I will be up front on this one. I have an issue that i really need feedback on. I work for a large Christian organization in London doing evangelism (whatever that means), a huge part of the work of the organization and a large part of my own work involves door2door visitation and contact making. When i have talked to emerging church leaders in the past aswell as reading articles/books/ect, i have found many against this kind of work and i have found many who think this work is no longer relevant or just plain not helpful. When i mention door2door many come back at me with a concept that i will generalize as "networking is the future for the emerging church".
Let me first say i dont resent this and i do agree with this statement but to me it’s only half the story. What about those we are unable to network with, what about those who are still at some degree confined to there geographical area and defined (at least loosely) by the old parish system. I think predominantly about the elderly the long-term sick and the poor. These are people that are difficult to reach though networks and networking. Is not door2door still relevant to our churches today? Are these not the same people that Jesus told us to focus on?
So what does this online community think about door2door work? Have i got it wrong is this an outdated form of evangelism or are we just not seeing the value of this work because when we hear it we think JW? Please help me to learn on this one what are your thoughts?
Re: Door2Door???
Oliver, I am so glad you asked this. I’m in a rural area of predominantly elderly folk. Even if there are supposedly only “6 degrees of separation” between people, some of those degrees might as well be vast chasms.
I think sometimes social networks need to be short-circuited. Friends of friends of friends often still look and think and talk very much like us.
That said, I still struggle with the idea of going door-to-door. I haven’t done it here, but I have often thought of it. When I mention it to church folks, they talk about how dangerous that would be - especially in certain neighborhoods (usually with implicit race and class markers). That, to me, is a sign of bad faith - but I can’t say I’m terribly hip on the idea, even though it won’t let me go.
I’ve never responded well myself to people coming to my door - but I wonder if that isn’t just because of the approach.
Re: Door2Door???
Hi Oliver
Thanks for the question - may I say something in response? Something someone said last year at a mission conference i was at has really stuck with me and it seems to fit here: "always question your [own] motivation".
I think you’re spot on about the very elderly (but it may be generalising to say [financially] poor people don’t get out much!) and I think that there is no question that visiting them is valuable.
The question is: why? If you’re "doing evangelism" whatever that looks like, then it may sound like a silly question. But if you are going to meet them ‘where they’re at’ and are using your ears and mouth in the proportion God gave them to you (2:1) then wonderful. Likewise, if you are prepared to be changed in the encounter: praise God. But if you’re not or if the ‘sinner’s prayer’ is in your top 2 ‘visit objectives’ then perhaps you should revisit your oebjectives? I’d be interested to hear what others think the primary and secondary objectives for such a visit should be (my underlying assumption is that you should have a plan, which in itself may be a massive assumption!).
In summary - surely d2d (as us fundraisers call it!) IS networking. As you rightly point out: how on earth can you network with someone who is housebound unless you viist them?!
Yours,
Thicko
It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa
Re: Door2Door???
I think just about anyone would be resistant to a direct attempt to evangelize them door-to-door. However, homebound people in your area might appreciate a visit if it were not confrontational. I think service is the best way to view such visitation - asking "how can we help?", and meaning it. For the elderly, this is likely to be highly appreciated, and to do more for furthering the evangelistic goals of your organization than directly attempting to evangelize.
Justin | www.RadicalCongruency.com
Re: Door2Door???
Door-to-door evangelism is generally thought to be less effective than other ways of reaching out to people. It often is combined with a one-size-fits-all "canned" model of evangelism of some sort. A more up-to-date method using existing networks or webs of relationships is that such as described by Win and Charles Arn (IIRC) in "The Master’s Plan of Making Disciples"—a more natural, sensitive approach to evangelism. However, "less effective" is not "ineffective." I remember an old Evangelism teacher, after making sure we understood the insensitivity and relative ineffectiveness of certain traditional forms of evangelism, sending our class out for one hour to employ a canned, confrontational approach. One of our class teams "brought someone to Christ" during that hour.
One advantage of a door-to-door approach compared with more popular approaches is that it helps ensure community saturation; people from every walk of life are reached—rich or poor, male or female, black or white, Muslim or Christian, etc.
Another advantage is that it can make planning easier. After several church planting projects that required door-to-door visits and offering home Bible studies, I was able to evaluate the receptivity of a community based on initial responses, and was able to estimate how much work it would take to result in a church of size X. (By keeping good records, I knew about how many doors to knock on to get how many people to sign up for Bible studies, how many people to sign up for Bible studies to get how many people to go through with our whole Bible study course, how many people to finish the course to get how many new Christians, how many new Christians to get how many new church members, etc.) In other words, this approach lends itself to being a numbers game: decide how big of a church you want to establish, and you can be told how many doors to knock on to achieve it.
A variation of the door-to-door approach is the telemarketing approach, where telephone calls replace the door knock.
