Evangelism Methods & Ideas
David Walls

1. Door Flyers / Hangers:
a. Consists of a team of people putting hundreds of flyers onto the doors of homes
b. Homes are purposely targeted where a high proportion of doors can be reached in a short amount of time (apartment complexes, multiplexes, housing developments are ideal)
c. This is the least conversational form of evangelism for individuals that are nervous/new at outreach, or may be uncomfortable with more direct approaches
d. Methodology
i. A team of individuals are assembled and will distribute at least 500 flyers per month.
ii. The flyer will have several key components
1. An invitation to “Sunday Church Service” (could also promote a monthly evangelistic service, while also starting “Regular Service Times”)
2. Service Times
3. Church information (address, map)
4. Offer for a ride and accurate phone number for them to call
5. They can be printed 4 per page in black/white to minimize cost if necessary
6. Unless promoting a special revival/evangelistic service, the flyer should be designed “generically” so that leftovers can be reused subsequent months
iii. The team will NOT knock doors (poor responsiveness), place on cars (can upset individuals), enter gated yards (unsafe due to dogs), or place in mailboxes (illegal). They will simply hang them from the knob or rest flyer into door-jam.
iv. The leader
1. Responsible to ensure all flyers are passed out at least 24 hours prior to the service promoted.
2. Must have a plan on where to pass out the flyers before the team meets.
3. Must record the area reached and strive to reach new areas each month (no overlapping homes)
4. Ensures excitement, continued involvement, and safety of team participants
5. 500 flyers per month is a recommended (500 flyers/month x 12months/year = 6,000 homes invited in the immediate area/year) however more can be done. It should be noted though, that to prevent participant burnout, the leader should consider not having the group meet more than 1 or 2 times per month to pass out the flyers.
e. Door Hanger Pros:
i. Requires little or no direct communication from participants  (“easiest” form of outreach)
ii. Extremely low cost, high visibility, and quick local brand identity
1. 500 flyers printed 4 per page = 125 pages. This can be printed at staples for around $12/month ($144/year)
iii. Requires very little leadership (good for new leaders)
f. Door Hanger Cons:
i. Very low results, low retention.
1. All forms of impersonal flyer based evangelism (door hangers, door knocking, and tract distribution) will have at MOST a 1-4% visitor return. Of that 1-4% of visitors, there is also a low retention rate (can provide church demographic research studies). However, though few will come — some will! Thus, this is worth doing for those that don’t feel comfortable being involved in other evangelistic efforts.
2. If 6,000 people received a door flyer/hanger and 4% visited, then that would be an additional 240 visitors per year. If only 10% of these obeyed the gospel and were retained, expected growth would be 24 people per year.
g. Personal experience
i. In my 2006, I utilized a map to put a flyer on every door within 1 mile from the church (plus low-income areas). In one year, I passed out almost 11,000 flyers. Direct return was around 100 visitors (1%). Of those, 2 families were born again and retained to this day. Interestingly, the flyers did have an unexpected benefit in building brand identity. I noticed this because MANY visitors would say “I heard about the church from a flyer a few years ago and wanted to come, but it wasn’t until [[personal invitation, church website, heaven/hell method, etc]] that I decided to come.” So flyer based evangelism helps create local identity with the community and should be viewed as a starting help for other methods. They help develop the community recognition of your church and prepare the soil for when a real seed is planted.

2. Direct Mailings
a. Direct mailings are a much more effective form of flyer-based evangelism. Consisting of using a company (i.e.: Outreach.com) to directly mail a custom designed professional flyers to a target demographic.
b. This requires no participants and is simply ordered from the company and directly shipped to individuals in the city
c. Direct Mailing Pros:
i. Much more effective than traditional flyer-based evangelism. Reported results have been as high as 10-15% of the flyers ordered will result in a visitor (due largely to demographic targeting).
ii. Cost effectiveness: the non-profit bulk mail rate for postcards can be as low as 5-10 cents per flyer. (Outreach.com)
iii. Target your audience: you can use different lists to either target specific demographics or saturate communities close to the church. This includes targeting
iv. Long shelf-life: people tend to keep direct throwing them away immediately, which improves the chances that people will pay attention and respond.
v. These flyers are usually professionally designed for free (when buying in bulk) and are much more visually appealing than one-sided black/ white flyers.
vi. Immediate local promotional saturation and immediate results
d. Direct Mailing Cons:
i. I have never had enough free funds to move to the net level in purchasing these and do not know if there are any hidden/additional fees
ii. High initial cost ($250-500 for 1,000 flyers + potentially any additional fees
iii. There are no members of the church involved in this outreach. However individuals need to be involved in outreach in some form to pr service. Thus, a person who personally invited someone to an evangelist excited/expectant in that service, pray with people in the service, and ci
e. Taken From “Outreach.com:”
i. In this interactive age when everyone is blogging, watching YouTube why consider sending a humble postcard? Because it works. Response rates for direct mail are 21 times higher than newspaper, 19 times higher than radio and 4/ times higher than TV, according to a study by the Direct Marketing Association. Professional marketers still believe in the power of direct mail and so should you. In a recent survey, customers chose direct mail as the preferred medium for receiving and evaluating information about products, over both email and telemarketing. If numbers alone don’t speak to you, here are 10 reasons to choose direct mail to invite your community to your church…and to Christ.

