For years, door knocking was about the only type of consistent
outreach – outside of occasional street services – that you would find
in most Pentecostal churches. “Outreach” and “door knocking” were
pretty much synonymous terms: where you found the one, you would
normally find the other.
Today, except for a handful of die-hard adherents, few churches walk the
neighborhoods and ring the doorbells. We have seemingly surrendered the
entire program over to the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Most pastors
see little profit to this “cold turkey” approach of evangelism.
However, even though traditional door knocking and canvassing has not
reaped a great amount of results in the past, several new approaches
have
given greater productivity to this type of ministry, bringing a
reevaluation in the hearts of many. Not only are churches seeing greater
results, but many pastors have come to realize that there is a large
percent of people in their churches that will become involved – and
even
enjoy – the Saturday Door Knocking ministry. Perhaps this is because
such
a heavy emphasis has been placed here in the past. Or maybe it’s because
that’s what Mom and Dad always did. But whatever the reason, the
doorbells
are ringing again and the churches doing so are singing it’s praises as
new converts are being won to Jesus Christ.
What has brought about this change? Simply this: A realization that for
any outreach to be effective, it must meet people’s needs.
To go up to someone’s door and invite them to church is fine – but
seldom do they ever come. The entire sequence says, “I want you to do
something for me – come to my church”. Unfortunately we live in a very
“me” oriented generation. The world’s view of everything today seems
to say “what’s in it for me? What will I get out of it?” Little do
they realize what that one visit could mean to their eternity. If we
are going to see results beyond that of sore knuckles, we had better
change our approach.
The change in approach has been to offer a needed service, to give
them something they want: A personal Bible survey course (Home Bible
Study), the benefits of “belonging” to a Sunday School and having a
pastor (Enroll-to-Grow), a Bible education for their children (Bus
Ministry), a social and educational program for their youth (Scouting
/Youth Clubs), or an enjoyable activity for the entire family (a
church sponsored drama, musical, or program). There are many others.
This is a subtle but significant change from the traditional
visitation goal of trying to present the full Gospel in every home.
The new method discovers a person or family with a need, than develops
a strategy to reach them by meeting that need.
DEVELOPING THE MINISTRY
The following approach has been highly effective in discovering
prospects for Home Bible Study, Bus Ministry, Sunday School, and
Pastoral Follow-up Visitation. Prospects are the name of the game when
it comes to growth. Saturday Door Knocking will provide you with a
wealth of leads like few other methods will.
- Place “Saturday Door Knocking” on your annual outreach commitment
form. Explain that those who commit to involvement will only be going
out ONE SATURDAY PER MONTH. This is the key. If they go out every
week, they will soon burn out and quit. For many, Saturday is the only
day off they have to be with their family. -
Draw up a six-month schedule of what Saturdays will be used for
this ministry. Try to choose Saturday’s that are just prior to major
church events and promotions (dramas, songfests, special programs,
revivals, etc.) Post the schedule and give a copy to each person
involved. This will help them plan on being there. -
Announce the intended Saturday the Sunday and Bible study night
before going. Put a notice in the church bulletin if you have one. -
The director of this ministry must call all team members the
Thursday or Friday before going out and get a commitment from each to
be there Saturday morning. This is a MUST! Since they don’t go out
every week, and it’s not always on the same Saturday of the month,
people tend to forget. -
The door knocking team should meet at the church Saturday morning
at about 9:30 a.m. After a short time of prayer, they hit the streets
and knock on doors until noon. They then return to the church for a
group lunch (brown-bag or potluck style). After lunch, the director
should give the group a quick “pep talk.” Have testimonies from those
that have had success. This will inspire those who may have had a bad
morning. The team then goes out for another hour or two following
lunch. -
Plan to use a variety of methods of Door Knocking. What method you
use might be determined by the Church Growth Spiral. Strengthen
whatever ministry was weak that past month.
a. Quest Survey – This comes from the “Finding the Field” manual put
out by the Home Missions Department. A sample survey form and
instructions are provided in the Home Bible Study section of this
chapter. If done properly, it is highly effective in getting studies.
b. Enroll-To-Grow – This method is available from the National Sunday
School Department, UPCI. It is very effective in enrolling adults into
your Sunday School Program. A complete information packet is
available.
c. Bus Ministry – Knocking on doors to find children for the Bus
Ministry has proven to be an effective way of reaching into the home.
