How to Reach More of YOUR NEIGHBORS in your very Own Community with the Good News this Year by Leveraging a Tool that EVERY Church Member has Access To Thus Making Relational-style Door-to-Door Evangelism Easier and More Successful than Ever Before

The Problem with Door-to-Door Evangelism

Let's face it. The whole idea of "door-door" evangelism frightens some people . . . and understandably so. But with our Lord's call to "preach the Gospel to every creature" shying away from personally sharing our faith with those around us leaves us with only a few options--all of which contain the same challenges. So what's the solution?

We believe we have found it!

Churches across America have found it, too. And they're employing the solution to their advantage.

They have found that a particular strategy, called Prayer on the Porch, is an effective way to mobilize their congregation to "step up" to relational evangelism in their own community.

Why does it work?

It works because it powerfully leverages two essential ingredients of the Christian walk synergistically. By combining witnessing with prayer, individuals with a heart for evangelism are going into their neighborhoods and changing hearts ONE HOME AT A TIME.

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We have had some amazing experiences with the "Prayer on the Porch" ministry. It's the "Divine appointments" that are the most amazing....also the joy that is experienced
in doing this ministry that is so thrilling.

---Robert G., Pastor - Jamestown,PA

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Where is Your Church?

Let's describe the typical life in the typical church in America. It may be the story of your church. You have your schedules, your events, your ministries. You have a modest membership. You have a handful, a faithful few, who usually show up to outreach night and write cards and follow-up notes to visitors or seekers. They may even have visitation.

But how does your community as a whole embrace your church? Or to put the question a better way, how is YOUR church embracing the community?

Are you aware that research just a few years ago indicated that, despite all your efforts, nearly 75% of all the individuals living within 4 miles of your church DO NOT KNOW YOU EXIST?

You might be wondering how this could be with all of the advertising and events that your church has held over the years.

The typical church in America employs what can be most succinctly described as "attractional" approach to community evangelism.

By "attractional" I mean creating buildings, running ministries and holding events that take place inside those buildings. And then creating advertising strategies to invite outsiders to come in and take part or have a look.

The Definition of Church is "Called Out"

We derive the term church from the Greek "ecclesia" which translated literally is "the called out ones." If we are truly the "called out ones" then why do we settle for practicing our faith inside the walls of windowless buildings?

Could this be the missing ingredient, and the main reason that nearly 75% of our neighbors have no idea that your church--your local group of believers with a common mission--exist?

The truth is that the typical church in America adopts the "attractional" method of behaving as a church. We are trying to invite people in from the inside. And then we have a handful of people, the same handful, show up at outreach and send cards and letters to our "qualified" visitors, who took the time to fill our a visitor's form in the bulletin.

And we've been content with doing this for quite some time. And the results of this approach have been completely predictable.

Effective Neighborhood Outreach

Part of the reason that the typical church isn't finding a lot of success with outreach and evangelism is that so very few of the members are even taking ownership of sharing their faith.

Many years ago, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, used the statistic that only 2% of church members in America experienced the joy of sharing their faith with someone else.

How do you get the majority of church members over that hump and make them comfortable enough to share their faith with their friends or strangers?

To find out, read this blog entry from September 20, 2007 entitled "Prayer on the Porch, door to door."

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This is [only] the second time I've ever went "out" and tried to talk to people about Christ. Me and a lady from church went door to door introducing ourselves and asking people if we could pray for them about anything. We also dropped off a small booklet titled "Who is this Jesus?"
We tried to talk to people in further depth when possible.

Dawn - Washington state

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Now read the updated blog excerpt from October 26, 2007 entitled "Another Prayer on the Porch."

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This is my third or fourth time going door to door to apt. complexes. We knock on the doors and when they answer, we introduce ourselves and ask them if there is anything we can pray for for them. Then whatever their response may be, we would leave them a "Who is this Jesus" booklet. And so now we are asking them if they know who he is and what they think about him and then we go from there. I wait for them to say anything that will give me an opportunity to share some truths about God. (what the Scripture actually says) I hope to get bolder and quicker.

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Look at the stark difference between the two posts that are merely one month apart. In the first entry Dawn describes her first Prayer on the Porch experience as only "the second time [she] ever went 'out' and tried to talk to people about Christ."

One month later, you can sense that Dawn has, going door to door using the Prayer on the Porch method, grown in confidence and competence in sharing Christ with strangers. She even moved from simply dropping off the evangelistic booklet about Jesus to asking her prospects "if they know who he is and what they think about him" and also looking for "an opportunity to share some truths about God."

The Amazing Potential to Touch Your Community Through a Simple Outreach Idea

The Prayer on the Porch concept is so simple. But when some churches or small groups take it on, it tends to develop a life of its own. When a simple and effective concept is adopted by people of wisdom and spiritual giftedness, it tends to morph into an even more unique approach than the original inspiration.

Let's see what one church in Charlotte, North Carolina did using Prayer on the Porch as the basis for a new kind of neighborhood outreach.