1. Saturation. Not everyone subscribes to the newspaper. Not everyone listens to the radio — at the same time, on the same station. Not everyone watches TV, or browses the Internet. But we all get the mail — everyday. Direct mail is the only medium where you can virtually reach every household in your community.

2. Less competition. Think of all the ads you hear daily on the radio. See on TV. Pop-up online. Delivery to your email box? Do you read every one? How many messages would be competing with yours if you chose one of these media? Now think of your mailbox. How many pieces of mail do you receive daily? There’s not nearly as much competition vying for your attention in your mailbox as in these other media.

3. Refine your audience. Select those most likely to respond. With direct mail, you don’t just hit the target— you hit the bull’s eye. With OnTarget mailing services from Outreach, your church can choose the neighborhoods you wish to mail to -eliminating those who may not be the right audience for your church. For example, if you are launching a service targeted at 20 year olds, you probably don’t want to mail into a 55+ only community. With direct mail you can choose to remove those neighborhoods until you have a Seniors event.

4. Less waste. Internet, TV, radio, newspapers — they cover a broad area with thousands upon thousands of people. Their cost per thousand is relatively low. But you only want to reach people that are within your three- or five-mile vicinity. So why pay for thousands of others?

5. Longer shelf-life. Radio & TV ads are gone instantly. Newspaper ads are gone tomorrow. Consumers often hang on to direct mail that they’re interested in, and refer to it several times as well as sharing it with
others. It’s got your map. Your phone number. Your service times. And it’s often found on the refrigerator.

6. One-two punch. Your direct mail postcard hits — and attracts — them first with an eye-catching, four-color design and compelling headline. Then it draws them in and gives them all the information they need. Most other media give you either/or: you either get an eye-stopping image (TV) with very few facts, or a mediocre image (black/white newspaper) but more information. Choose the medium that packs the punch.

7. Good Stewardship. With targeted mailing lists and low postage rates, sending direct mail is a cost effective way to do outreach. You reach the people you want for the lowest postage possible! PLUS Outreach can even deliver the postcards to your post office – saving you time and mileage.

8. You choose where your message appears. With other media, your message runs wherever it will fit— even right next to your competition – unless you’re willing to pay top dollar to secure a specific spot. Direct mail gives you full control: you know exactly where (whose mailboxes) your message will hit.

9. Customize your message. Every Outreach direct mail postcard order includes two hours of FREE graphic design time so you can get a postcard that fits your church and message best. Check out over 600 designs available at Outreach.com to get ideas or we can create a completely new design just for you.

10. Extremely personal. For just a few dollars more, you can choose a postcard personalized with the recipients first or family name on the front and back of the card – increasing response rates up to 200% and bringing more visitors to your church!

