Personal Evangelism Ideas??

[TechPastor]

Our pastoral staff is required to write in a plan for personal evangelism into our yearly growth plan. As a youth/teaching pastor this was easy for me. It was also easier to develop relationships outside the church in the tech industry when I worked in a larger community. However as a tech pastor in a smaller community (70k) and with four children, one being special needs, I am having quite a bit of difficulty with it as my job is not conducive to personal contact with those outside of our church.
Has anyone out there found a personal evangelism plan that works for you working in the technical field.

[tallorderaudio]

As the old adage goes: "Preach the gospel every day; use words only when necessary."

This expresses my feelings on personal evangelism best. To me, evangelism is about relationships first and foremost; aka discipleship. Without love (as in personal, meaningful, patient...) evangelism might as well be a clanging gong and crashing symbol. Tracts and street corner evangelism offend me worse than snake handlers and Benny Hinn. Don't even get me started on the tract I got while waiting tables in Outback years back. Something to the effect of "This is worth more than any cash tip..." as they stiffed me on their way out. I mean, seriously? Sorry...

My gut reaction (key word) is to cry foul on this as it seems to be a blanket policy with good intentions, but misses the point for persons who aren't directly active in a preaching role in the church. However, I think that you are involved in a discipleship type role when training and interacting with volunteers. How you word this in a written plan is up to you.

Another idea is getting involved with extra-church ministries like prison ministries, or "soup kitchens".

[Paris MkVI]

This is a more common problem than many realize.

It seems that as we move deeper into areas of ministry, sharing our faith seems to be an area that suffers, because we spend time attending to those under our care.

We use a Christian Maturity Assessment Tool that allows us to look at ourselves in thirteen distinct areas of our spiritual life. It is based on the Sermon on the Mount. And over and over again, folks in ministry leadership find themselves (me included) scoring lower in sharing the faith than we would like. If you are interested in looking at it, visit http://www.wbcc.net/pages/page.asp?page_id=72694

I have simply decided to target some folks, pray for them, love on them, and pray for the opportunity to share with them. Just a few at a time. I have three names on that list now, and they shall remain my evangelistic focus.

I had a thought today about how to handle conversations with people, employees, etc. in stores, restaurants, and the like. People are busy and employees just can't stand around and shoot the breeze with my bride and I. So I am going to print some labels and stick them on the back of our cards. The labels will read something along the lines of, "It was great to talk with you today! I think it would be great the next time too! If you would like to talk or ask for prayer, please call or e-mail us!"

Naturally, all the contact info is already on the card. Maybe that will water a seed in the future.

[hubbytait]

I second you mate..!!