Saturday Morning Evangelism
Asking for God to bless our neighbors.
This past Saturday, a few of us started an ongoing group to bless our church neighbors. It was a simple, but powerful time for all of us, despite the many rejections we faced. There were also several great moments where others were highly receptive, opened up, and were genuinely encouraged by the prayer and conversation.
Scott and I spent about 10 minutes talking to a NYPD traffic cop, who was walking around giving away tickets. Initially, our short prayer really seemed to touch him. But when we were ready to walk away, he began to open up about his marriage and his life, and was basically asking for help. It was a God planned moment to share His love and grace with this man, and I'm hopeful that he will visit our church that is right down the block from his regular route!
It’s a beautiful thing: even when someone doesn't want us to pray for them, it's a win. They can walk away knowing that a couple Christians from a local church wanted to bless them, and we're kind and understanding the whole time. And we know that God is a work in their life, drawing them to himself and away from the harm of sin. And the request was unanimous: let's do this every Saturday, at least while the weather is nice!
Our strategy is simple… we have about 10 minutes of basic evangelism training focusing on the conversational SALT method, about 10 minutes of prayer, about 50 minutes walking around in pairs to pray, bless and encourage our neighborhood, and about 10 minutes to catch up and debrief afterwards. Of course, lunch together is optional, but fun 😄.
Praise God, He is drawing people to himself, and helping us share the good news that He saves! We're growing in this amazing privilege together, as a church.
—David