3. DVD
a. This consists of hiring a professional videographer to film key elements of the church (preaching, music, fellowship, pastoral
interview, testimonies, youth, etc) and compile a professional quality DVD. This is given to every visitor (1 per family) and is given to church members quarterly to pass out to their friends as an outreach method.
b. I have used a friend of mine to develop this at a lower rate. We paid around $600 for a DVD and 30 second commercial. Though this was “air-able” on TV, we used the 30-second clip on our website.
d. Here is another example that I had him film for New Life Apostolic in Lewiston, ID: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7340667844192616574&hl=en
e. DVD Pros:
i. Low cost per unit after the initial fee is paid (DVD copies are around 10-20 cents per DVD)
ii. Very un-invasive form of outreach (can be watched in comfort of own home at own schedule), and effective at targeting the ideal focus group (the visitors that come because they saw the DVD, will know exactly what they are getting themselves into and are hungry/interested in experiencing Pentecostalism)
iii. This allows duplicity; individuals can show this to their families, friends, etc.
iv. Some church members find it much easier to give a friend/coworker a DVD than they do actually conversationally evangelize. (“Easy” outreach method).
v. Those who watch the DVD are more likely to attend because they are not nervous to see the church “for the first time,” they’ve seen it and are already growing comfortable with it.
f. DVD Cons:
i. The service that is filmed will require the videographer to be moving throughout the service and platform to get appropriate angles. (The church must be on board with to overlook this distraction).
ii. High upfront cost ($500-600 to get the finished product) paid to videographer (can sometimes be negotiated down with partial donation agreement (tax write-off).
g. The individual I used is named Darren Field. He shoots professional commercials, weddings, and more (also does photography). Contact him at: 360-701-0228 and mention my referral.

4. Heaven or Hell
a. This is the most aggressive form of evangelism, with the highest direct and immediate results (1 in 3 will get baptized in Jesus Name immediately). Retention is 80-90% when follow-up is done appropriately (utilization of the “adoption” method and bible studies).
b. This method requires participants to be very bold and nonjudgmental of different races, ages, income classes, and appearances.
c. This method will be led by an advance Leader who will oversee a very specific process, group safety.
i. The leader:
1. Responsible to ensure the team is regularly scheduled to “go-out” on outreach.
2. Will drive or appoint an approved driver to the church van.
3. Must have a set time period the outreach begins and ends
4. Must have full authority to baptize autonomously (some outreaches may occur in late-night hours when other staff are not present)
5. The team members involved in this outreach will should commit to at least two outreaches per month (leader should not allow
over-participation that may result in participant burnout). Ideally, this will grow to the point that multiple teams form and eventually someone is doing this method every day, and souls are being added to the church daily! See: http://gowinsouls.com/everyday.wmv
6. Ensures excitement, continued involvement, and safety of team participants
7. Must be extremely assertive, confident, & knowledgeable of salvation scriptures
8. Feasible introductory goal is to baptize at least one person per vehicle sent, per day on outreach.
a. 2 outreaches/month x 12months/year = 24 baptized per year. This is doubled to 48 people if two cars go out per outreach. If two cars go out 4 times per month, approximately 100 people would be baptized per year. That’s 1,000 additional baptisms in ten years! With aggressive follow-up, adoption program, and bible studies retention of that can reach 80-90%! See a pastors testimony at: http://gowinsouls.com/download/media/geash.wmv

It may be wisest for this leader to spend one week with Bro Tim Downs to receive adequate training on how to utilize and lead this method, unless they have already been trained in it.
d. Methodology: (See Example At: http://gowinsouls.com/GWS.wmv )
i. Pre Outreach
1. Group meets at designated time and spends 5-10 mins in prayer
a. Group Repentance
b. Prayer For Direction/Anointing
c. Binding the Enemy
ii. Demographic
1. People will be approached who are walking through the street. Higher success rates are seen in lower-income areas, however this has been effective with all races, in all countries, to all ages, and to all income levels.
iii. Dialogue
1. Taken directly from http://gowinsouls.com/download/outreach/files/Heaven%200r%20Hell%20Dialogue%20.doc

