Even a church with an excellent worship service, however, must not wait for the people to come. The emphasis of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19) is to go. What might we do to reach people who would not otherwise come to our churches?

In this chapter we will look at seven good ways to discover prospects. These seven methods fall into two broad categories: church promotion and relationship building. Developing a community presence, special events, marketing, seeking new residents, and surveying by needs are all good methods to find prospects. These methods focus on what the church can do for the prospect. The next two, however, focus on building a relationship. Training members in life-style evangelism and developing small groups are keys to reaching the unchurched as we enter the twenty-first century.

A list of seven ways to find prospects is certainly not an exhaustive approach. These methods, however, are prominent in growing churches. The approaches will undoubtedly change in coming years. The Church Growth Movement continues to discover and assess the most successful types of outreach.

One of the outstanding churches in America today is First Baptist Church of Leesburg, Florida, led by Pastor Charles Roesel. This church is one of the consistent leaders in baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention. First Baptist has various community ministries such as homes for battered women and unwed mothers. These ministries touch the physical, financial, and emotional needs of people in the community. Most important, the church often reaches the greatest spiritual need as many of those who benefit from the ministries also accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Perhaps the church most frequently mentioned as the model for community presence is Bear Valley Baptist Church in Denver. The church has unleashed hundreds of members to do ministry. The people in the church are constantly reminded that they are the ministers and that they have the freedom and the permission to begin ministries under broad and reasonable guidelines. 1

Churches with a community presence find prospects in two ways. First, those who are served by the community ministries are often prospects for salvation and for the church. The church that views these people as prospects may discover that the prospects are "down and outers." The attitude of Jesus is necessry as the church does outreach in New Testament style, ministering to "the least of these" (Matt: 25:40). Are churches today ready to give up their comfort zones by letting diffeent kinds of people come into their buildings?

Second, the church discovers prospects as people in the community get involved in these ministries. There is a deep hunger in the hearts of many people to touch lives and to make a difference. Unfortunately, most churches do not offer opportunities for "outsiders" or members to be involved in front-line ministry. If you lead a church toward involvement in the community that makes a difference, the church will become a magnet for many prospects.

Can special events such at high attendance days, friend days, Christmas and Easter spectaculars, seminars, conferences, and dramas result in growth and discover prospects? C. Kirk Hadaway says: "The answer is 'yes,' if used properly."2 What is necessary, according to Hadaway, is follow-up if special events are to be effective. The attenders cease to be prospects in many churches because they "are not visited quickly, and persons who join during the event may not return." 3 The church must understand the purpose of special events if they are to reach the unchurched. "If the primary reason is 'tradition,' 'our members enjoy them.' or 'to revive our church,' then they are unlikely to produce growth. In fact, they may actually work against growth by siphoning off the energy of members from activitites which do produce growth." 4

The churches that are discovering prospects through special events typically produce an event that is sensitive to the unchurched. Shades Mountain Independent Church in Birmingham, Alabama, creates a major Christmas production for the community each year. Music minister Kim Cannon now divides these productions equally between music and drama; in the past they were predominantly music. The reason? Drama, especially good drama, is seeker sensitive. Television and movies have developed a society that is highly affected by the visual media.

When George Barna's book Marketing the Church 5 was published in 1988, some Christian leaders expressed concern that the church was "selling out" to an unbiblical, secular model for reaching the unchurched. The very use of the word "marketing" seemed to many inappropriate in the context of the church. Barna explained that we must first "think of marketing as the activities that address the needs of a target audience, thereby allowing the business to satisfy its goals." 6 If we understand that the "business" of the church is, among other things, reaching these people for Christ, then we will discern the best ways to reach these people. Whether by word of mouth, newspaper advertisement, direct mail, or many other methods to reach the unchurched, the church has involved itself in marketing. The problem for most is terminology. Much of what Barna advocates under the name of marketing is the same activity that many churches call "outreach."

Traditional marketing approaches of churches have been home visitation, passive media (e.g. a sign in front of the church), and paid passive media, such as newspaper advertisement. Barna's research has shown that these tactics are of little value in getting people to our churches.

The approaches that do appear to have some success are personal invitation, small groups, and programs that meet needs. It is my conviction that these three are so important that most churches today should be channeling much more of their resources in these directions. The small group is so important that its effectiveness will be discussed again later in this chapter.

Barna also sees effectiveness in telemarketing and direct mail, but the level of success depends on the quality of the effort: "Direct mail can work well for the church. However, with the average household now receiving in excess of 1,500 unsolicited pieces of mail per year, it takes a polished, professional piece to cut through the clutter and make such a significant impression that it will alter an established behavior pattern. If your mailing is done amateurishly, you will undoubtedly lose your shirt in the process. If it is handled professionally you might emerge a winner." 7

A number of churches discover prospects through new residents who move into the community. Several companies provide lists of newcomers at a modest cost. Newcomers are often receptive to churches or the Christian faith at their time of dislocation. A move to another area is a "crisis event," a time when the newcomer is open to other changes, such as changes to a new church or to receiving Christ. A church that pursues a strategy to reach new residents must be persistent. Contacting one thousand families yearly may result in ten new families added to the church. This method of outreach, if used with other approaches, could provide a steady flow of prospects.

