Evangelism Survey Notes

Through the periodic E-Word newsletter and on this web site we offered a survey seeking information and input from local churches and pastors about their endeavors specifically related to evangelism. There was not a large response to the survey, perhaps because it seemed too long and too imprecise. Yet those who did complete the survey offered very helpful information, and it is appreciated.

We will summarize some of the findings and notes from the survey in future E-Word newsletters and on this web page. For example, it’s noteworthy that a great majority of respondents indicated that individuals and groups in their churches practice “servant evangelism,” and do “help support financially the evangelistic work of others.”  Most also indicated that they “conduct classes for those considering a profession of faith.”  Relatively few maintain a “community visitation program designed to reach the unchurched.”

Among the evangelism programs mentioned as being used in the churches were: Evangelism Explosion training/implementation program, Operation Andrew, the John Piper video series, and “Just Walk Across the Room” video series by Bill Hybels. Several respondents indicated no specific evangelism program in their churches. Comments in this regard from Rev. Doug Lee of Grace Fellowship Community Church in San Francisco were particularly thought-provoking:

“We have intentionally not used the word ‘evangelism’ for years because of the way the meaning of that word has been reduced to certain kinds of techniques or to getting people to pray a specific kind of prayer instead of beginning a journey of conversion and becoming incorporated into a community. We have stayed away from the ‘E-word’ to try to break out of the narrow reductionism that aims at effectiveness measured in numbers of converts as the goal and makes finding the right technique the emphasis. To try to rehabilitate a more robust practice of evangelism (instead of just tossing around a word that had come to mean far less), we have emphasized the missional identity of the local congregation and our communal vocation in terms of witness. The whole of our lives, not just what we say, bears witness to the world-transforming power of the gospel. Our lives must bear witness so that our words are not empty. To paraphrase one missiologist, our koinonia must speak as loudly as our kerygma for the latter to have any integrity.”