When Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen,” He gave a strategy for success. It is so obvious, but I missed it for most of my evangelistic years. If you want to find the “few,” you have to go after the “many.” This means you need a lot of contacts. While House to House/Heart to Heart, New Movers, Visitors, Community Events, Door Knocking gives you some contacts, the “many” must come from the pews. Prospecting two or three contacts each week will give you negligible results.
Learning how to use the HTHSOE bookmarks is one of the most effective ways to reach the “many.” Success is achieved by following the process so read carefully. Take the needed time to do it right. Below are step by step instructions that are proving effective in enrolled congregations.
- Every member should be a “Bringer.” Each Christian should have a goal of reaching out to at least ten non-members during the year.
- Non-members (sinners) can include erring brethren or anyone they know who is lost.
- Use the HTHSOE bookmarks from the seminar and pass one out to every Christian after your sermon about finding the lost.
- On the first Sunday, ask the congregation to write down ten names on their bookmark and bring them back next Sunday.
- On the second Sunday, ask the congregation to take out their bookmarks and take one minute to pray for these names (have a minute of silence). This step should be repeated every Sunday, perpetually. It takes 21 days to form a habit and 365 days to change congregational culture.
- On the third Sunday, ask the congregation to take out their bookmarks and spend one minute in prayer for their contacts. After praying, ask the following question: does anyone have someone on your bookmark that is sick? If so, please raise your hand.
- Those with raised hands should be handed a “contact card” to fill out immediately.
- Each week a different prospecting category can be selected (lost a loved one, just moved, newly married, etc.). See a list in the Evangelism Simplified Guidebook (page 105).
- All contact cards should be given to a designated person or placed in a designated location to add their names to the congregational contact list for prospecting to begin.
If you are not reaching the lost in your community by using the members, you are ignoring your greatest resource. You cannot achieve success as a congregation if the preacher is your only evangelist. Give this a try and let us know your results!
Welcome to Reaching the Lost – Strategies for Success. This tool is sent out each Friday morning to equip and train soul winners with strategies that have proven effective among congregations of the Lord. While the Wednesday Reaching the Lost – Success Stories reports successes and highlights a congregation who using these tools, Strategies for Success focuses on “how to” aspects of evangelism. We hope you enjoy these each week.
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