As you all know by now that have read more than one of my posts, I am being challenged about evangelism. Along with our Good News Club at the school, we also talk one on one with people we know or meet. We pass out tracts and I have even done door to door witnessing with a friend.
What I have seen in every avenue is that people tend to shy away from you when you mention the things of God. Is this a good reason to avoid talking about the Lord? NO WAY! I see that Jesus promises those that follow Him will encounter mocking, threats, persecution, maybe jail, stoning or death(check out how the apostles and disciples made out.) So, if the worst I have to endure is a little mocking in my quest to share the love of Jesus with the world, I guess I can handle that.
What I had never thought of before, nor heard from any of my evangelistic training, was the idea we enacted recently. There are a few schools of thought about witnessing. Some people think their testimony, the way they live, and wearing a "Jesus rocks" shirt or the like is the way to go. Others pass out gospel tracts in passing, or leave them in mail sent out, magazines in the store. This is a good way to get tracts to people you may never meet. Some go door to door talking to people about God, although most modern Christians think this is somehow beneath them(when we went, we were looked down upon by some Christians we met) Still others will invite someone to a church event or service, but never speak the words of truth personally.
Since I spent years in a few of the above methods, I feel I can speak honestly about these methods, but I had never encountered anyone that invited me to their home. Mormons go out as young men and have small apartments. They want to come into your house and make appointments to come back. The zeal is there, but people seem to be freaked out by this. People don't want to invite you into their home so you can judge them and see their dirty home or kids acting up. I have seen this many times.
Jehovah's Witnesses do about the same, but really steer the conversation to what they want to tell you, directly after asking you if you want any of your own questions answered. People are put off by this condescending attitude and feel like they are talking to a vacuum cleaner salesmen(not that that is a bad thing to be)These cults spend much time and money investing in folks, who are far more dedicated that most modern Christians, and have a corner on the market, some would say. The most unfortunate part of this is that they are telling lies, half truths, and bringing false teaching into the homes of those who let them in.
So, as Christians, we have tended to shy away from the in home gospel presentation. I would see the reasoning behind this, but I think we just have it all backwards. This idea was one that I would not take credit for, nor do I think we are even close to the first who have done this. In fact, the early church started in just such a way. Those who were learning about Jesus, following the disciples and early teachers, met in homes and on the street. Since Maine is known for foul weather this time of year (and most other times of year, lol) we decided to go door to door with invitations.
The invitations are being handed out door to door to my neighbors. This could work with any area, urban or suburban, farm country, or wherever. We typed up a simple invitation that explained we were starting a study of the Bible, introductory in nature, and inviting only our neighbors. We will meet for an hour or so in the evening once a week and if you bring the kids, my wife and sister in law will be having a Good News Club for them at the same time. You don't have to let me in your home, and then have to hope that I will leave. We invite them in, and those that God is working in the hearts of, will come. We will be giving them a study guide and a Bible to keep for free. All they need to do is show up. You get to meet your neighbors, the kids can have fun, and you can leave whenever you want.
There is something special about this approach that I never considered before. Here we come, a couple of men wandering from house to house inviting people. We don't want to come in, impose, or be rude. We just want to meet those who live nearby and invite you. Usually, when we knock on the door and ask if we can come in and talk about God, we get the door slammed in our faces, or a polite "no thanks" or any of a dozen rejections.
When someone comes up and says "Hi, my name is Mark. I am your neighbor and I would like to invite you... " they are totally disarmed. I can't be a threat or a whacko, I do live just down the street. I am just being neighborly. I am not trying to barge in, but invite you to my home to meet my wife and children. I won't be asking for money, but giving you things for free. I may even invite you to dinner to get to know you better. People just go from "go away" to "hey friend" in an instant. I am so encouraged.
Now, we have a lot of praying to do. Our first meeting is next Monday. We will be praying, along with many others, that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts preparing them for the message of salvation. We have committed to the labor, and asked the Lord to provide the harvest. No matter what happens, we know we are available and willing to follow our Savior and Lord. If we are made fun of, lose work, have rocks thrown at us, I don't care. We are confident that God is in this work, and He alone is able to bring it to fruition. Please be in prayer with us that the unsaved will come and learn the gospel message. Prayer truly makes a big difference.
Obviously, we want them all to come and stay and learn about God, Jesus, sin, and salvation. We also have to be realistic in our expectations. We set aside 2 nights a week for this study. Monday is the night we scheduled, and if more come than we can meet with on Monday, we set Thursday aside if we need to split the group up. We are ready to meet with 2 or 30. We will be happy with whatever number the Lord sees fit to send us.
We got the message out, met our neighbors, and invited them to come talk to us. We put out 100 invitations to 100 homes. We assumed 1 person per 10 homes would come. More would be fine, less would be OK too. We would prefer more, but God is responsible for working in the hearts of those we met.
I will be posting next week about how this works out. Until then, please put us on your daily prayer list. Or rather, keep those we talked to in your prayers. We know that there are many we talked to that are not saved. We know there will be some that will come and be saved. We plan to follow up with another 100 homes this summer. We will also be inviting folks to church with us and following up with discipleship classes. There is revival coming, and I want to be in on God's plan to bring it about. What a pleasure to serve our Lord and Savior.
Mark 16:15, Matthew 28, Acts 2:36-47 are great references for this post.
