Weekly postings on Mondays

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Outreach Strategy Extraordinaire

A sophisticated outreach program in a church or parachurch ministry might look something like this:

Level 1: Social events. Invite everyone!

Level 2: Content events. The Christian worldview is presented in a thoughtful way. Venues could be talks, discussions, debates, panels, workshops. Audience is seekers.

Level 3:
Harvest events. An explicit call to faith is made. Aimed at friends and acquaintances who may be ready to follow Jesus full-time.

Keys to success:

  • Everyone in the ministry knows at which "level" the next event is offered. Then members know who (and who not) to invite.

  • Quality: Especially important at the second level, events must be excellent. Building trust with your own people takes a long time to establish (but, of course, only a moment to break).

A Level 2 event I participated in recently with some atheists

One last thought:
It seems to me the missing piece in many ministries is Level 2 above. Topics can range from apologetic (existence of God) to educational (managing your money).

At these events you want your people to be glad they brought a friend -- or disappointed if they didn't.

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