a. Hey, did you get one? (offer flyer) We just want to invite you to our church.
b. My name is ____. What is your name? Are you busy? (If they are not busy go on)
c. I have a question for you. (make sure you smile really big).
d. Do you want to go to heaven or to hell? They always say Heaven
e. Everyone I ask says that they want to go to heaven! No one wants to go to the bad place! The incredible thing about it is that very few people ever do what the Bible says to do to get there!
f. Now, you really want to go to heaven?
g. In John 3:5, Jesus tells us unless a man is born again of the water and of the Spirit they CANNOT go to heaven. Say that word for me “CANNOT” (get them to say that word)
h. That’s right, it’s impossible to ever go to heaven unless you’re born again of the water and the Spirit!
i. Now it takes 5 minutes to repent of your sins, 10 minutes to get baptized, and God will fill you with the Holy Ghost.
j. What would stop you from doing that right now? (just look into their eyes do not say anything until they answer or speak) (Most people will say nothing will stop me)
k. If nothing will stop you, we have a church right down the road, we can take you right now and pray and repent of your sins, and we can baptize you. What would stop you from doing that right now? (again wait until they answer)
l. If they say they have been baptized before always ask with great enthusiasm ‘Were you baptized in the Name of the father San and Holy Ghost” (NEVER ask if it was in Jesus name! If they were baptized in Jesus name they will tell you; they will know it was in Jesus name)…if they say YES, then you say, I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is not one place in the whole Bible was anyone baptized the way you just said you were. The good news is it only takes 5 minutes to repent, the Holy Ghost. Now what would stop you from doing those two things right now?
m. Sometimes people will say well I have to go do such and such…you then say, did you know the Bible says there is no promise of tomorrow for no man! Today is the day of salvation, we do not know if we even will be here tomorrow, life is but a vapor! Come on, do you really want to go to heaven? What would stop you right now from doing what it takes to get ready for that?
n. It is always good to have something to hand them when you approach them if possible. We have church cards, flyers, fruit snacks etc… it opens the door to talk to them, once they know it’s a church you just watch how they respond, if they tear up or look sad that is conviction, so go ahead and try it!
iv. In the Vehicle
1. If a dialogue is going on (someone is being witnessed to) all team members are to remain silent until the dialogue is over. This prevents double or triple “teaming” the lost individual and frightening them.
2. Team members are instructed to maintain conversation with the individual the entire drive back to the church. There should never be silence. This conversation doesn’t have to be church related. It serves to prevent awkward silence and promotes them opening up when they get to the church.
v. Back at the Church
1. The entire team will repent together (don’t join this team if you won’t pray out loud).
2. The team will then surround the individual for the baptism and all lay hands on them when they come out of the water. At this junction it is imperative that every team member again prays. If they don’t know how/what to pray, they can clap or worship. But for the sinner to feel comfortable worshiping out loud and receiving the Spirit, there must be “noise” and spiritual momentum.
3. After the baptism, the new converts will receive a short verbal bible study from the team leader about the importance of faithfulness. (During the ride home this will be further reiterated)
vi. Immediate Adoption Process
1. These (along with ANY) new converts, will fall away without adequate follow-up and discipleship. The best method of such is the adoption process. Wherein each convert is assigned to a responsible, stable, passionate member of the church that will there after follow-up. 2. This MUST include:
a. Be-friending activities (going out to coffee/food/in-home “get-togethers”) at least once a week
b. Phone calls 24 hours before every service (reminder, offer a ride, offer prayer)
c. Bible studies (either teach them once/week, or connect them with someone who can)
d. Updating the outreach director with the progress of converts
3. Any stable church member can adopt new spiritual babies. However, if an individual continually fails to retain converts, they should not be assigned future babies.
e. Heaven/Hell Pros:
i. The individuals who participate in this have surprisingly almost no burnout and become increasingly committed, bold, effective, & excited. (I have been begged by team members to continue outreaching until 2-3 am)
ii. Talking to people is 100% free (only costs are to keep the church van full of fuel)
iii. The church will quickly gain a revival mentality and participation will increase weekly if they are informed of the results of the last outreach (every service)
iv. Ideally, the people brought in with this are already saved by their first service. They aren’t just a “good demographic,” they are new converts!
v. When this method is accepted by the pastor and church, it can grow to the point it replaces most other forms of outreach and results are quick, effective, and lasting (Also, there is a “Heaven or Hell” altar call method, there is a “Heaven or Hell” method for “in the pew” during service)
vi. Churches that utilize this method are effective at battling the “compartmentalization” of “outreach” out of daily life. Church members will begin to pray people through on the streets, at the workplace, at school. They will tell people 24/7 that they can come to the church and a minister will meet them and baptize them. Thus, it alleviates the notion that God only can bring revival during 2 indoor services per week and replaces it with the Lord adding to the church daily.
vii. This method prevents the time wasted in 12 week bible studies to people that might never choose to be born again. Utilizing this method weeds out the disinterested and produces converts. These converts are ideal candidates to thereafter receive a 12 week discipleship study that won’t waste time.
viii. Bro. Downs has used this as one of his main methods and baptized over 10,000 people, with a 100% safety record.
f. Heaven/Hell Cons:
i. This is an aggressive outreach method that many individuals will not initially choose to engage in, unless encouraged from ministry staff (or if Bro.Tim Downs/Bro.Matt Maddix “kicks-it-off” a higher proportion may want to be involved)
ii. Like any outreach method, the individuals brought in must be aggressively follow-up upon and “adopted” or they will fall away.
iii. This is most effective at night (more people on the street at night are not pre-occupied; are able to come “now” to be saved)
iv. The baptistery will have to be cleaned more often and the water must be heated prior to each outreach
v. The leader will need keys to the church sanctuary and church van
vi. Any team members that might have slipped by, without full understanding the apostolic doctrine, will immediately become aware of the truth in Acts 2:38. (Some church members slip by thinking that baptism in Jesus name is “preferable” but baptism in the titles is “sufficient.” Needless to say, they will hear otherwise on this outreach. I think this is a “pro” but fringe church-goers may be offended at the gospel.)
g. Personal Experience:
i. I cannot emphasize enough the power of this method. There is nothing as effective, efficient, and as exciting as this can be when the pastor is supportive of it. The church becomes ecstatic when van loads come back to the church, get baptized, and God fills them with the Spirit. I will restrain myself from saying anymore, so for more information on the effectiveness and retention of this method, PLEASE contact Bro. Tim Downs at 727-512-0567 or Bro Matt Maddix at 727-515-6114. See a pastoral testimony from Bro Gene Easterling and how his church grew from 30 to over 200 in 20 months at: http://gowinsouls.com/ download/media/geash.wmv

