Reaching the Lost: Strategies For Success

REACHING THE LOST – STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

The Willette church of Christ is a mission-minded congregation. They support missions worldwide and some of the most productive works in the kingdom. We were blessed to serve the Lord with this congregation from 2007-2018. During my first year as their preacher, I noticed a disconnect between the membership and the works they supported. I went to the elders and suggested quarterly mission reports to be given by mission coordinators. This resulted in more awareness and participation between these works and the congregation.

The HTHSOE evangelism model has many parts to it. Like your physical body, the spiritual body (church of Christ) has different functions that all serve one mission. Each member needs to understand his role and the body’s overall function. There is no non-essential service in the HTHSOE model. Many of these functions require a coordinator. The coordinator becomes the expert in this field but may not understand how it fits with the other parts of the model. Likewise, members may be unaware of the different parts as well as how and where they might fit into the work, changes that are needed, and the overall good being done.

We propose the addition of evangelism coordinator reports. The following guidelines will help with setup and execution.

• Reports should be provided on a quarterly basis at least.
• Provide your report to the elders before giving it to the congregation.
• Provide an overview of your work and where/how it fits into the model.
• Share successes.
• Let the congregation know how they can help.
• Place the due date for quarterly reports on the congregational calendar to ensure they are done.
• Write an update/announcement occasionally to be printed in the bulletin.

Some congregations do a poor job of keeping the members informed about their work. Members who understand the work and their role become invested physically, financially, and prayerfully. A vested membership provides excitement and motivation. Information dies without communication. Communication provides unification.  When the army of God works together to achieve the mission, souls will be saved.