Evangelism Coach International

The Prayer Station at Faith in Action Sunday

EvangelismCoach — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:24:01 +0000

Pastors Alan and Debbie Kemp recently led their church into a Faith in Action Sunday, following a program that has been developed by World Vision.

They chose to take their regular Sunday service and move it to the front lawn of the their church — going to the streets, so to speak.

Their church has done several short term mission trips, and this idea came out of wondering why can’t they do some of that same compassionate work in their local neighborhood.

The Prayer Station

One additional feature of their missional event was the prayer station (Follow the link to see how to do a prayer station).

Staffed with elders trained in compassionate prayer, this was a place where people could unload their burdens and have someone pray with them.

People self-selected to sit at the table.

This is a place where evangelism conversations can happen normally, as people express their spiritual thirst. (See What is Spiritual Thirst?)

This is also a place to hear about community needs that might be under the radar.

Listen to How to Setup a Prayer Station

Alan and I did a phone conversation about how to setup the prayer station. Listen here:

Prayer Station Setup

Source: The Prayer Station at Faith in Action Sunday

EvangelismCoach.org strives to inform pastors, elders, and church leaders on trends, tools, and resources regarding evangelism in the 21st century. Visit our blog at www.EvangelismCoach.org for more great articles and resources. We invite you to forward this along to your colleagues who may benefit from our ministry

How to Setup a Prayer Station

EvangelismCoach — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:56:19 +0000

One way that you can discover your community need is through setting up prayer stations at your outreach events.

For example, we did one at a dental fair where we partnered with the local dental school to give free cleanings to kids (Photos below).

Making this prayer station service available allows people who want prayer to sit and visit with your volunteers.

Praying together gives God an open door to touch a person’s life as an expression of your church’s love.

Many churches have started this practice and others want to try it, so here is a simple step by step layout of how to setup a prayer station.

As people visit the station, they will often share some kind of spiritual need. They will stay as long as they want or feel comfortable doing. You might be able to hear their spiritual thirst. (What is Spiritual Thirst?)

It’s an opportunity for evangelism that is not aggressive, as your guests expect to talk a little about their spiritual need while visiting your prayer station.

What is a Prayer Station or Prayer Booth?

A Prayer Station is a simple place designated for free prayer to those who want it.

It’s an area clearly designated and staffed with trained volunteers from your church.

It could be a table with a sign, perhaps under a tent if it’s outdoors. Or maybe just a collection of chairs. Many groups have found a table helpful, as they can have a place for writing notes or displaying literature.

Nothing elaborate, just a designated place in the same area where your outreach is occurring.

For example, if you are doing your outreach on the lawn of your church, the prayer station should be outside in the same area. I don’t recommend setting up inside the church, as that is out of the traffic pattern of the people who attend your outreach.

Where can you use a Prayer Booth or Prayer Station?

Prayer Station on the church grounds.

The amazing versatility of this prayer station is that it can be used wherever you are doing an outreach on your church property.

For example,

Church block parties
Church yard sales / rummage sales
Any kind of festival or outreach that you have on your property.

We did a dental fair as an outreach and setup a prayer station in the same area where the free dental cleanings were happening.

Prayer Station in the community.

Some other churches may choose to setup a prayer station at a more public setting, such as renting a tent at a public food festival, or just out on the street in an area of high foot traffic.

As people pass by, some will stop in to pray, others will be curious, and some will likely wish you weren’t there.

In one town where I lived, they had an annual tomato festival that was very similar to a county fair. Vendors would rent tents to see their arts and crafts, food items, and advertise their services. Some churches would rent a tent and simply staff it as a prayer station.

Not all churches would be comfortable doing something like this at a location that is not their property.

Some will do this on a regular basis, like the 1st Saturday of the month at a park or with a business.

How do we staff the Prayer Station or Booth?

Recruit volunteers who are skilled at praying with other people.

In our prayer stations, we use people are filled with the Holy Spirit and able to cooperate with the Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts. They also have the gentleness to know how to express those gifts without being perceived as weird, combative, or loony. That’s part of my ministry ethos.

You’ll want volunteers who are comfortable listening to the stories of other people and who have gifts of compassion and mercy. This is not the place for the overly aggressive evangelist or the constant talker who doesn’t listen.

What do we do at the Prayer Station?

When a visitor comes to your prayer station, a simple welcome greeting is appropriate.

Then, a question like, “How can we pray for you?” will often be sufficient to get the conversation going.

You might want to confirm that prayer is not “Rub the lamp and find the genie” or any kind of magic.

Listen for the need and then take the time to pray with the person right there at that prayer station.

You can expect that God will open up your heart as well as theirs and that the Holy Spirit would touch their lives.

