A simple evangelism strategy for St Luke's

In the light of Alpha being postponed in September we've been thinking about how we do evangelism at St Luke's. It's vital that we share the love of Christ with others, and at the appropriate point, encourage them to follow Jesus. But I am conscious that it's really difficult and can be daunting. But it is so worth it to see a life changed!

So we have adopted a simple evangelism strategy at St Luke's. This is how it works.

There are 4 levels of events:

• Level 1 events - Purely social event to which you can invite your friends. This will make a connection for people with the church. So, for example, in January we're looking at doing a Céilidh(for those of you who are English that's Scottish Dancing!) to celebrate Burns night. I've just had a phone call from a Tango teacher who may do a Tango evening for all those who want to learn. so we may have an evening before Christmas.
• Level 2 events - A social event with a spiritual aspect to it. This could be a men's breakfast with a speaker, or an evening dinner in a restaurant with an after dinner speaker.
• Level 3 events - These are courses like Alpha or Christianity Explored.
• Level 4 events - These are discipleship events. Lifegroups, etc could be included in this. These are events that encourage those following Jesus to mature in their faith.

The process is a simple appreciation that it takes time for people to get to the point where they will choose to follow Jesus. I think Alpha didn't happen because we weren't doing Level 1 or 2 events, and were expecting people to come from nowhere to the Alpha course.

We, as a church, will organise events for the various levels, but the great thing is that you can do this youselves as lifegroup, or just for your local neighbourhood. It doesn't need to be a church organised event. You can make it happen. Remember that part of our mission statement it to 'Cultivate communities of hope wherever we are'.

We need your input and ideas for events. If you have suggestions then email the church office, with the events and what stage it would fit into, ie level 1, level 2, etc. The rountine will generally be a level 1 event near the beginning of a term and a level 2 near the end of the term. Sometimes we may do more, but this will be the general minimum.

We need your support for these events if they are to work, so I'd encourage you to invite your friends and to come along. For this year, we will count the Hospitality Week (26th November onwards) as the level 1 event and the Carol Service as the level 2 event. As I said before we may be able to have a level 1 Tango event before Christmas.

I hope this is all clear. Do email me if you want any clarification,

Thanks

Alan