“The biggest difference between a church successful in outreach and one that is not is willingness to begin with people, and patience with them during the preconversion phase.” Doug Murren and Mike Meeks make this point early on in Preparing Your Church to Evangelize, and that sensitivity toward people is enough for me to recommend this article. But the lessons in their article are for you and me as much as for the church.
When we organize an outreach event, or become friends with someone for the purpose of evangelism, we’re off the mark by a wide margin. Love is God’s chief command for us and flowing from that is his charge to share our faith. That’s what I read between the lines of Doug and Mike’s article and I believe it’s a lesson worth learning and applying.