After praying, there are a variety of other things you might want to do

Give some literature about other community services that might help like food banks, shelter, medical clinics, etc.
Talk more about the person’s spiritual journey and what they might want to do to grow.
Give some literature about your church and your worship services.
Gather contact information for follow up, if appropriate.
Give out tracts, bibles, etc.

I recommend that your team keep a notebook where they can put topics for prayer. After a while, you might see some themes that God might be calling your church to meet.

Let me ask you this?

How would you use this in your context?

If you like this idea, put it on your calendar, do it, and let me know how it goes.

Source: How to Setup a Prayer Station

Make a prayer list of friends

EvangelismCoach — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:32:38 +0000

In doing personal evangelism coaching with some pastors these last few days, I found myself recommending one thing very often.

Make a prayer list of friends whom you’d like to see following Jesus.

We might mentally agree to the the idea, but to actually make the list and use it may still be a challenge.

So let me give you a practical model to make your friends prayer list today.

The format of the prayer list I use

I use a leather bound journal for my devotional times.

A half sheet from an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper fits loosely in the back.

The journal’s clasp keeps it in place.

I choose this loose leaf format so that the list can change as life circumstances change.

I also choose the loose leaf format as I can move it around as a book mark in the journal.

This format also keeps it from being “forgotten” in a prior section of my journal.

Make A Prayer List of Friends

Here is one process to create your list, through filtering down one particular set of questions.

(From the post Do you have any non-Christian Friendships?)

Take a moment to look at your significant relationships. Think of people you choose to spend time with on somewhat of a regular basis.

On a scratch sheet of paper, make a list of friends who immediately come to mind. Try to name as many as possible in the next 60 seconds.

Write those names down.

Now look over the list.

Who goes to church with you? Cross them off this list.
Who attends another church regularly? Cross them off.
Who shows evidence of a relationship with Christ? Cross them off.
Who is left?
Do you have anyone left on the list?

You may find that you know some people who go to church with you, yet have no evidence of a relationship with Christ. Feel free to add them or keep them on your list.

Write your prayer list for your journal

I then take this list and create the “clean” list for my journal.

As I write each name, I also ask God for how to pray for them.

Prayer is cooperating with God in a sense, and I want to pray in accordance with God’s will, so I ask the Lord for guidance about how to pray for my friends.

Beside the names on the prayer list, I’ll note specific prayer requests.

The idea is to get beyond the generic “I pray for Jose and Martha” and into more specific areas.

For example:

Give me eyes to see their spiritual thirst. (See What is Spiritual Thirst?)
Give me opportunity to speak with them.
Give them a thirst, help me to see it.
Is God inviting me to spend a little more time with them?
What is the next “do” with them? Call? Coffee? Cookout?
Help them move another step closer to you.
Reveal yourself to them in undeniable ways.

People are in different places in their spiritual journey. As I write each name, I ponder what might their next step be?

If they are hostile to God, how I can pray that they may start seeking God?

If they are seeking God, how can I pray they would talk with me about how I found God?

If they are studying the Bible in their search, I’d like to pray that God’s word would speak.

In other words, I try to pray in accordance with the work that God might be doing in their spiritual life already.

Watch for answers on your prayer list

Going beyond the generic and into specifics prepares me to cooperate with what God might be inviting me into.

It sensitizes me to be more observant about their spiritual journey and how I might be able to be a positive influence. Along the way, I may discover new information that may change how I pray for them and what for.

As God answers some of those specific petitions on my prayer list, I’ll update the list from time to time. Updating my prayer list helps me to see progress in a person’s journey towards Christ.

Source: Make a prayer list of friends

The Reciprocal Church

EvangelismCoach — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:34:26 +0000

Dr. Kevin Yoho,General Presbyter Newark Presbytery has put together a presentation called The Reciprocal Church.

I like what he’s done in calling “the church” back into the nieghborhood, using the idea of reciprocity.

Does the church give benefit to the community in exchange for the investment that the community makes in the church?

Or put another way, how is the church engaging its community to both demonstrate and advance the kingdom of God?

Check this out.

The Reciprocal Church

View more presentations from Kevin Yoho.

Dr. Kevin Yoho,
General Presbyter
Newark PresbyteryDr. Kevin Yoho,General Presbyter Newark Presbytery

Source: The Reciprocal Church

What does a Personal Evangelism Coach do?

EvangelismCoach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:13:32 +0000

As a response to the series Coaching Congregational Evangelism, I’ve been coaching a few very busy pastors through a 30 day process to better personal evangelism for busy pastors.

I find over and over again in my practice that coaching “removes the fog from the mirror.”

Fog = Evangelism Obstacles

Personal evangelism intimidates way too many pastors and church members.

Consider these stats from cited in Got Style?: Personality-Based Evangelism, Jeffrey Johnson

An informal poll found that when asked “Why don’t Christians share Christ?”

