A publication of Mission Strategy - Church of the Nazarene Dr. Lyle Pointer, facilitator of Evangelism Resources January 2005 Got a question about evangelism? Ask the Doctor! "I know we are to minister to all people, but we have some emotionally fragile individuals who seem to keep the church in turmoil. They make accusations and put people on the defensive. Their interpretation of events or comments require the rest of the church to explain and "mend fences" constantly. I think they are preventing us from keeping new people who attend for a few times." This situation provides an opportunity to strengthen the conflict resolution skills of the local congregation and open the doors to new and continuous growth spiritually and numerically. Many congregations face conflict. The local churches that develop positive patterns of communicating attract newcomers. One approach is to work with your church board and other key leaders to decide on how misunderstandings will be dealt with. A policy based on Matthew 18 assures a method of helping bring about understanding. The pastor, Sunday School teachers and small group facilitators will need to teach the members of the congregation to first confer with the person who has offended. Then another person who is inclined to bringing about peace may be secured to help. The third step is to enlist the leadership of the church to solve problems. Another approach is to ask and to answer the questions: What kind of church do we want? How can we assure a measure of safety for those who fellowship here? What steps will we take if a chronic offender refuses to correct his/her ways? A third method of dealing with dysfunctional people requires a strong commitment to the unity of the church combined with a caring and nurturing spirit. Leadership must norm healthy behavior by exemplary conduct and by insisting that unhealthy relationships be addressed quickly. Unhealthy and unhappy people can be released to seek other congregations. While no pastor or leadership team wishes to loose friends and fellow worshipers, we dare not surrender to emotional or economic blackmail. A leader's task includes shaping the climate of a congregation. Conflict reduction will require love, firmness and consistency. The result will be some will grow spiritually as they learn to live and to work in harmony. The church will begin to demonstrate a loving atmosphere that attracts. --Dr. Lyle Pointer, pastor and Professor of Evangelism at Nazarene Theological Seminary, will answer your questions about personal and local church evangelism. Questions and answers will be posted on the website and One-on-One. Send your questions to evangelism@nazarene.org. Download Printable PDF copy of January One-on-One newsletter (80 KB) Print and pass out to local church leaders and parishioners! (Will need Adobe Reader 6.0 to view)   CONVERSION AND COMMUNION  Gains, a middle aged man, discovered hospice had just been authorized to care for his mother, Nelda. The cancer discovered more than two years before had entered its final conquering stages. Gains contacted his pastor, "Mom, wants to be baptized. Would you be willing to do that for her?" Arrangements were made to meet with the rest of the grown children as they drove and flew in to be with their mother. Friday afternoon 3:00 p.m. Nelda was going to be baptized. Gains called his pastor again. "Would it be possible for you to serve communion to our family? Mom is confined to bed, but we would like to gather around her and participate in the Lord's Supper." The pastor met Nelda's family. Laughter and joking indicated an uneasiness with the pastor. The pastor was directed into the bedroom where Nelda lay in a hospital bed. She was having a reasonably good day. She smiled as she welcomed spiritual conversation. Nelda told about her childhood at a little, country Baptist church. Their teaching left her with the understanding that baptism was essential. Decades later she wanted to follow through. "I confess my sins everyday," she explained. "I want to be right with God." The pastor affirmed her sensitivity to the Lord and assured her from scripture that God both forgave and cleansed her. As the pastor anointed her with water and spoke the Trinitarian ritual over her, tears of joy welled up and trickled down her cheeks. Her children joined her in crying and smiling. Scripture was read describing the night Jesus broke bread and shared it with his disciples. As the elements were served God's Spirit slipped into that bedroom with a kiss of Christmas. Jesus had come again.   DEVELOPING EVANGELISTIC LEADERSHIP  Effective leadership in the local church understands the need to reach out to unbelievers. Leaders tend to help their churches become outreach oriented. For example, all programming is developed with the focus on reaching the unreached. Even ministries that tend to be considered nurturing are shaped to meet the needs of the unchurched. Evangelistic leadership preaches on loving the lost, discusses in board meetings various strategies for touching unsaved people, and networks with unclaimed prospects in the community. Ministers who have been trained by evangelistic mentors have an edge over other pastors. Clergy who focus the attention of the churched on non-worshipers tend to be very successful compared to their counterparts who see their primary responsibility to be caring for the people they already have. Evangelistic leaders are better at inspiring and instructing lay people to reach out. Evangelistic pastors create a positive church climate, foster healthy interpersonal relationships and expect God to work often in the lives of people. Training and encouragement, necessary components in every church situation, change the perspectives and behaviors of the laity. The laity frequently share their faith when a pastor raises the importance of witnessing.   EVANGELISTIC INVOLVEMENT A study of over 6000 Nazarenes revealed by ages the level of involvement by church attendees. Sunday School, the best means of evangelism in established churches, rates significantly across the generations. While Nazarenes are inclined to invite friends to worship services, they are hesitant to seek and seize opportunities to share their faith. Most leaders want to encourage a higher level of evangelism and connection with local communities.   OUTREACH STRATEGY QUESTIONS   Churches long to know better how to reach unchurched and unredeemed people. Sometimes leaders in local congregations wish to have a method to discover where they may better direct their attention, train the people and focus ministry efforts. Here is a list of topics aimed toward improving an outreach strategy. For a set of analytical questions for each topic, go to our website at http://www.missionevangelism.org.       Vision/Purpose Leadership Mission Field Re-envision: Implementation Worship Discipleship Evangelism --Developed by Aaron Lynn, Mark Massey, Jamie Roach and James Strickland One-on-One is an electronic newsletter helping local churches gather and grow holy people for God by providing the following: Relevant research Tips on Witnessing Pertinent articles Training materials Local church programming To unsubscribe, click here. To subscribe, click here. Mission Strategy - USA/Canada Mission/Evangelism Department 6401 The Paseo · Kansas City, MO 64131-1213 Toll Free (800) 738-7167 Fax (816) 523-1872 E-mail: evangelism@nazarene.org ©2004, Mission Evangelism. All rights reserved.