When coupled with the Parentreach Program (explained in the Sunday
School section of this chapter), Bus Ministry becomes a powerful
soulwinning tool.
d. Boy’s and Girl’s Scouts or Kid’s Clubs – The use of this nationally
know children’s outdoor club has been a blessing to many. The program
is excellent and all spiritual training is provided by the local
church that sponsors the pack or troop. It also provides an excellent
inroad to reaching the parents of the children.
e. Flyer & Ticket Distribution – Anytime you have a special program or
revival, the Saturday Door Knockers hit the streets and distribute
flyers and inform the community. An excellent method of promoting a
drama, singspiration, or similar event is to print up a professional
looking “free” ticket. It simply gives the name, date, address and
says “admit one free.” Go door to door and distribute them to whoever
desires to come. But be sure to get the name and phone number of all
you give them to. Why? Because about three days before the event you
will want to call each to “confirm their reservation.” It works great!
- Make sure you train your team properly in how to be effective in
each method used. -
Start your door knocking team out in lower class neighborhoods.
Their results will be much better. As they gain confidence, then you
can move up to the better neighborhoods. -
Dividing the door knocking group into smaller “teams” and
occasionally having some friendly competition is a good way to build
enthusiasm. Make sure you lay out the ground rules well before
beginning. -
Encourage those in the church who feel they can’t knock on doors
to come to the church and pray for those who do. This “prayer team”
should be praying as the door knocking is going on. Appoint a leader
over this group and encourage faithfulness. -
Be consistent. Don’t start this ministry if you don’t plan to keep
it going. Skipping months will cause interest to wane. -
About once a quarter, plan to invite all the church out on the
same Saturday for a “special” big push. Let all the newcomers know
that they will be paired with an experienced door knocker who will do
all the talking. Afterward, have a potluck and softball game. This is
an excellent way to get new people involved. -
You may wish to assign each person to their own “Vineyard.” A
vineyard is a certain area on the map. Each month, the person prays
for their “vineyard” and labors within their “vineyard” in various
ways. The key to this approach is to help each person develop a burden
for their particular area of the city. If anyone is saved from that
location, it will most likely be because they were faithful in
laboring within their “vineyard.” -
Suggestion: don’t “pair-up” the people who participate. The
problem that arises from this is that when one of the two can’t come
for some reason, the other will not come either. You will have better
success by assigning partners after all arrive each month. It’s
sometimes fun to draw names “out of a hat.” -
Areas knocked should be placed on a map so that the team doesn’t
overlap themselves.
IN CONCLUSION
D. L. Moody is reported to have once said “I would rather train ten
soulwinners than win ten souls.” The key to effective personal
evangelism and outreach is for a pastor to reproduce his burden and
ability into the hearts of his people. They must be trained, they must
be led, they must be encouraged, they must be organized.
The growing church has found the methods that work best for them and
then work them for all they are worth. A pastor cannot allow
occasional poor participation to discourage him in consistently sowing
the seed of the Word of God. Not everyone will become involved in
everything all the time. But it is better to do something than to do
nothing.
A visiting pastor is once to have said to his fellow pastor after the
announced visitation was poorly attended, “Isn’t it terrible that so
few come out for Saturday Door Knocking? This is why I don’t even do
it!” To which the pastor replied, “Poor as it is, I like the way we do
something better than the way you do nothing!”
Here are seven closing thoughts from a revival pastor to keep in mind
as you put these outreach programs into motion:
- Keep a revival spirit in every service.
- Find the outreach methods that work for you and work them.
- Involve everyone, somewhere, doing something.
- Make personal soulwinning dwarf everything else.
- Don’t wear out your people doing too many other things.
- You leaders must be an example in personal soulwinning.
- Then plan your work and work your plan.
May God bless you with an abundance of harvest and a growing church!
(The above material was prepared and published by Tim Massengale from
Total Church Growth. You can order the complete 2 volume set from
Pentecostal Publishing House.)