33.5% are afraid of being rejected, embarrassed.

21.7% are afraid of not having answers

19.2% rarely think about the need to share their faith.

17.3% don’t know what to say.

8.3% haven’t found a way that is comfortable for them.

Based on pastors I’ve talked with in recent weeks, nearly all these answers would be true of them as well.

Each of these valid reasons are like “fog on the mirror.”

Evangelism seems impossible.

Put them all together, and you’ve got a huge amount of emotional inertia to overcome.

There are so many layers – it’s easier to avoid evangelism rather than think about it.

As such, there is no starting point for action. The intimidation factor simply leaves us a gnawing feeling that one ought to be doing something, but there is no place to start.

It’s so undefinably nebulous that you can’t see anything you can actually do.

That’s fog on the mirror.

Evangelism Coaching wipes some fog away.

An intentional 30 day process with a coach wipes the fog from the mirror.

You spend intentional time looking for clarity and developing a plan.

One of the benefits these busy pastors receive from coaching is new clarity.

You want to know what clarity sounds like during a conversation?

“A-ha – I didn’t see that before.”
“That makes a lot of sense.”
“I need to do that.”
“I can do that.”
“I will do that.”

At the end of each conversation, more fog is wiped off the mirror.

I’m having fun doing this.

It’s my desire to encourage pastors and then equip them for providing leadership in the area of evangelism in their congregation. I hear that in pastor’s voices as I’ve been talking with them the last few weeks.

Source: What does a Personal Evangelism Coach do?

92% of Jesus’ conversations

EvangelismCoach — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:27:14 +0000

Darrell Davis points out how many conversations that Jesus had.

Out of 132 contacts that Jesus had with people recorded in the New Testament, 6 were in the temple, 4 were in the synagogue, and 122 were out in the mainstream of life. (Adapted from Why Christians Sin, by J.K Johnson, Discovery House, 1992)

As evangelists, we need to make sure that we are regularly engaging people outside of the church.

Most of us freely admit that after being a Christian for a few years, we find our social circles have changed to mostly Christians.

In fact, Jeffrey Johnson Got Style?: Personality-Based Evangelism shows research that confirms that most do so within two years of becoming a Christian (p. 76). He cites a 1998 study by Charles Arn that shows that most Christians may only have on average, friendships with less than 4 people outside the church.

What can we do to fix that this week?

Jeffrey Johnson Got Style?: Personality-Based Evangelism

Source: 92% of Jesus’ conversations

This is what gives me joy as an Evangelist

EvangelismCoach — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:22:56 +0000

This is what gives me joy as an evangelist.

Marionee.

Manuel:

Yes, the water was very cold.

But more important, adult baptism is a step of obedience after trusting Jesus that is a sign of God’s working in bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ.

Baptism signifies a whole lot more, but for me, it’s the visible fruit of the work of the evangelist in partnership with a local congregation.

Source: This is what gives me joy as an Evangelist

Prepare Your Congregation for Easter Impact

EvangelismCoach — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:14:19 +0000

Easter is rapidly approaching and many of you are gearing up for your Easter Outreaches and special Easter Services

Let me give you a three pointers to increase your congregation’s impact this Easter.

1. Do a hospitality review. Give your systems a look over to make sure they are up.

Church Hospitality Review

2. Plan an special service will increase your word of mouth invitations. Hopefully, you’ve started already.

Helping people in your congregation give invitations to church is “easier than getting people to an evangelism conference.”

Many people are more comfortable inviting people to church rather than talking about their own faith.

This Easter, plan your outreach in such a way that people will naturally invite others to your church.

Increase the number of Invitations

3. Make sure any special services are featured on the website homepage

If someone visits your website home page, can they find out when and where your special services are?

Will your website help people find your church?

Source: Prepare Your Congregation for Easter Impact

Refreshing a Vision for Church Hospitality

EvangelismCoach — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:17:22 +0000

A frequent question I receive is how do pastors regularly cast a vision for hospitality ministries for the church.

Particularly when they are in charge of casting vision for everything.

So I want to share with you another practice for growing your church’s hospitality.

(Read Practice #1: Review your Church Hospitality Ministries)

Practice #2: Regularly remind the Congregation.

In the last two weeks, I’ve heard two different sermons where pastors did this very effectively.

Let me share with you two principles I observed.

1. Reminder when preparing a big event

Many churches launch big events designed to attract new visitors.

This might be a new sermon series, or a seasonal event like

Easter,
Christmas, or
Back to School.

In vision casting for the big event, one pastor openly talked about the people he was inviting (modeling personal invitations).

He reminded the congregation that he expected them

to invite others themselves
to welcome and introduce themselves to others
to serve people with awesome and “above and beyond” hospitality.

The sermon itself was about how the church is a partner in evangelism.

