Last year, I ran across several articles trying to answer this question: “Does evangelism still work?” I always have two immediate responses to that question. My first instinct is to reply, “Well, does breathing still work?” After all, the word “evangelism” literally means to share the Good News. Just as you can’t live without breathing, you can’t be a disciple of Jesus without sharing His Good News. It’s as natural as breathing.
But usually the intent of the question is about public evangelism: doctrinal meetings to which the public is invited. And this leads to my second, simple response: Absolutely yes.
Last year, we worked on campaigns with hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist churches throughout the North American Division. These are urban, rural and suburban churches, in red states and blue states, from highly churched to highly secular regions. No matter where you are, public evangelism can work. When you plan and execute an outreach event speaking to the needs of your community, and partner with SermonView to craft a clear invitation that demonstrates the value of what you’re offering, people come. God works through you to share the Good News, and lives are changed.
The proof is in the remarkable results that many of you have seen at your events. During the last 5 years, SermonView has introduced over 10 million families to Seventh-day Adventist churches throughout North America. And during the last year, our churches saw 10,000 guests walk through their doors, many with no previous connection to the church. Does public evangelism work? Absolutely yes.
That’s why when the door opened for us to team up with Shawn Boonstra and the Voice of Prophecy for Shadow Empire, we jumped in head-first. We helped over 600 churches across North America host the series, which led to many making the decision to connect with a local church or join Bible studies. And we are confident that God has big plans to reach even more people during the follow-up series, A Pale Horse Rides, in October 2017.
Yes, there continues to be a place for public evangelism. We see it working, because new people are continuing to walk through your church doors to learn about Jesus.
I sit here in awe of what God has done through our partnership together. Thank you for allowing us to join you in ministry this year, and for believing in the evangelism marketing process. I can’t wait to see how God is going to bless your evangelism efforts in 2017.
-Larry Witzel
Comments 8
I’m interested in getting information on how to grow evangelism for my church
Author
Hi, Samuel. We’d love to talk with you more about growing evangelism for your church! Someone from the SermonView crew will contact you directly.
Thanks Larry for the email!
We at Middletown really appreciate your making a special brochure to follow up on the VOP outreach. We had members of our community respond to the colorful brochure, and we are happy to share that this series was a real benefit to our church as a baptism, new faces attending, and a renewed interest in reaching out to our community.
Thank you for your faithful service to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church!
Ted
Author
That’s great to hear, Ted! We can’t wait to see what God is going to do through you at Middletown in 2017!
Larry, i am a local elder of a very broke church in Erie Pa. I am in charge of evangelism, and personal ministry for our church. The pastor is doing all he can to keep the doors open! He has had little success using the other mail outs from the other business of whom you are familiar with. I know that your brochures are better, and your planning is superior to the other business, but we just don’t have the kind of money your rep. quoted me. Do you have a plan that will help us bring people in from our community to attend our up coming meetings this summer for the price of $300.00?
Author
Hi, L.D. We know that a multi-touch approach to evangelism marketing is more effective than anything else. And when a church allows SermonView do our thing, we consistently see response rates that are 2x-4x what they got previously. But working through multiple channels—like online ads, direct mail and outdoor banners—does require an investment greater than $300. We can certainly do what we can with whatever budget you have, but you’re not going to see the success that you would with a full evangelism marketing campaign.
Larry, I want you to empower me how to plan a program which souls will give their life to Jesus Christ. MARANATHA
Author
Robert, we’re working on an article about planning your evangelistic series, that could help you. Stay tuned!