Effective Evangelism

I wrote on Saturday about an evangelistic festival I took part in and some of my complaints about such efforts. My post was rather negative and critical, so I want to balance it with some constructive suggestions on how evangelism can be done differently and (in my opinion) more effectively.

The bottom line principle is that developing a genuine relationship with someone is simpler, cheaper, and more effective than putting on a big production. It takes hundreds of Christians hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to put on one “evangelistic” festival like the one I participated in, and yet, ironically, seemed to primarily attract Christians. But I believe that if those same Christians put the same amount of time, energy, and money into developing a few close relationships with a few non-Christians in their neighborhood or workplace, the results might be much different.

Here are some suggestions of what you can do this week:

1. Slow down at the doctor’s office this week and really visit with the administrative assistant about what is going on in her life. (But be aware of the people waiting in line behind you!)
2. Give your mailman a cold bottle of water and tell him to knock on your door every day to get another one from you (we have been doing this for close to a year now, and have developed a very good relationship with our mailman. We actually invited him over for dinner a while back!) Of course, this only works if you have a mailman who does his route on foot.
3. When you see your neighbor weeding her flower garden, go give her a hand.
4. Bake a plate of cookies and take them over to the elderly lady across the street. If she asks you to say for milk and cookies, do it!
5. Help your other neighbor put together his storage shed.
6. Get gas from the same gas station every week, and get to know the attendants by name.
7. Use the same check out person at the supermarket every time you go…even if their line is longer.  
8. If you pray over your meal when you eat out, tip your server at least 20%.
9. Hold a free block party where you invite everyone on your block over for a BBQ just so they can all get to know each other. Don’t do a devotional. Don’t invite them all to church. Don’t invite them back next week for a BBQ and Bible study. Just build relationships. This may cost you a couple hundred dollars, but it will be money well spent.
10. See the Doable Evangelism OA blog for more ideas.

I do believe that God can use “festival” evangelism like what I witnessed this past weekend. But in my experience, most non-Christians see such attempts as a half-baked, bait and switch, slightly entertaining, wasteful sales pitches. Christians exhaust themselves putting on such events, and few real relationships are formed. Such events are like fireworks: a lot of noisy flashes, but nothing of substance is left when the show is over.

So if you want to be involved in something of substance, build into the lives of the people whom God has already placed around you. If you begin to look, it is amazing who you will find. I realized just yesterday that six months ago, I didn’t know a single non-Christian by name. Then in the middle of January, something happend in my life which made me reassess all my goals and priorities. Now, six months later, most of my friends are non-Christians. I don’t say this to my credit, but only to show that relationships can be easily developed, if you look for the opportunities. And such relationships are generally cheaper, statistically more effective, and certainly more fun than the typical “evangelistic” event put on by most churches.

Who can you begin to develop a relationship with today?