“Each Xmas I have helped different charities and have managed to get our clients to contribute to give as well each year! This year I personally want to help 3 different families in our area locally that need some help this year. I would like to arrange a hamper for each family and hopefully I can get clients to donate gifts & goods to the chosen families. I was told that your church would know who would benefit from this.” 

This is great on so many levels:

• Partnering together to care for those in need.
• Its a great thing for those in need to receive this Christmas.
• We both cross promote each other, as we let people at church know and they let their clients know about the venture… awareness of both groups grows. Mutually beneficial.
• It’s an encouragement to know that we have a reputation in the community of “doing good” and would know people in need this Christmas.

So this Salon will do up some hampers and then we will distribute it to 3 people we know who would welcome such a gift this Christmas.

Check out post 1 and post 2 in this 3 part series

• Seeking prosperity.
• Raised the profile of the cafe within our church & local community (online & offline)
• Mutually beneficial.

See the first post in this series

The folk at Christianity Explored are going strength to strength with their resources for evangelism and this new iPhone app is in a league of its own.

• Its clean and fresh, with a contemporary design and format that is accessible to people used to excellence.
• Has all the benefits of their website content on your iphone.
• Answers to the simple question about What Christianity is.
• Videos of people answering tough questions. Really helpful stuff.
• Clips from a wide variety of people who’ve come to know and love Jesus for themselves. Powerful stuff.
• This material is succinct, relevant and most importantly biblical truth!
• PLUS easy access map to see where you can go and sign up to the Christianity Explored course.

This is just another reason why the Christianity Explored course is such a great evangelistic course to run at your church. The support resources are unrivalled. The DVDs are well produced (I like DVDs because I feel it allows people to disagree with content more and really thrash about ideas).

Anyway…

Why not download the app, use it with your friends and family and be sure to rate the app on iTunes. Show a little love to Christianity Explored, they deserve our partnership in the gospel!

These are just 5 tips that may help ease some of the cringe and fear!

1. DEPEND ON GOD
   Appeal to God’s promise to soften hearts to the gospel (Ezekiel 11:19) and ask God to open a door to opportunities with those you know. (Colossians 4:3)
2. BE A GOOD FRIEND
   Invite those you know into your life long before inviting them to church. Unbelieving friends have lots to offer us, they are a good gift from God and God calls us to love our neighbours, even if we don’t always get to explicitly kick goals in sharing the gospel or inviting them to something.
3. CROSS POLLINATE
   I recommend this idea a lot as a top tip in personal evangelism, mainly because I think it affirms us that we don’t have to do it alone. God has richly blessed us with church family to partner with us. Seek out ways to introduce those you know to others at church (try a new restaurant together, take your kids on a play date or the have birthday drinks who’d say no to celebrating your birthday with you). And if your friends connect well, hang out again. Hopefully when those you know do rock up to church they’ll see a sea of familiar faces.
4. TALK ABOUT CHURCH
   Many of our friends have skewed ideas about church or just have no idea what goes on here. I believe the more we talk about church; the more we help demystify church and break down misconceptions. Help those you know see that church is about getting to know God and his people, not rules and tradition. Talk about the benefits of belonging. Share about the exciting ministries and lives you are involved in.
5. SIMPLY INVITE
   ‘Hey, what are you doing Sunday night, want to come along to church with me?’ or “My church is hosting an Art Exhibiton and Prize, want to grab some dinner in Kirribilli and have a look?” or “There is a mens meat night coming up at my church, want to come along?” If they say no, don’t become discouraged and don’t give up. Continue to be their friend, and wait for other opportunities to arise. When the timing seems right, ask them again.

We should all look forward to meeting each others friends at church, evangelistic evnets or at some social function.

Oh and… just a small favour, please be nice to my friends when they come along!

1. OFFER – Action to gain a reaction.
   A strong offer is an offer that clearly gives a directions into which a scene / the conversation might evolve.
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?”
  
2. ACCEPT – Saying “YES” to an offer.
   Receive an offer allowing conversation to continue. Taking on board what has been said and going along with it.
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?
• Oh Hi, Im Bob… yeah I’ve been up to heaps this weekend and thought I’d top it off with church.
  
3. BLOCK – Saying “NO” to an offer.
   Conversations can collapse Not accepting other persons offer… destroys offers and conversation. It’s like getting a kite to fly or a fire started…
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?
• Oh, Not much. (MIGHT BE PURPOSEFULLY BLOCKING…. Just wants to leave, let them leave. Pray)
  
4. EXTEND – Develop or explore the original offer.
   Want to talk more? Then don’t stick with just the offer and accept. Unpack the original offer, ask questions, probe a little and see if this conversation takes off
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?
• Oh Hi, I’m Bob… yeah I’ve been up to heaps this weekend and thought I’d top it off with church.
• Sounds exciting – by heaps do you mean…  HEAPS Busy or HEAPS Good?
  
5. ADVANCE – Contribute a new idea to move the conversation forward or deeper.
   This is where active listening is important, you may want to revisit something already said. Conversation is where revelation happens. By moving beyond the mundane, we are able to explore the person more and reveal more of ourselves.
• How come you chose to top it off with church?
• Would you normally top off your weekend with church?
• Same here… heaps good… I went off on a weekend away… love spending the weekend out of Sydney… how about you?

*based on drama improvisation principles

1. Instead of eating lunch alone, intentionally eat with other co-workers and learn their story.

2. Get to work early so you can spend some time praying for your co-workers and the day ahead.

3. Offer to throw a shower for a co-worker who is having a baby.

4. Create a regular time to invite coworkers over or out for drinks.

5. Invite your co-workers in to the service projects you are already involved in.

For 25 more ways read this article from the VERGE Network

This is a video they created for Christmas 2010

This is the website for their Christmas Carols Event, Glow: Simple & Effective website.

The Hunter Bible Church crew answer:

Simple really.  We are praying that groups of people will gather friends and family together for a meal or social event that is explicitly geared towards introducing people to Jesus.  We will provide a speaker to do a short 5 minute talk and who can answer questions and you do the rest.

• Could your church be doing something similar?
• What is your church doing to equip and encourage its members to reach those they know with the gospel?

via @SamHilton