Natural Church Development

NCD: Need-Oriented Evangelism

Evangelism is more than just marketing the church and welcoming new people.  Although these are important, evangelism is really about doing "good news" in people's lives through love and justice, so that they might experience the transforming power of an authentic relationship with a loving God.  The goal of evangelism is to assist God in making new disciples of Christ, not just filling up our seats on Sunday.  The best strategy in the history of Christianity for making new disciples is to understand the needs of people, community and the world, and then to meet those needs in love without expecting anything else in return.  Basically, it is to love people like Jesus loves them.  Some questions to ask about need-oriented evangelism include:
  • How does your church help people to share their faith through practical acts of Christian love and justice combined with clear communication about Christ?
  • What are the next steps for making your church more user-friendly for visitors and more welcoming for guests and new participants?
  • How are you regularly inviting people into a relationship with Christ through the ministries of your congregation?
  • How do you encourage and engage the gifts of new Christians in sharing the Gospel through their existing relationships with other unchurched people?
Many churches may not be able to afford expensive marketing tools, but every church can organize its people to share their faith in practical ways with new people.  Some resources for helping you encourage and develop need-oriented evangelism include:

  

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congregational development office      978-682-8055 ext 210      rickm@neumc.org