5. Christmas/Thanksgiving Baskets
a. This program consists of gathering approximately 8-10 names from the church of serious contacts, that would be extremely likely to attend church — if invited. Low income may be preferable. See example letter to the church here:
b. Each family in the church is then given a short list of items to donate towards the baskets (total donation worth is not to exceed
$5-8/family, and preferably items should be available at “dollar stores”)
c. The baskets are assembled at the church (include church cards) and then are presented, by a youth team, to the families. If the group calls ahead, and plans effectively, this can be paired with Christmas caroling when the basket is delivered.
d. Basket Pros:
i. Free to the church
ii. Very impressive outreach gift/blessing to the targets individuals. (Goes far beyond a flyer)
iii. Many people want to be involved in outreaches like this around the holidays and sometimes donations will allow for the assembly of 2 to 3 times more gift baskets as planned.
iv. Many people enjoy the thought of going caroling
e. Basket Cons:
i. Church wide involvement is required
ii. Overseer of this project puts in a lot of work ensuring that all items come in, baskets are assembled, appropriate families are chosen, and all baskets are given out as planned.
iii. Cold weather

6. Promotions/Competitions
a. These are not “outreach methods.” Rather, these are intentional pulpit driven endeavors to encourage saints to reach-out in their own way in their schools, workplaces, etc
i. Each one Reach One
2. This is a goal that each church member will reach one person year (doubling the church each yr)
3. Occasionally during this promotion, different witnessing opportunities will be highlighted and promoted from the pulpit during
mid-week services, such as “Witnessing in Restaurants”

ii. Competition/Contest

b. Promotions/Competitions Pros:
i. No ministry involvement needed, aside from handouts and pulpit promoting
c. Promotions/Competitions Cons:
i. Hard to maintain enthusiasm for lengthy promotions/competitions.
d. Personal Experience:
i. Surprisingly effective. We had an incredible amount of visitors. See Competition results in 6. a. 11. 2. (above)

7. Less Effective Outreach Methods
a. These will not be discussed in great detail because they led to a <1% visitor return and a 0% long term retention. However, even seemingly ineffective methods likely build un-measurable brand identity (church recognition). And ready the ground for a real seed to be planted.
i. Water Bottle Give Away
1. Gave away over 10,000 water bottles at a local fair. We rented a vendor booth space and every water bottle was custom labeled with an invitation to our church on it. This was appreciated, built community recognition, but amounted to no-one being born again.
ii. Harvest Party
1. This was put on to the exclusion of formal Halloween activities. Many church going families sent children to it because they didn’t believe in Halloween. However, since these families were already churched, in all the years that we ran this none ever returned to our services (they returned to their prospective churches). This also took a substantial amount of planning, funding, decorating, and effort.
2. This could’ve been much more effective if an altar call was made, giveaways were present, and future services were more heavily promoted.
iii. Family Fun Night
1. This was an event that did not revolve around any holiday. It was essentially a block party held in the church parking lot with music, BBQ food, games, etc. This resulted in no lasting results.
2. This too could’ve been much more effective if an altar call was made, giveaways were present, and future services were more heavily promoted.

