Saving...
The Gypsy Road – Small Group Blog of Serendipity’ recently had a post stating “Team Evangelism is extraordinarily potent in a post-modern world. The post-modern thinker is unapologetically hesitant to believe the Bible is truth, is cynical when hearing a preacher’s monologue but welcomes dialogue, and longs for a few close relationships. In order for many post-modern’s to consider Christ they must first see the Christ lifestyle lived out in an authentic Christian community.
Thousands of pre-Christians have been ambushed by Christian community.
They were simply going about their daily routines when a group of genuine Christians welcomed them into their inner circle. Once they arrived they found out there was a whole new way of living that was captivating, exhilarating, and life giving.
When pre-Christians see believers living life in honest Christian community, fascination becomes curiosity, curiosity evolves into understanding, and understanding leads to spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness leads to Jesus. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Team Evangelism is simply this… “Letting unbelievers do life with a small group of authentic Christians, Christians doing life together, really.”
LifePoint Church puts this to life by helping people in Neighborhood Develop Relationships, Discover Stories and Discern Next Steps. (Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room)
Developing a relationship with someone should be natural and getting someone to hang out with a group of your Christian friends is not that difficult if you’ve tilled the ground well. First off, find out what activities you and the people you want to get to know have in common. If you both golf, golf; if you shop, then shop. We often talk about having coffee or a cookout together to build relationships.
Second, Listen. As you spend time with people, many Christ-followers feel the need to be able to answer every question or carry on the conversation. By doing this we often don’t hear our new friends or the Holy Spirit. Discover their story, what has life been like for them?
Third, Discern the next step God is leading you to take with your new friends. It may be to go out to eat together, invite them to your Small Group meeting, give them a CD or a book, or maybe invite them to church at some point or a special event.
LifePoint expects Small Groups to meet at least two times a month for Bible Study, at least one time a month for a social/party (once a quarter this party should be a non-intimidating party to invite your new friends to), and once a month for a service project. Discerning the next steps is very important. You can only discern after you have partied and listened.
At the appropriate time, tell the curious onlooker how to cross the line of faith. Your group should be praying for God to reveal His love for them as they are seeing Him at work in the lives of the group members. In most instances, there will come a time when it is right to tell someone how to become a Christ-follower. Don’t miss this opportunity. Be prepared to tell them how you moved from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus, then offer them the opportunity to do the same.
If you have any questions on leading someone to Christ check out LifePoint’s Meet Christ page.
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