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by Doris Beck, with Barbara Ball
No matter how beautiful or warm a church building, it cannot match the intimacy and comfort a home offers. God wants us to surrender our residences to Him because He wants to use our resources to introduce people to Him, then lead them to the church.
I (Barbara) like what my husband, Howard, says about our role in witnessing: "The Lord never told the world to go to church He told the church to go to the world." When we make our homes available for His use, He blesses us. (From 'The Joy of Hospitality')
Hosting a party in your home - or backyard - is a great way to bring people together in a comfortable atmosphere and to share the love of Christ. Through the years, Women Today staff and others have had "entertaining with a purpose" parties as a platform to share the gospel. You can do this in a variety of ways, including having a speaker share a testimony and an invitation to receive Christ. Or you could give away an evangelistic video like the JESUS film, or a magazine such as Women Today, as a leaving piece. Here are some ideas to get you going.
Decide on your target audience
Depending on who you feel comfortable with and how much room you have, this could be for children, ladies, adults or entire families. It is important to decide at the beginning who you are going to target. That will determine the time of day, who to invite, what kind of activities and ice breakers to plan, and what kind of leaving piece you want to give them.
Plan a seasonal event
- A neighborhood block party - The start of summer is a great time for a "celebrate the end of school party" for families. And you can always fire up the grill for a large group barbeque.
- A Family Christmas Open House - At Christmas, neighbors can bring a sample of their Christmas baking. Using a theme of Christmas carols, have kids taking music lessons perform. Then you can share what each carol means. You could ask families to bring their favorite Christmas ornament and have them share why it is important to them. Christian families can be encouraged to bring an ornament with a Christian message and you can finish up by sharing an ornament with a nativity scene, an angel, or a star. As an action point, you could give out invitations to view the JESUS film at your home the following week.
- An Easter Brunch - The same idea could be used to plan a family Easter egg hunt with a brunch afterward, or with a JESUS film party.
- A Neighborhood Open House - Our neighbors have come to expect the little invitation that lets them know when our annual open house is going to be. Everyone helps out by bringing some food, and each year our focus is a little bit different.
- A "Different Culture" Open House - A good time to invite neighbors who may be from different cultural backgrounds to watch the JESUS film in their language. Finish by giving your guests the video when they leave, to watch again or share with their family members. You can use this excellent tool any time of the year!
- An Evangelistic Coffee Party - For couples or for ladies only. The flow of the evening could include a special feature, for example, making beeswax candles or something seasonal. Have a guest speaker share his/her personal testimony along with an opportunity to invite Christ into their lives. Use comment cards afterwards as a follow-up tool.
Invitations
Whatever kind of event you decide on, make sure that your invitations clearly indicate that there will be a spiritual component. Don't invite your guests and then "spring" something on them. Also mention what the speaker will be sharing.
Prepare
Planning for an outreach event should begin at least one month ahead of the event itself. Just as Jesus involved His disciples in His plans, you too can pull together a team of Christians to help you.
Pray
Pray specifically for the right location, date, time, speaker and special feature. Pray individually and as a group for those you invite. Ask God to prepare their hearts for what they will see and hear, and a supernatural working of the Holy Spirit to bring people to know Christ. Finally, pray for wisdom (James 1:5).
Put it together
- Decide what type of event to have (i.e. morning coffee, barbeque, evening dessert) and when to have it.
- Host a planning meeting with the people you have chosen to help you.
- Select a special feature and, possibly, a theme. For a Christmas coffee brunch you may choose to make grape vine wreaths or holiday hors d'oeuvres. For a Valentine's feature you could make greeting cards and stationery with stamps.
- Identify and secure the resources you will need: location, speaker, feature, music, materials, decorations, refreshments, etc.
- Decide on your guest list and send out invitations.
- Prepare thank-you's, hostess gifts, evangelistic gifts for the guests to take home, comment cards and follow-up letters to guests who prayed to receive Christ or requested more information. Women Today can guide you in developing these items.
- Develop a schedule for the flow of the event and have team members take on various roles. See our suggested flow for a coffee event.
After the party
For those who indicated a decision for Christ, you may want to offer the magazine Knowing Jesus Personally. After the event, celebrate with your team and pray again for all those who attended. You and your team might also choose to host an investigative/discovery Bible study with those interested in learning more. Continue to reach out to your guests through friendship, and consider inviting them to a future event or church service with you.
Check out some of our recommended magazines, books and other resources you can give as leaving pieces to your guests.
Outreach Results: Please share the results of your evangelistic outreach/events with us so we can pray and rejoice with you.
~ Doris Beck graduated from the University of Alberta and has worked for over 30 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada . In her current role, she oversees the Interactive Ministry of TruthMedia Internet Group, which includes both chat and online mentoring. Doris also travels across the country to speak about God's work in her life and to teach others to share their own stories. She and her husband, Dave, have three grown children. Listen to Doris tell her story:
For low speed dial-up connections, click here: http://audio.hcjb.org/english/friendship/IF0173.16k.mp3
For high speed connections – higher audio quality, click here: http://audio.hcjb.org/english/friendship/IF0173.64k.mp3
Related Reading
A Sip for the Soul
Coffee Parties That Count
Victorian Tea Parties
Theme Ideas for Evangelistic Outreaches
