Evangelization experts say that if one desires his church to grow, one must keep the front gates wide open, create many side doors, and tightly shut the back exit. In this expression, the front gates are the weekend services welcoming the non-believers, the side doors are small groups contacting and hosting non-believers, and the back exit is an organization keeping the new believers within the church.
Dynamic small groups are always present in growing churches. And these small groups are usually intentionally focused on evangelization. A way to do this is to encourage relationship witnessing, meaning that small group members are invited to witness to people they already know. Research shows that a great majority of people who start attending church for the first time or who come back to church were invited by friends or family. This means that people are effectively introduced to Jesus Christ through friends and family.
Small group members invite non-believers to their houses and build loving relationships and invite them to the church at a proper time. Small groups are places that make people feel comfortable because they are not too formal. They are convenient for people who are evangelizing because they do not require special facilities and allow for faith studies (this can be easily done by presenting a video followed by a discussion). A church that desires to evangelize needs to develop this type of structure to accomplish its missional purpose.
By Pierre-Alain Giffard, Director of Pastoral Work
Other articles:
- Pope Francis on Evangelization
- Revitalizing the Rural Parish for Mission
- Factors Leading to Christian Conversion
- Evangelizing Through Random Acts of Kindness
- Questions To Start Spiritual Conversations
- Three Feet From Gold
- Spreading the Gospel One Act at a Time
- Gather, Witness and Invite
- Prayer to Receive the Spiritual Gifts of The Holy Spirit
- The Language of Evangelization
- Key Factors for Parish Growth According to Rich Birch
- How to defeat Satan?
- Bringing Love, Hope and Healing Through the Gospel
- Love: Our Fundamental Vocation
- Touched by the Master
- A Man, a Dog, and the Ultimate Love
- The essence of evangelization: Loving God and our neighbours
- Loving Our Enemies and Reconciling with Others
- A Powerful Prayer for Healing: You Are The LORD Who Heals Me
- Living a Life of Love: Mother Teresa’s Legacy
- Living a Life of Love: Lessons from the New Testament
- In The Shadows Of Darkness, A Powerful Force Is At Work
- 19 Pastoral Orientations for Parish Renewal and Growth
- The Missionary Renewal of Catechesis
- Characteristics of missionary parishes
- Powerful healing prayer attributed to St. Padre Pio
- We are called to share our faith with others
- Should we seek to grow the Church?
- Find a Need and Fill It – Revealing God’s Heart in the Community
- 15 Habits to Evangelize on a Daily Basis
- The Church’s Mission
- Three Barriers to Building An Invitational Culture In Your Parish
- The Relational Evangelizer
- Doing Church at Home
- The Blind Girl
- A Group of Frogs
- The Elephant Rope
- A Shared Faith is a Growing Faith
- In The Shoes Of The Unchurched
- Parish Evangelizing Cells
- Six Unique Features of Missional Parishes
- Steps Towards Becoming A Missional Parish
- What Is Evangelization, And How Should It Be Carried Out?
- Discussion And Self-Assessment Questions For Parish Evangelization
- A Missional Church Is A Church That Prays
- The Jesus Prayer: A Method To Pray At All Times
- What can help children raised Catholic continue practicing the faith as adults?
- An Example of a Missionary Parish: Phoenix First Assembly of God
- Satan’s Tactics
- Learning to Be a Missionary
- When we cry out to God, he answers
- Presence and Proclamation
- Saving those who are lost
- Saint-Nazaire Parish: The story of a missionary transformation
- Small Groups and Evangelization
- Evangelizing By Inviting People To Receive Jesus As Lord And Saviour
- You Will Receive Power…
- Have You Heard About the Law of Three Hearings and Seven Touches?
- Three Habits of a Fruitful Christian Life
