Personal Outreach

In this video Dr. Jones addresses issues that can diminish our zeal for outreach.

Read the attached article from Martin Luther's work on The Freedom of a Christian, 1520

A personal testimony, one in which one shares one's personal experiences with Jesus Christ, can be very powerful in the witnessing process. However, personal testimonies tend to point the spotlight on ourselves or at least lessen the light we shine on Jesus. Rather than creating a biographic narrative around your conversion experience, in this lesson, you will learn to tell Jesus' story from within your experiences and context.

Watch and take notes on the video, 100 Days of Rejection

Complete a rejection challenge involving interactions with at least five strangers. The interactions should challenge your comfort zone. They do not need to involve a faith conversation.

MissionInsite is an online tool that provides instant access to community information for your church via The MI System. It moves beyond static reports to a powerful discovery tool for exploration and out-of-the-box thinking for church ministry, church planting, church growth, and outreach. The system is designed to be user-friendly and provides additional services unavailable from other sources.

Prayer walking is a powerful practice of walking and praying in specific locations, seeking God's guidance, protection, and blessings upon the people and places you encounter. Prayer walking is not just a physical activity, but a spiritual discipline that allows us to partner with God in interceding for our communities.

The following files are resources that can be used to organize a prayerwalk or train people in the prayerwalk experience.  Some of the files are sample promotional materials used by other congregations.

Bringing the gospel to your community begins with your neighborhood.  This unit will provide an overview of resourses and training tools that can be used to better connect to your neighbors.

When people hear the Gospel for the first time, they will have questions or even concerns about the Gospel call. 

In this presentation, Timothy Keller makes a gentle apologetic case for God's reasonableness. Notice how his presentation invites greater conversation and dialog. Also, notice how he handles the questions and comments at the end of the video.

Watch the video below, in which Tim Keller describes the shift in culture from an open-minded to a close-minded posture regarding faith.

Apologetics is the discipline of defending the faith. The practices of evangelism and apologetics often get confused or blended into one activity. Unlike the previous unit where we focused on addressing questions or concerns, the apologist addresses people who are confrontational or hostile to the Christian faith. 

Watch and take notes on the video, A Case for Christ. Notice how the presenter describes the Apologetic process. For more information, you might want to read the book, A Case for Christ.

Watch and take notes on the video, Why I Believe in Jesus. Notice how the presenter describes the Apologetic process and his approach to defending the faith. Ravi Zacharias has produced many materials on the subject of Christian apologetics. You may find many of them helpful. You can locate them through an internet search.

Digital Evangelism is strategically using the Internet, mobile, and social media platforms to meet the needs of others and share the Gospel with the online world.  Using digital means to further the Gospel work opens the doors for more church members to serve as missionaries and more people will know of Jesus's saving love.

The next portion of this course introduces the topic of Discipleship.  Discipleship in this context refers to the process whereby a new believer grows in the their faith knowledge and practice to become an active missionary to their community.