The past couple of articles we have been taking a brief look at the why, the what, a touch of the how of evangelism. To make sure we are on the same page evangelism is telling this lost, dying, and hurting world the good news of Jesus Christ through the dynamic indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, with the prayerful desire of bringing people to faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The how that we spoke of last month was relational evangelism which is where you as the witness takes those natural relationships with their Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Neighbors (FRANs) you have built and naturally share the gospel within these relationships.
Let me build on this idea that I want to challenge you and our churches to strive for, it is called “Who’s Your One?”. We highlighted this back in March as our resource of the month, yet I want to elaborate some more on this wonderful strategy. “Who’s Your One?” is a wonderful, simple, and doable way of reaching our neighbors, friends, family members, co-workers, and classmates. First, “Who’s Your One?” is not a six week program but a long-term evangelism strategy for a church and individual believers. “Who’s Your One?” is a focused and realistic challenge for you and I to have one person or one household that is far from Christ to pray for, to invest in and care for, to share with, and to disciple. Just imagine with me if just half of those that attend on a Sunday morning endeavored to reach their one. Your church would be on mission and reaching its community. You would see baptisms and lives changed because of the power of the gospel. Another result is your church would increase in attendance by 50% if not more. Now imagine if just about the whole church committed to “Who’s Your One?”?
Diving a little deeper into this strategy, I have in my ministry encouraged four parts. I apologize in advance, I am a pastor at heart so it either has to rhyme or have alliteration, in this case I have both. As you think about “Who’s Your One?” I want to encourage you to pray, care, share, and prepare. Each of these four things is something that all of us as believers should and must be doing in our everyday life. Thinking from an alliteration standpoint, Intercede (pray), Invest (care), and Invite (share) or what I call I³.
To pray for your one is the easiest, lest intimidating, and vitally important step in the process. Pray that the Lord would bring them to Himself. Pray that they would encounter the Good News of Jesus. Pray that the Lord would put occasions for you to invest in their life and to share the Good News. Pray that you would have the boldness to both see and take these opportunities the Lord puts before you. Further, you can ask them, “How can I pray for you?” It is amazing what kind of doors this simple question will open. If you are a computer and email person, a wonderful tool that you can use for praying for your one is another resource of the month from several months ago called “Bless Every Home”. You can find more information about “Bless Every Home” at https://blesseveryhome.com. If I can share more with you about this tool, please let me know. By the way, I personally use “Bless Every Home” to pray for my neighbors with a daily email that is sent to me every morning.
To care for your one is to show them that you care for them as a person and that they matter. Some of the ways you can care for your one is to get to know them; you can distribute homemade gifts to your neighbors at Christmas time and include a tactful card that points to Christ; you can invite those without nearby family over for a holiday meal; you can host a baby shower for a neighbor who is expecting; you can start a playgroup with other stay at home parents; coordinate a Bring your Own Main Course night, where you supply the grill, maybe a side dish or two, a dessert, and everyone brings their own meat or veggie dish; invite your one over to watch a ball game or the mother of all USA sporting events-the Super Bowl; and you can encourage them, especially if they are going through a difficult season. In truth, the ways you can care for your one or your neighbors is endless.
To share with your one is to tell them about Jesus. Maybe you want to share what I call a testimony gospel, where in this order you tell about your life before you became a believer, your life since becoming a believer, and how you became a believer. Maybe you want to share the gospel with a simple tool that is called “3 Circles”. As a pastor I know that having multiple tools in the tool box is helpful, yet I am also an advocate of pushing one way of teaching a church on how to share the gospel. What I discovered is for those that are interested teaching different tools is good, but as I would work with people in new believers classes, a new members class, or two times a year I would have a sharing emphasis, I discovered teaching one tool was by far more effective. The tool I taught during these times was 3 Circles. If I can help you with 3 Circles please let me know.
To prepare your one is to take steps to disciple your one. In other words once they believe in Jesus this isn’t the end but the beginning for them in their life in Christ. The problem is we have new believers but no-one is helping them take their first steps in their life in Christ. So often our discipleship strategy is “figure it out as your go” with a mix of “good luck”. When we are thinking of “Who’s Your One?” how can you walk with them through their first steps as a believer? Thinking of it with a different illustration, how can you put them under your wing as you help them figure out how to walk with Christ. As a pastor who encouraged my people through this process, I was looking for a tool that was both reproducible (same process/same information) and time bound (can be done in an hour; think over breakfast or lunch). Two resources I found is
- Some discipleship/mentorship books from Lifeway called Disciples Path https://www.lifeway.com/en/disciples-path=. This is a series of 6 workbooks that is 5-6 sessions each. As a church we supplied these workbooks for any believer that wanted to disciple their one. While they were more than welcome to walk through all 6, what I pushed was the first workbook called “The Beginning”. One of the things I like about Disciples Path is it is VERY reproducible, because it is a workbook that you work through. On the reverse side the thing I dislike about Discples Path is direct result of it being VERY reproducible is it is a bit ridged.
- G3 is another wonderful resource (Give Up, Give In, Give Out). G3 is an excellent process that is a little more organic and relational, compared to the more ridged Disciples Path.
Both are great, I would simple say what goes better with the culture of your church.
What makes “Who’s Your One?” special is that it is highly relational. It is living the life as a follower of Jesus. More importantly, coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit, this strategy is highly effective in reaching those around you.
With this being said, I also need to say this process isn’t fast, it takes effort and intentionality, and in full transparency as you pray, care, share, and prepare it can be messy because it is life-on-life and let’s be honest life can be messy. Yet, to pray, care, share, and prepare, while messy, is living the life of a believer and the life of the church that is on mission for Jesus. Isn’t that what we see in the life of Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, James, and the believers of renown through the history of the church?
One of the things I do for our churches is running and analyzing demographic information. One piece of information from those 2021 demographics that needs to be highlighted is I am finding that 70-76% of those living around our churches are not involved in a church and by extrapolation many of which are far from Christ. This 70-76% is your neighbors, your family members, your co-workers, and your classmates. My friends we have to do something! Christ has won the war, yet as the Church we are losing the battle in the here and the now. I came across a quote about a month ago that says, “The church is weak because her prayers are weak. The nation is weak because the church is weak.” My friends, we are called to be salt and light, we are called to make a difference in the lives around us. The question is, will you fill the gap? Who’s Your One?
For more information check out the NAMB website: https://www.whosyourone.com. “Who’s Your One?” is an emphasis that NAMB began in 2019. If I can help, please let me know.
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