We just released some new evangelism research. You can find the full story here. Here are some excerpts from the article.
Unchurched adults interested in finding a congregation aren’t nearly as likely to visit one in person as a church member who is shopping for a new congregation. That means effective evangelism must begin outside the sanctuary in relationships between Christians and unbelievers, according to research from several recent studies from LifeWay Research...
"The location of our evangelism needs to shift if we want to reach the unchurched and not just move sheep around," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research. "At LifeWay Research we want to encourage churches to grow through conversion. To do that, they must not rely only of the unchurched visiting our churches. Church switchers are primarily the ones who visit churches. The unchurched stay home...
"So, if you build your outreach on recruiting and reaching church visitors you will often build a church on church switchers," he said.
Stetzer continued, "For several decades we have focused on come and see, invest and invite, bring your friends to church by attracting them with a great program. We call that attractional ministry. Now we are facing the reality that fewer unchurched people are willing to visit a Christian church.
"This will compel us to embrace a go and tell – or incarnational – approach," he said. "Should we invite our friends to church? Sure. But should we be, do, and tell the Gospel to people in culture? You bet. It is not only biblical, but it is even more essential today as our culture grows increasingly resistant to the church."
While unchurched people are open to relationships, few church members are intentionally investing time developing relationships with non-Christians. A soon-to-be published 2007 survey of more than 2,500 adult church members found only 25 percent agreed they "spend time building friendships with non-Christians for the purpose of sharing Christ with them." A full 38 percent actually disagreed with the statement and 36 percent were noncommittal about it.
"Too often the way our churches measure success revolves around what happens at church when we ought to be focusing on what happens in building intentional relationships with those far from Christ," McConnell said. "Some of the activities on our church calendars may actually be preventing effective evangelism by keeping believers away from the people they need to reach."
"Believers must resolve to step into their world to share the Good News with them," Stetzer explained. "If we are waiting for them to someday walk into our churches, that someday may never come.
"We have tried that approach for decades – many church buildings/services are looking great. They have new looks, new music and new strategies," he added. "We have gone to great length to fix up the barn, but the wheat is still not harvesting itself. I believe we must move from attractional ‘come and see’ ministry to incarnational ‘go and tell’ and join Jesus in the harvest fields all around us."
Comments (6)
Hi Ed
I appreciate your wisdom and contribution very much.
I have a question that I asked Alan Hirsch (I am from Australia), and I have asked many others, but yet to really get a good answer...
GIVEN THAT MOST CHRISTIANS DON'T HAVE GIFT OF EVANGELISM, AND FIND IT DIFFICULT TO LEAD THEIR FRIENDS TO CHRIST, HOW CAN WE MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO DO EVANGELISM IF WE DON'T USE THE 'INVEST AND INVITE' STRATEGY?
My point is this... No matter what form of evangelism we use, somewhere along the journey people need to hear and respond to the gospel. And training and expecting all Christians to effectively get their friends over the line seems difficult. It makes much more sense to me that the average christian does every thing they can to share their faith, and then relys on someone with gift of evangelism to get their friends over the line.
I would appreciate any thoughts on this (we planted a church because we came to believe 'invest and invite' was the best way to reach our friends)
Mark Broadbent
Posted by Mark Broadbent | April 23, 2008 11:43 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 11:43
A soon-to-be published 2007 survey of more than 2,500 adult church members found only 25 percent agreed they "spend time building friendships with non-Christians for the purpose of sharing Christ with them." A full 38 percent actually disagreed with the statement and 36 percent were noncommittal about it.
Ed, were 36% noncommittal to "building relationships," or were they noncommittal to answering the question?
Either way, this is a staggering statistic.
Posted by Leland Nelson | April 23, 2008 6:30 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 18:30
Amen
Posted by Jason Fletcher | April 23, 2008 8:45 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 20:45
Perhaps it is time we stopped putting the gift of the evangelist (there is no gift of "evangelism" - churches are gifted with evangelists in the same way they are gifted with teachers and preachers) on a pedastal and realize we are ALL called to share the good news.
Evangelists are given by God to the chruch to teach and train us on how to witness!
A witness is simply one who has seen or experienced something (or Someone!) and tells others.
We need to share the gospel both in word and in deed with the lost that surround us every single day. May God send workers out into His harvest field. May He equip and inspire and strengthen and movtivate us to do our part in evangelizing our corner of the world.
Vicki Smith
Posted by Vicki Smith | April 24, 2008 10:44 AM
Posted on April 24, 2008 10:44
Mark,
There is a revolutionary new way to teach the Sunday morning church attendees, those without the "gift of evangelsim", how to "do evangelism". It is "Every Believer a Witness", which trains Sunday morning church attendees to share with their friends in a non-pushy way what God has done in their lives. It is proven to accomplish this.
However, the key is training the church staff how to model and mentor it. So we work with the church staff to show them how to "create and maintain an on-going culture of witnessing and evangelism".
I will be glad to put you in touch with pastors who have seen God use Every Believer a Witness to take their church to a new level in evangelism.
Posted by Dennis Nunn | April 25, 2008 7:06 PM
Posted on April 25, 2008 19:06
Mark,
I don't believe there is a gift of evangelism. So, I would say that everyone needs to know how to do the whole deal-- from starting to sealing the deal.
Posted by Ed Stetzer | April 26, 2008 12:23 PM
Posted on April 26, 2008 12:23