Door-knocking doesn’t have to be combined with evangelism. It can be used in inviting people to special events, in raising the profile of a church, and even in building goodwill. In one door-knocking campaign I participated in, we did nothing more than going door-to-door in a business district asking owners and managers if we could pray for them, and soliciting their prayer requests.
So, while not the most popular or most effective, door-knocking remains a useful tool in the church’s "bag of tricks." The Holy Spirit still works when we knock on peoples doors, and divine encounters may be expected.
LOL—I hope my language here has not been too offensive ("numbers game" "tricks" etc.). Just know that those doors knocked on cold end up in many meaningful personal relationships.
Re: Door2Door???
Couple of things here:
http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/page.asp?page_id=410 this page has some very usefull statistics on evangelism via door to door.
Also, it IS effective. IF and only IF the law is used as a taskmaster to bring people to the realization that only through Jesus Christ will they be justified in the eyes of God.
Door to door is a good way to let people know about an upcoming evangelistic block party, or to do what we do at my church: share the Gospel message of Jesus via oral testimony and the handing out of tracts.
Today we did this very thing. We normally use Saturdays to do evangelism. The apostle Paul preached door to door.
And yes, it is VERY effective in today’s society. 3 people today were led to the Lord, in the community around our church. There were 4 of us out witnessing and sharing Jesus - two teams of two each.
So, I would highly recommend door-to-door evangelism, because I have personally used it to share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ with someone who may never come to church otherwise.
Rob.
Re: Door2Door???
I must admit, I love visits from people coming door-to-door. I think it shows commitment, especially in an age where no-one seems to do it any more. I guess, before I would go d2d, as those marketers call it (*grin*), I would want to think about my motivation. "Cold call" evangelism seems a little, ah, lame? I don’t think that that sort of evangelism is what Jesus had in mind when he said, "Go." I would say that d2d could be very effective if we evangelizers stopped evangelizing and started relating. I love the comment about the 2:1 ratio of ears and mouth - that is quite compelling!
If you feel the call, saying, "Go! Minister for me," then I think you should, and it should be done with that motivation. But if the motivation is to canvas the area "for statistical purposes" (ie: we *are* reaching out to our community, see?) or what have you, then can d2d. That’s not what evangelism should be all about.
God bless with the knocking,
Cilionelle
"It’s not how long we’ve been standing here, It’s that we haven’t moved forward…"
door 2 door
I once had a job selling frozen fish d2d, I managed it for 2 weeks before breaking down from it. It’s hard work and both the rich and vulnerable respond but the hardest thing is the rejection. That was about 10yrs ago for me.. now I feel challenged to take the gospel from d2d.
Do you know why there are few labourers? -Those workers that do go, go like lambs amongst wolves suffering, rejection, persecution and a hard time.
That’s why people don’t like to share Jesus, even door to door, they shy from sharing in the sufferings of Christ as well as the power of the resurrection. They’ll hate you like they hated Christ, or they’ll be eternally grateful, when it comes down to it, when they hear your message, they make a decision.
Luke 10 says to shake the dust of your feet off against them if they are against you! If we go in weakness and trembling as Paul did preaching Christ and him crucified expect the power of God to go with you showing his power in your weakness.
Lambs amongst wolves give glory to Him, shotguns to wolves seems to be the attitude of the church nowadays.. least we experience any rejection and be judged by the darkened mind. Lets spend hours and hours on spectacular outreach that has great worldy might but lacks anything like the same amount of prayer that people would hear the message of Christ and him crucified and simply make a decision…AND THE MIGHT THAT WE SHOULD TAKE WITH US IS HEALING, SIGNS AND WONDERS FOLLOWING THIS SIMPLE ‘TAKE NOTHING WITH YOU’ MESSAGE.
I dare you in the name of Jesus.. go be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, fast, pray and speak to people about Christ crucified.
Elisha in Norwich (anyone in Norwich want to go with me!)
Re: Door2Door???
The division of Campus Crusade that I work for is charged with helping churches do evangelism and discipleship better. Our main mission is to equip spiritual movements with resources to advance the Great Commission.
Recently, we’ve developed a new outreach program for churches called “Prayer on the Porch.” It is a strategy designed to include even the less-involved church members in a form of outreach that helps move them up in their level of commitment as they experience success.
The strategy itself begins with an acknowledgement of a reality … that most church members are petrified by the idea of doing evangelism, let alone the door-to-door variety.
This strategy has a new web site, also developed by Campus Crusade: www.prayerontheporch.com
The web site includes a download of a FREE 8-page pdf Prayer on the Porch Strategy Guide, designed for leaders, and those who want to impart the vision of relational outreach.
Before making up your mind entirely about the fitness of “door-to-door” evangelism, check out this new approach at www.prayerontheporch.com
Will