Surveys can be effective if their purpose is to meet the needs of the unchurched, and if they do not violate the privacy of the unchurched. On the next page is a copy of the survey Green Valley Baptist uses in the community. The steps we follow are the following:

1. We knock on a door and ask the person to complete a survey after we leave.
2. We state that the purpose of our survey is to meet community needs.
3. After they complete the survey, we ask them to leave it on the doorknob (the survey has a perforated top that enables it to be hung in this fashion.)
4. We return to pick up the survey within an hour, without further disturbing the resident.
5. If the resident requested any activities or information, we follow up at an appropriate time. For example, we were very surprised at the number of women requesting aerobic classes. We began offering two classes that filled up immediately. We, of course, sent letters to those who requested the class. This class provided an entry point into the church for many who would not otherwise come.
6. We send a thank-you note to everyone who responded.

These next two methods of finding prospects depend on building relationships. They are not quick solutions. The pastor or other leader must view this process as long-term. If these methods are successfully implemented, the benefits not only include more prospects, but eventually more fully assimilated and productive church members.

When we speak of life-style evangelism, we refer to a life that is growing and maturing in Christ, while letting the words and deeds of that life draw others to Christ. What can the church do to engender life-style evangelism, where the members naturally bring and attract the unchurched to the church? This question is critical importance since almost three-fourths of church members began attending at the invitation of a member or a friend.8

Hadaway notes four critical factors in infusing the church with an atmosphere that produces evangelistic life-styles.9 The first is emphasizing the eternal importance of evangelism: an open, evangelistic spirit. The members must see that sharing their faith is a natural overflow of the Christian lfe.

Second, evangelistic training must be an ongoing ministry of the church. As was noted in chapter 22, the role of Evangelism Explosion or Continuing Witness Training is changing, but that does not preclude the necessity for training our members in how to share their faith. The training must be used in the everyday lives of the members.

Third, our churches must have something worthwhile for the guests who do finally come to our churches. If our members capture the spirit of life-style evangelism while our worship services are dull and dry, the invitations to come will quickly cease, and church members will become discouraged.

Finally, we must encourage new Christians to share their new-found faith. Hadaway explains:

New Christians are generally more enthusiastic about their relationship with Christ than anyone else, and they have more contacts with persons who are not in church. Further, the sudden change in the lives of new Christians gives non-Christian friends dramatic evidence of the power of God . . . . The process usually occurs naturally, out of the new Christian's excitement about his or her relationship with Christ. All that is generally needed is the"permission" of the church to witness -- even though the new believer may know little about the Bible or about "proper witnessing techniques." The expectation that all Christians shuld be witnesses out of the overflow of their thankflness to God may be all that is needed to free new Christians to share their faith.10

In chapter 29, when we look at the full scope of small groups and their potential, we will see the multiple benefits of this ministry. As a tool for securing prospects, small groups may prove to be the outreach method of the future. In the small groups meeting from our church, each groups keeps a vacant chair in the presence of all group members. This vacancy reminds the participants that each of them has a responsibility to bring others in the group. Since entry into the group will most likely result from relationships at work, in school, in a club, or in the neighborhood, these prospects will have a high probability of one day being fully assimilated into the church.

The Church Growth Movement has received an enormous amount of criticism for attempting to find prospects through receptivity and homogeneity. Because these principles are so controversial, we will take the entire next chapter to discuss and evaluate their roles.

Churches that obey the Great Commission are "going" churches, they seek to find prospects rather than waiting for prospects to come to them. Though each method discussed in this chapter has strengths, the most successful approaches begin with developing relationships. Because our society is becoming a society of isolationists, the need for relationship evangelism increases daily.

Relationship building emanates from our Lord's command to "love one another" (1 John 3:11). If an unloved world can sense true love in our lives, they will be drawn to us. Like the Philippian jailer who could not fathom the sacrificial joy and love of Paul and Silas, they too may ask us: "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30).

Barna, George. Marketing the Church. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1988.

McIntosh, Gary and Glen. Finding Them, Keeping Them: Effective Strategies for Evangelism and Assimilation in the Local Church. Nashville: Broadman, 1992.

Rainer, Thom S., ed. Evangelism in the Twenty-First Century. Wheaton, IL: Shaw, 1989. See especially chapter 5, "Lifestyle Evangelism," by Paige Patterson.

Ratz, Calvin, Frank Tillapaugh, and Myron Augsburger. Mastering Outreach and Evangelism. Portland, OR: Christianity Today and Multnomah, 1990.

Tillapaugh, Frank. The Church Unleashed. Ventura, CA: Regal, 1982.

ENDNOTES:

1 See Fran Tillapaugh, "Giving an Ingrown Church an Outward Focus." in Calvin Ratz, Frank Tillapaugh, and Myron Augsburger, Mastering Outreach & Evangelism (Portland, OR: Christianity Today and Multnomah, 1990), 58. The book-length treatment is Tillapaugh's The Church Unleashed (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1982).

2 C. Kirk Hadaway, Church Growth Principles: Separating Fact from Fiction (Nashville: Broadman, 1991), 27, emphasis in original.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid., 28, emphasis in original.

5 George Barna, Marketing the Church (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1988).

6 Ibid., 30.

7 Ibid., 115.

8 Hadaway, 30.

9 Ibid., 30 - 31.

10 Ibid., 31.