outreach

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> I was asked by my pastor to serve as our outreach coordinator and would like
> to share ideas with others in this position.  I have to admit I feel quite
> overwhelmed and unqualified.  At time I don't know what to do .

> How is this done?
> What have you seen work?

I won't dwell too much on specifics on this post, but instead outline
some principals which have worked for us here in Illinois.  The
specifics will change depending on the location and circumstances, but
the principals are a little more universal and I believe can apply to
most churches.

1. PRAYER.  A core group of people who are intercessors are essential
for revival.  I thank God for those people who are willing to be used
as intercessory prayer warriors.  Because the revival you want is
spiritual, this is a spiritual battlefield you will be on.  A
realization and constant awareness of the spiritual aspect of revival
and church growth is all important.  If you get this part down, then
much of the rest kind of falls into place.

2. A VISION.  The pastor and others in the church sets goals for the
church.  If you don't have a goal, you'll end up exactly where you
planned on going, which is nowhere.  Our goal is to have 360 in Sunday
attendance by the end of this year.  Yes, this is a "numeric" goal,
but since our focus is on spiritual revival, we expect to also see a
corresponding number of people being born again.

3. A PLAN.  Goals are great, but you need to have a plan for getting
there.  We do things like Sunday school contests and other enticements
to get people to church (Indiana Bible College's _Perspectives_
magazine is a great source for ideas).  Once we have contact
information, these visitors are contacted every week at least once.
We're going on three or four years with some of the people we are
visiting.  This constant personal evangelism is central to our
outreach.

4. UNITY.  This is *so* very important.  The 80/20 rule is not valid at
our church (20% of the people doing 80% of the work) -- *everybody*
pitches in, and we work together in harmony.  The pastor cannot do it
all, and we're blessed in that everybody is willing to come together
and work and pray for revival.

5. LEADERSHIP.  We're blessed with a pastor who is an excellent
leader.  He takes time to listen; he knows how to delegate; but he also
sets and expects high standards for those who are under him, but they're
not so high as to be impossible.  He's willing to let people try things
out without fear of ridicule.  He also lays a very clear path for us
to follow in our outreach endeavors, and he's also an active participant
in outreach and visitation.


These are the principals which we are applying and by which we are
seeing church growth.  I hope this is general enough to be useful
without it being so vague as to meaningless.  I also hope this can be
useful to you as an outreach coordinator.

To have effective outreach, you'll need to hustle like you've never
done before; but if your focus remains spiritual and if you
have/develop a burden for the lost, you'll have that drive to reach out
and work for the kingdom like never before.

I was the outreach coordinator at my previous church (where, BTW, I was
acquainted with listmember Lisa Knott: Hi Lisa!), and to tell the truth
I was a little bit lost in that job; I didn't know what I was doing.
Motivating people to help out was difficult for me.  We would typically
have 300 first time visitors throughout the year.  We gathered
excellent contact information, but we never really did anything with
it.  I wish I knew then what I know now.  Hopefully, this information
will be helpful to you.

If possible, visit a church with effective outreach and spend a day
with them on visitation.  This kind of first-hand experience can be
very motivational.

Richard Masoner
Champaign Illinois USA