Visitor Care

1. Effective Door Greeters (& every visitor fills out a visitor card)
a. See: http://gowinsouls.com/doorgreet.wmv
b. Visitor cards are recorded and sent to church members for follow-up. If the adoption method is in place the information is also forwarded to the saint assigned to care for that convert.
2. Guest Orientation with “A Place Prepared For You”
a. This was suggested by Bro. Russell. Consists of taking every first time visitor out of the sanctuary at the beginning of the service. They are brought into another room and “A Place Prepared For You” is read to them all (they are also given copies to keep). Hopefully, they will want to be baptized and receive the Spirit thereafter.
b. Orientation Pros:
i. This allows duplicity
ii. If the heaven/hell method is not being used in services or altar calls, this is a way to intentionally communicate Acts 2:38 & John 3:5 to guests. Whenever Acts 2:38 is intentionally and clearly articulated, there will be a proportion that desires to respond and be born again.
iii. Low cost to small churches with few visitors ($1/visitor)
iv. Only requires one ministry member to teach
c. Orientation Cons:
i. This method hinges on “hoping” they respond. The material does an excellent job at providing the essential information but no clear persuading call to respond “now” is given.
ii. 15 minutes is a long amount of time to require guest to stay out of the service
iii. Awkward to pull guests away and out of the service they came for Hard to teach with loud music playing
v. Does not allow for church-wide involvement in the soul-winning process
d. Personal Experience: Much better than doing nothing! However, quantifiable results are still “pending”… I am suspicious that the same or greater outcome might be accomplishable in less time, during the altar call

3. Heaven or Hell in The Pew
a. This incorporates the Heaven or Hell method into every church service, in an effort to convert guests.
b. See: http://gowinsouls.com/heavenorhellins.mov
c. Heaven/Hell in Pew Pros:
i. Takes only 1-2 ministers to start
ii. Will yield extremely high results if done at the beginning of altar call.
iii. Will weed out the interested from among the disinterested & ensure every person leaves knowing Acts 2:38/John 3:5
d. Heaven/Hell in Pew Cons:
i. Those involved must be very bold/assertive and scripturally knowledgeable
ii. The baptism will need to be ready for baptisms in every service and a group ready to pray people through to the Holy Ghost

4. Free Visitors Meal After Every Evangelistic Service
a. This consists of asking one family in the church, per week, to donate enough food to feed the visitors a snack or light meal after each service.
b. This can be used to triple the attendance of low — income visitors by always mentioning “we also have free food after the service on Sunday.”
c. This is a much better use of resources than giving away food off location or giving away food during different days of the week. The reason for this is that, to receive the food they must come to church first. Thus, church attendance will increase immediately. Giving away food on other days, might promote some coming, but often will result in no change in visitor populations.
d. Free Meals Pros:
i. Will triple low income visitors if “free meal after service” is promoted.
ii. Gets many families involved in giving towards outreach.
iii. Is free to the church (if families donate)
iv. Keeps visitors on premises, instead of escaping out of the back door, this promotes friendships and an easy transition into the adoption process.
v. Requires no boldness/assertiveness to cook a meal (“easy” form of outreach
f. Free Meal Cons:
i. Requires someone to provide extensive oversight and planning to ensure volunteers
ii. Requires at least 4 families willing to donate one meal or large snack per week (it can be as simple as hot dogs or finger foods, or soup). If 8 donating families can be found then each family will only have to give every other month.
iii. The church will have to be repeatedly educated that the visitors eat first, any remaining food can be eaten by the church, but the purpose of this meal is to feed visitors (not church members).
iv. To maximize effectiveness, church members will have to take some time to converse, fellowship, and meet every guest during the meal. Church members also will have to help set-up, cook, and clean-up.

