Bob's Insight on Strategic Outreach and Evangelism

       This week we heard from a man named Bob. His primary focus was on strategic evangelism. He had the class define what evangelism and outreach, some of the answers were: Communication of the Gospel, showing Christ through social justice, meeting needs, and making the church available to the community. Bob asked the question, are people being saved, are lives being changed, and are people being discipled? This is the most important aspect of evangelism; if you cannot answer these questions then you are missing the mark.

       Evangelism is showing Jesus to my friends, family, and world. Bob made the point that churches waste a lot of money on things that don’t work; the church shouldn’t just do things to do them! He then asked, “How does someone get from unsaved to discipled?” What does the process look like? If you don’t know the process then how can you measure if you’re successful? Many people want to take people from non-believer to believer in one outreach and in most cases that is not a realistic mindset. So Bob shared with the class his process of discipleship.

Non-believer-Pre-believer-Explorer-Believer-Follower-Disciple

       Non-believer, as defined by Bob is someone with no previous experience knowledge of Christ, going to church, or relationship with a believer. A Pre-believer is, someone who experienced some from of organized religion, has had exposure to a Christ follower, or has a friendship with a Christ follower. Explorer, experienced a Bridge Event (defined later) or been invited to a church by a friend. They are beginning to explore what faith in Jesus is really all about by attending church, participating in a community group of the church, or have a faith exploring relationship with a believer. A Believer is someone who has made a decision to begin his or her spiritual journey occurs. They may not fully understand what church and Jesus are all about but they want to take the first step in following Jesus. Then the Follower is defined as someone who regularly attends church, is beginning to make life changes, serve in ministry, and is daily making living for Christ a priority. Last is the Disciple and that is someone who spends consistent time reading the Bible and praying. Serves actively in ministry, disciplining others, gives regularly and sacrificially, intentionally make friends with non-believers in hopes of sharing Jesus with them, and is using their time, talents, and treasure to show Jesus to the world.

       The last thing I want to mention that Bob shared with the class was what he called the Evangelism Cycle. First is the Bridge Event and the purpose is to have a non-threatening, positive first experience with church for those who have no previous experience. Next is the Partnership Service, which serves to provide an opportunity to move people from pre-believer & explorers to believers and followers of Jesus. Last is Connection Communities and they are to provide a biblical context for discipleship through doing life together with other believers. This provides a place for the service, study, and social components of discipleship