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We went through a couple subdivisions door-to-door, not to evangelize, but to tell people our church was having a month of prayer and we wanted to know any prayer requests we could take back to the church to pray for them. This led to not only a bunch of prayer requests that we prayed for during Wed night prayer meetings, but also we were able to pray with most of them right there in their homes. This also led to the presentation of the Gospel on several occasions.

We created a special banner out front with a special prayer-line phone number for passing people to call in with their requests. We had this line manned with someone to pray for that person and a machine to take their number to have someone call back to pray with them. In a month, we had a couple hundred calls for prayer. We had prayer greeters and now have a special table set up after every service labeled "Prayer Partners" where one can go before, between and after services to pray with someone.

--Dan, North Carolina

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These are just a few ways that taking action will help your church overcome its "mystery status" in the community. Don't wait for them to come to your church for an event or Sunday service. Let the community know who you are by resolving to live out your faith right where they are.

The First Step that these Churches Took to Take their Community Outreach to this Whole New Level

Since the summer of 2007, there have been more than 1,500 individuals and churches who have taken the first step to this new kind of community outreach.

Hundreds of these have had incredible results because they've taken the action steps to gain access into their community that they previously didn't know they had.

But all of these hundreds took the first step . . .

Step 1 is: They downloaded the FREE Prayer on the Porch Strategy Guide.

Prayer on the Porch is a FREE strategy made available to you by Campus Crusade for Christ's New Life Resources Division. New Life Resources is committed to serving the servants of Christ by advancing the Great Commission through materials, strategies and training designed to equip Spiritual Movements in the WIN-BUILD-SEND ministry philosophy that drives Campus Crusade for Christ, the world's largest para-church organization.

Like many others who have used it, the Prayer on the Porch Strategy Guide began as a jumping off point. Once adopted and customized, Prayer on the Porch became to these hundreds a vehicle of evangelistic opportunity. One that IMPACTED their community and their church.

To download the FREE Prayer on the Porch Strategy Guide, click here.

Step 2 is: They linked up with key people in their church or small group to conduct a Prayer on the Porch outreach at an introductory level.

If you're an involved member of your church who likes what you hear, but doesn't want to introduce or take on another project that only you will turn out to be excited about, then this point is a real key for you.

I've been contacted by individuals who saw the Prayer on the Porch web site, downloaded the free strategy guide, and then decided to canvass their own neighborhood first.

Once they saw the results, these individuals involved members of their small group or Sunday school class, making it a group activity.

Following those results, it was the whole church's turn to experience this breakthrough strategy for themselves.

Fire is contagious, provided it has material to consume. The more logs you add to the fire, the healthier and more massive it becomes.

Evangelistic fire is the same way.

If you're starting a fire in your fireplace, you probably only start with a few logs. The goal from there is to achieve a spark capable of becoming a flame that is capable of becoming a raging fire. You then add more logs as needed to maintain the pace and intensity of the fire.

Of those who have downloaded our free Prayer on the Porch strategy guide with a plan to implement such an outreach, some have been pastors whose natural influence has produced a church-wide Prayer on the Porch event with amazing community-wide results.

But even if you're not a pastor, if you simply lead a small group, be a good steward of your realm of immediate influence and leverage the opportunity that the Prayer on the Porch outreach strategy provides.

Resolve to make a real difference and be one of the "called out ones" that we are all called to be.

No matter the method, a fire always starts the same way. One spark that turned into a flame, which, when it consumed enough of the wood around it, turned into a raging fire.

Prayer on the Porch brings with it a spark that, when it touches the people around you who have a heart for ministry, turns into a flame capable of igniting a fire of outreach that can burn in the collective heart of your entire church.

Step 3 is: They went forward in enthusiasm and trusted God with the results.

What's great about Prayer on the Porch is that is was designed for people with a heart for evangelism, but was intended to make reluctant evangelists comfortable with going door-to-door.

So there is basically a two-fold, immediate benefit for your church to employ a Prayer on the Porch outreach.

The first immediate benefit is obvious:
Your church is going OUT into the community and showing the love and concern
that Jesus has for them.

The second is equally powerful and has the potential to sustain long-term evangelism commitment: This strategy makes it easy to involve people in a "non-threatening" form of outreach and move them up in their level of commitment as they experience success.

Yes!!!
I / my church wants to conduct a Prayer on the Porch outreach in our city, with the goal of reaching every home in every community in the Summer of 2008! . . . but HOW?

A Prayer on the Porch outreach, capable of touching EVERY HOME in your community this Summer in 3 EASY STEPS!

1) Get the scoop and learn the step-by-step strategy of conducting this effective neighborhood outreach by downloading the FREE Prayer on the Porch Strategy Guide.

2) Determine what resources you need . . . i.e. handouts, evangelistic booklets, tracts, ministry information, etc. Get your resources through Campus Crusade's online store for fast, safe and easy ordering.

3) Need help with logistics? Did you know that there is a company that serves churches with mapping software, including a list of the closest 2,000 homes emailed to you for outreach or mailings? Click here for more information.