5. Letter From The Pastor
a. This consists of a signed letter from the pastor sent within 24 hours of the first service attended (Download example:
b. The letter will contain several key components
i. “Thank you for visiting”
ii. Invitation for continued involvement
iii. Invitation to have an in-home bible study
iv. Pastoral contact information
v. Offer for rides, prayer, etc
vi. Future service times
vii. Also, enclose a church card
c. Letter Pros:
i. Low effort, requires only one person
ii. Cheap (1 stamp/person)
d. Letter Cons:
i. Hinges on getting a prompt physical signature from the Pastor
ii. Many addresses are incorrect due to false address given or illegibility (some letters will be returned)

6. Offer for bible study
a. Visitor care (and convert care) must consistently include the attempt to get an In-Home Bible Study
i. Interested people may be willing to sign up for 12 week EGW Less stable people may need more informal “hang-outs”/going to coffee Whatever the case may be, the word must be more than just a “Sunday” thing.
b. Personal Experience
i. Bible studies have such proven effectiveness, that it need riot be reiterated.

7. Starbucks card
a. This consists of delivering a $5 gift card to every visitor within 48 hours of their visit. It is an effective way to ensure that first time visitors return again
b. Gift Card Pros:
i. Very kind notion; received well by all individuals
ii. Requires few people to be involved
c. Gift Card Cons:
i. As the church grows, this will become exponentially costly (especially considering the fuel and time required to deliver the cards)
ii. Hard to connect with individuals when they are home and many trips/hours could be wasted. Though the benefit of a personal visitation would be lost, perhaps it could be enclosed in the letter from the pastor. The exception to this might be visitors who have a physical address within the city limits of this city (mail to nearby cities) so time/fuel costs are minimized.

8. Focused Evangelistic Services
a. This is extremely important to a revival church. The Sunday service must be intentionally evangelistic. We don’t get what we don’t preach. This will increase Baptisms at least ten-fold and Spirit receptions will also exponentially increase.
b. Methodology:
i. The midweek and Sunday school service can have any content. However, the Sunday evangelistic message (or at least a once a month “evangelistic service.”) must be or end overtly/intentionally evangelistic
ii. Acts 2:38/John 3:5 should be directly preached/articulated, and the audience invited to respond.
iii. There are many formats to do this and style of altar calls. However, the effectiveness is seen by not just “throwing-in” Acts 2:38, but really preaching it & pushing for a response.
iv. I have done this different methods, but usually end by asking for raised hands from those that want to be baptized (establish a
commitment), then invite all to come and pray for the Holy Ghost, lead group repentance, pray people through, and then will baptize those who committed previously after the service concludes.
v. If we don’t compel people to decide today to be baptized and receive the Spirit, the majority will always be waiting for “tomorrow,” and subsequently few will be saved.
c. Focused evangelistic service Pros:
i. The church will grow confident in the evangelistic services and invite more people, knowing that Acts 2:38 will be adequately presented to their loved ones/friends. They will be expectant that their contact will be baptized and will receive the Spirit because of the results of the last evangelistic service.
d. Focused evangelistic service Cons:
i. The church will need education on how to conduct themselves in this service
1. The will not be preached to. So they can’t come and wait for a “new revelation” to respond. They must be ready to hear Acts 2:38 ad nauseam and still act excited about it, so the visitors get excited about it. I teach that every time they hear the word “Baptism,” “Holy Ghost,” or “tongues” they are to clap, shout, or say Amen. This may sound unnecessary to communicate, but an overtly evangelistic service will miserably fail due to the church being bored, unless they understand the purpose of who the message is reaching too and help you preach.
2. The church must be educated that they are all expected to repent when repentance is called for and all are expected to help pray people through to the Holy Ghost. If the church doesn’t pray, the sinners won’t pray. If the sinners won’t pray, they won’t get the Holy Ghost.
3. Finally, the church must understand that they will all be an integral part of retention immediately after the service. (Adoption Method)

9, Consider Non-Traditional Service Starting Times
a. See: http://gowinsouls.com/download/other/files/Afternoon%20Services.coc,
b. See: http://gowinsouls.com/2pmservice.wrnv
c. We are already starting our evangelistic service at 12:15pm, which I feel is totally sufficient to meet this. I only included this because previously I’ve seen 9 am start times be a barrier to revival that unnecessarily kept many out of heaven.