This specific occasion in pastor’s sermon is inviting people to the new sermon series, where during the series, the gospel would be offered and explained.

To prepare the congregation, pastor gave a few minutes reminder about hospitality as a piece of that partnership.

He even included:

“I’m looking to you all to help welcome my guests, and those that you bring. We need your help. . . “

He boldly went on to say something like:

“If you have decided you don’t want to serve here and welcome people you don’t know, we don’t really want you here long term – we’re not simply here to consume a sermon, but to love and serve those whom God brings to us that they may find Christ, not a cold church.”

That may not sound loving as you read it – but it fit very well in the context of the sermon to recast a new vision for hospitality ministry.

It wasn’t judgmental, but a tremendous reminder of the value of hospitality.

2. Sermon illustration

The second preacher is teaching through the 7 letters to the churches in book of Revelation.

It’s part of a series of expository sermons.

While preaching on the church in Sardis, a church that needed to wake up because it got to comfortable with itself, Pastor shared some examples of how feared his church might fall asleep one day.

One of those examples related to welcoming a church visitor.

It came from actual stories that visitors shared with him about their experience with that church.

In less than 2 minutes, he effectively reminded the congregation of it’s role in serving and loving those visitors who come to church.

In a loving rebuke over a particular story, he called the congregation to a higher vision of welcoming the stranger.

Vision in less than 5 minutes

What impressed me about both sermons was that the hospitality related piece was under 5 minutes.

It was a minor part in a very short sermon (each was under 30 minutes).

Yet each was stated clearly enough, simply enough, and connected enough to the main point of the sermon that I was struck as a listener.

I felt invited to a greater cause: welcome the visitor.

I was reminded to meet someone I didn’t know.

I was reminded to think of others above myself before / during / and after the service.

Other possible places to recast vision

Praise the congregation for their hospitality when new members join, particularly when the new members have said they stayed because of the welcome they received.
Praise the congregation for it’s role in helping a person find faith and take baptism.
Praise the congregation when you hear feedback of a great welcome
Lovingly worded call for improvement when you hear feedback of an overlooked visitor.

Source: Refreshing a Vision for Church Hospitality

Help Church Visitors find your Church this Easter

EvangelismCoach — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:09:00 +0000

This Easter, some people might want to visit your church.

This Holy Week, some out of town guests may want to visit your special services for holy week.

You don’t know who they are.

They don’t know where they want to go.

God has given them spiritual thirst that propels them to seek a church.

So what do they do? They likely search the internet first.

Will they find your church website?

If they do, will they see your service schedule for Holy Week Easter?

What happened to me:

1. Looking for church in an unfamiliar city

I was in South Florida, visiting family and we wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service.

Since my family had recently moved there, they were unfamiliar with any place to go, so our search was wide open.

We did two things:

First, we asked a friend for a recommendation. When I asked him where that church was, he said use Google to find it.

Second, we went to Google and typed:

“Presbyterian Church [insert city name here]“.

After all, I am an ordained Presbyterian Pastor, and every now and then would like to visit another church in my tribe.

The church my friend recommended did not appear in the first 10 entries.

I had to ask my wife what the name of the church was. .. .

Once I found the name, I could only find it in Google if I got the right name.

Quick fix: This church doesn’t have it’s physical address on it’s home page.

That might help improve it’s appearance in Google for “Presbyterian Church [insert city name here]”

With just a few small fixes they could rise to the top of Google quickly.

Question: does your church come up number 1 in Google for various keywords like your denomination and city?

Maybe even for “Holy Week Services Richmond” or “Easter Sunrise Service Panama City.”

2. What days time are your special services?

Because it was Christmas time, we were looking for service times for Christmas eve.

It wasn’t on the home page.

It wasn’t on the calendar.

It wasn’t even in the on-line newsletter.

I couldn’t even find their regular service times on Sunday.

Question: If you are having special services, can visitors discover it on your website?

Hint: that information should be front and center in your home page.

3. We didn’t go.

Since we couldn’t find the answer to our question at the website, we moved on with our search.

Ultimately, because of some other scheduling conflict that materialzed about 3pm in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, we didn’t get to attend any church on Christmas Eve.

What can you do this Holy Week and Easter?

My experience at Christmas left me wondering.

How can your website help visitors find your church for special services?

Are you planning special sunrise services this Easter?

Are you planning special services for Holy Week, like Maundy Thursday, or Good Friday?

Make sure that information is front and center on your website for the week or two leading up to that event.

You don’t know who God might lead to your church.

Perhaps someone hearing the Gospel for the first time.

Perhaps someone needing to come back to the Lord.

Perhaps a new visitor who is moving in from another town.

Help them find your church as God prompts their spiritual thirst this Holy Week and Easter.

Source: Help Church Visitors find your Church this Easter