“The Year of Outreach, pt. 2: Go and Do”

One of the goals we set as a congregation for 2012 was that we would implement a system of evangelism—a word which means sharing the good news.



If you remember last month’s article, think of system as an acrostic. A S.Y.S.T.E.M. is any ongoing process that Saves You Stress, Time, Energy and Money. The council’s hope is to implement this ongoing process that will make evangelism easy and multipronged not only for 2012, but for years to come.



In the book we read as a congregation, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too, the authors state: “A multipronged approach acknowledges that there is no ‘silver bullet’ when it comes to reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The days of ‘Lone Ranger’ evangelism are a thing of the past.” In other words, the days of outsourcing evangelism to the pastor or the stadium-filling evangelist are over. They continue, “Developing an effective evangelistic strategy requires stages, helping people move from the ranks of the inactive and unreached to being active followers of Jesus Christ.”



This obviously doesn’t happen overnight. Like they said, this requires stages.



Last month we talked about how the first stage is based on when the disciples first believed they had found the Messiah early on in John’s Gospel:



Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see.” (John 1:46 ESV)



You have an opportunity to do “come and see” evangelism by inviting your friends and co-workers to worship on February 12. The series is called: “Taboo Topics: Things You Don’t Say Out Loud at Church”, and it will address questions that people in our culture ask that they hardly ever hear addressed in church like, “What if I’m Divorced?” or “What if I’m gay?” We’ll kick it off on the 12th with “What if I’m Spiritual, but Not Religious?”







February is one of the three times of the church year when people with no church background actually think about God and consider coming to a Christian worship. (The other two are Easter and one month after school starts.) Don’t forget: according to one research report "82% of the unchurched are likely to attend worship if invited" (LifeWay Research, http://backtochurch.com/participate). If each of us brings one person, our attendance will double. Invitational cards like above were handed out last Sunday and will be again the next two Sundays. That’s the come and see approach.



But we also want to balance the “Come and see” approach with the second stage, “Go and do,” which is taken from the directive Jesus gave all Christ followers:



Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

(Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)



No one will come unless you go. Sometimes all it takes is to Just Walk Across the Room. That will be our theme for this year’s Lenten services to help you with your personal evangelism. Because He walked to a cross, doesn’t that compel you to just walk across? If you struggle to share the good news of Jesus, these messages will equip you to do so.



Or perhaps you’d like to just walk through the neighborhoods surrounding St. Paul’s. On February 4th (10 AM – Noon in the Upper Room) Julie and I will be leading a group of all who are interested to pray specifically for the outreach of St. Paul’s ministry. This will include a method we will plan for the following week called, “Prayer Walking” where we walk the neighborhoods and pray silently for each household asking God to open hearts and minds to the Gospel. We will do this again before Easter with doorknob hangers. (Don’t worry, we won’t be knocking on doors.)



If you are more passionate about reaching out to those who are broken and in serious economic need, you might want to meet with Lorraine Weber and me on February 16th as we brainstorm “Ministries of Mercy” and how we can meet real needs of real families in the community.



If you can’t make it to the Lenten services, between Sunday services starting Feb. 26, Dave Skinner, who leads our Evangelism Team, will be teaching the Becoming a Contagious Christian course again. (10:30 – 11:30 AM, Location TBA).



On February 25, we have an opportunity as a congregation to live out the Gospel by gathering food for the hungry with our next Grocery Food Drive. Then in early March we are hoping to have a booth at “Whale of a Day” at Pointe Vicente.



As you can see, there are many ways for every worshiper at St. Paul’s to participate in this year of outreach. Please continue to uphold our outreach together in prayer.



Soli Deo Gloria! (To God alone be the glory!)



Pastor Charlie