • If you only had one year of existence left, how would you lead the church? • What kind of evangelistic potential lies within the church that has not yet been tapped for the kingdom of God?

STEP 2: CONSIDER EVANGELISTIC POSSIBILITIES

In military terms, a strategy is a plan of military operations or movements during a war or a battle. Evangelism is indeed a war, a war for souls that will be fought over a succession of battles. The evangelistic strategy must include various movements and operations in order to accomplish the vision. Listed below are several ideas to consider for your strategy.

Evangelism Training— A set amount of time where either the pastor or a guest speaker teaches an evangelism strategy such as Share Jesus Without Fear, Front Door Evangelism, Personal Evangelism, 3 Circles, or how to give an evangelistic testimony.

Servant evangelism— Bringing God’s kindness in practical ways such as coffee giveaways, bagging and loading groceries for people, or paying people’s library fines.

Prayer walking— Moving your people into the streets to pray for the people that live in those homes. Community mission trip— Take a mission trip in your own town by helping with home repair, a local community center, or in a needy neighborhood. Evangelistic mission trip— Take your church overseas to help an IMB missionary or into an urban city center to help a NAMB church planter share the gospel (these trips can create evangelistic passion when the people return home). Front door evangelism— Present the gospel door to door using a gospel presentation. Friend and family day— An intentional big day when church members invite lost loved ones and where the pastor preaches an evangelistic message. Revival meetings— A Sunday through Wednesday meeting where a gifted evangelist presents the gospel. Evangelistic Christmas Eve service— Invite the community to celebrate a candlelight Christmas Eve service where the gospel is clearly presented. Search and rescue teams— A Monday or Tuesday night visitation team for whom visits guests and participates in front door evangelism. Oikos list— Have members create a list of their lost friends and family that they will pray and commit to sharing the gospel. Evangelism team— A team of five people, led by the pastor, that meets monthly to evaluate and plan evangelistic activity. Block party— A free and fun community event held at either the church or a park that presents the gospel to neighbors. Evangelistic campaign— A 4-to 6-week sermon series and small group study that explores the faith such as Purpose Driven Life. Membership class— A monthly class that explains membership to potential members, but also clearly presents the gospel and gives an invitation. Apologetics course— An evangelistic course that equips believers to defend the faith. Not yet a Christian class— A class that explains the faith for people who are considering the faith. Church planting— Intentionally plant a daughter church in an area that needs a gospel witness. The KBC can partner with you for leadership and grants to assist with church plants.

STEP 3: Identify Possible Obstacles

Example 1: The church has not alloted money for evangelism.

Example The church has a bad name in the community.

Example 3: Some people in the church doubt the effectiveness of evangelism.

Example 4: Church members and leaders do not know what the community looks like.

Types of Obstacles:

Financial Obstacles

Spiritual Obstacles

Community Obstacles

Other Foreseeable Obstacles

Step 4: The Evangelistic Highway

The Evangelistic Highway is a simple tool to help you develop your evangelistic strategy. The purpose of this tool is to lay out a simple path to accomplish the evangelistic vision that God has given you. It consists of four objectives to accomplish the goal. Underneath each objective are four goals needed to meet the objective.

For example

When goal 1 is completed I move to goal 2.

When goal 2 is completed I move to goal 3.

When goal 3 is completed I move to goal 4.

When goal 4 is completed the objective should be completed.

When the objective is completed then I move to the second objective.

Repeat until all four objectives are completed.

Why four objectives and why four goals?

1. You will have three months to complete each objective.

2. You will divide each objective into four sequential steps that must happen to complete it. 3. You will be forced to operate on a timeline to complete the goals and the objectives. 4. Four objectives is not overwhelming.

Your goals and objectives need to S.M.A.R.T.

Specific

Measure

Attainable

Relevant

Time bound

Evangelistic Vision: __________________________________________

Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4

Goal 1 Goal 1 Goal 1 Goal 1

Goal 2 Goal 2 Goal 2 Goal 2

Goal 3 Goal 3 Goal 3 Goal 3

Goal 4 Goal 4 Goal 4 Goal 4

Questions to consider:

Will the four objectives help complete the vision?

Will the four goals help accomplish the objective?

Step 5: From the Paper to the People

You now have a clear path on paper. You may tweak and develop your strategy many times before you are comfortable with presenting it to your leadership team. After you have an initial vision, objectives, and goals, you will need to think through how you will implement this vision. Here are some suggestions for taking your strategy from the paper to the people:

How will this impact our previously planned events?

Can any of these events be incorporated into your evangelistic strategy? If so, how will it be evangelistic and how will it help fulfill the objective?

Which of these events cannot and should not be removed from the calendar?

Who will help you do this?

List four people who could serve as an evangelism team. This should be a group of people who will help implement the evangelistic strategy. These should be responsible people who can be point persons for each objective and contribute to the overall team. This group can also help you refine the strategy.

Additional questions

• Why does our community need this?

What are the demographics?

What happens to our church if we do not implement this strategy? • Why does this matter? • How are we going to afford this?

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