Follow-Up
1. Adoption Method
a. This method is extremely effective at follow-up. With the right group of people assigned, I have personally seen this retain 80-90% of people won with the Heaven/Hell method. Read about Adoption Method at: http://gowinsouls.com/download/outreach/files/PowerPoint%20Convert%20Care%20DOWNS.ppt

b. This method consists of assigning each new convert to a saint for permanent follow-up.
c. Duties include:
i. Be-friending activities (going out to coffee/food/in-home “get-togethers”) at least once a week
ii. Phone calls 24 hours before every service (reminder, offer a ride, offer prayer)
iii. Bible studies (either teach them once/week, or connect them with someone who can)
iv. Updating the outreach director with the progress of converts
d. Adoption Pros:
i. Highest discipleship retention (even higher than bible studies) when maintained on a permanent basis
ii. Free to the church
iii. Includes every stable church member, builds friendships, and increases unity.
iv. The adoption process will bring out desirable characteristics from saints they hadn’t previously displayed
1. They will naturally want to pray with their “babies” at the altar
2. They will want to teach bible studies
3. They will want to help win their “babies” families
4. They will offer rides to church
5. They will want to example holiness and godliness
v. This method will allow the church to grow bigger than just what the follow-up team can work with. Most churches without this method are limited to working with 20-30 new people at a time because a follow-up team can’t work with more than that. Ideally, “adoption” will allow the church to double every 12 weeks or sooner because discipleship/follow-up is dispersed throughout the congregation.
e. Adoption Cons:
i. Requires diligent oversight
1. People won’t don what’s expected, they will do what’s inspected
2. Outreach director needs to touch base to ensure the adoption care is sufficient to sustain the baby.
ii. If only a few people are on-board, they will promptly be over utilized and burnout
1. To avoid this, if this method is introduced it must presented as something every member of the church will be expected to participate in eventually
iii. It will require the saint to spend money, time, and energy (oftentimes before they “feel” or see the fulfilling benefits)

2. New Convert Class (NCC) or Enrolment in Home Bible Studies (EGW)
a. This will drastically improve long term retention, and must be done in all circumstances.
b. New Convert Classes can be taught in the stead of Sunday school, for the new converts, to prevent taking up another day on the calendar. This has been reportedly very effective.
c. New Convert Classes were also purposed by Bro. Russell as being effective on Monday nights
i. I don’t know any church that has done this. Results are pending!
d. Exploring Gods Word (EGW) can serve in the stead of a New Converts class but will require a skilled teacher.
e. NCC/EGW Pros:
i. High long term retention. If they are born again and then will complete 12 weeks of discipleship material, they will stay
f. NCC/EGW Cons:
i. Teachers need to be highly trained to disciple (it’s easy to win a soul, but hard to keep one).
1. The teachers should first receive a class on how to teach a bible study (See example at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz02AUAD2X-ZTYyNilzYzltYTE5ZC00OTl0LWFhMzgtMiA2NWY2YWY2Zjgy&hl=en)
and should be observed for several lessons. Note: having this class substantially increases the excitement for teaching bible studies and more church members will seek to get them, teach them, and see them baptized.

3. Encouragement of Participation
a. This is an important and often over-looked area of retention. Retention drastically increases if individuals are given areas they can be involved in. A prompt official invitation to new converts for their involvement in the youth group, choir, outreach, homeless meals, church cleaning crew, men’s ministry, singles ministry, women’s ministry, bible study ministry, prayer ministry, or Sunday school will sharply increase attendance and ownership/entitlement (the notion of “this is ‘my’ church”).
b. Here is an example flyer I made that could be redesigned to promote involvement in any ministry:

4. Backslider Follow-Up
a. Even Jesus didn’t have 100% retention among his closest apostles. For those that do “fall-away,” periodical reestablishment of contact should be made.
b. See: http://gowinsouls.com/backslider.wmv

Other Outreach Ideas:
http://gowinsouls.com/download/other/files/10%20tips%20to%20win%20souls.doc

and

http://gowinsouls.com/dowload/outreach/files/seminar%20hand%20out%20sheet.doc

For more ideas contact Bro. Tim Downs in Atlanta, GA (727-512-0567) and see what ideas he has for outreach. He started his church in March 2011. Consistently runs and retains at or above 200 and just announced that he is launching a daughter work!

Also, NewLife Pacs can be given to those baptized, to start the discipleship process:
http://sales.pentecostalpublishing.com/productDetails.asp?pid-17701&sid=507&ptc=PPH123&quid=648

I am constantly looking for new effective ideas, if you run across a good one email it to me at:
ApostolicAndasens@hotmail.com

The above article, “Key Outreaches: Evangelism Methods & Ideas,” was written by David Walls The article was submitted by the author.

This material is most likely copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.