Missions: Dangers in Door To Door Evangelism

We do a lot of visitation on Tuesday nights, and the dogs scare me. But, praise God, I have yet to be bit since one incident when I was in high school years ago.

Back in 1979 or 80, I was bit by a German Shepherd at while making a visit to one of the bus kids' houses. I have been a bit scared of dogs since then. But not enough to keep me from visiting.

 

I agree that we should do other means of evangelism. One of the things that we do is event evangelism. . .

But many people think these are "dog and pony shows." Hey, whatever.

 

We did bus ministry for several years, and did a lot of visiting at peoples homes. We never got dog bit thank God. We had a few scary moments.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I agree that we should do other means of evangelism. One of the things that we do is event evangelism. . .
But many people think these are "dog and pony shows." Hey, whatever
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree, I think it's a thing of the past, there aren't muh results on door to door visiting. Most people who visit a church who don't go anywhere else are mostly invited by someone they know, or they come as a result of an event.
I also agree about the horse and pony show. I've seen it come to that a lot of times. But hey we get people at church who haven't been in years, some since they were children. We've had many people to come back and be saved and become wonderful christians, and some christians who weren't goping to church at the time have come, and keep comeing a year or more later. So some do take it maore seriously.
All on all it's worth the effort.

 

This is from a thing I did on door knocking http://tccministries.org/mycustompage0017.htm


You are enjoying a relaxing evening at home, supper is almost ready and you are watching the TV News when there is a knock at the door. Three questions come to mind. Who is it? Am I safe? What do they want? You want answers. You disserve answers; it’s your home after all.

There are several things you, as the stranger, can do to answer these questions.

Don’t look like a criminal. Dress neatly, but not so neat that you look like a salesman (they’re out to get you to).

Do stand back, draw an imaginary line between the door and you, three feet should do. This is the safety zone, not your safety zone but the homeowners. You would want to feel that you could get the door closed before the stranger could get you. And so dose the person you are visiting.

Do let them see your hands. Either in front of you or at your side, holding a King James Bible.

Too many times I have gone with the idea that to be successful I must get in. Success is when and only if you have given a Biblical presentation of the Gospel. Get the thought out of your mind, that, you want to get in the door. People can read you from a mile off, remember you want to witness first and foremost and that can be done on the porch just as effectively as the couch. Some people have bigger safety zones than others, if someone seems standoffish just take a step back. I remember times when the door got slammed in our face, and my partner and I would console each other with “It’s not you they rejected but Jesus” or “Shake the dust off your feet brother” when in reality we had violated someone’s safety zone. If you don’t want to get a door slammed in your face, keep your face out of the door!


Tell them who you are. Hello I am Larry and this is Michael, we are from Hopewell Baptist Church. Present your credentials, a Bible and a Gospel Tract.

This leads right to number three “we would like to give you this” or “did you get one of these?” as you reach them the tract. If it is necessary to step forward to reach them the tract, do so then step back. If they refuse it, simply and curtsey switches tracts and offer them one of a different collar. I cant begin to tell you how many times the counter offer has been accepted and things went on to be a productive encounter.

Say something like “it has an important message for you” or “Do you know the Lord?” listen to them.


Ask permission to continue “could we talk for a moment” or “I would really appreciate an opportunity to talk with you” as you make your request, let them see your eyes. The eye is the window to the soul and they have every right to look at you eyes as they judge your motive. Remember you are at there home. Don’t make a move towards the door unless invited, and then use discernment, if it don’t seem right it ant right. Don’t step into a snare of the Devil. Think about jealous husbands or teen-age girls at home alone. I would hope you have enough discernment about you to stay out.

If they don’t want to talk, apologize for the disturbance, thank them for there time. As you move back tell them that there is a phone number on the tract and to feel free to call any time. Ask them to read the literature you left and is there a more convenient time you could visit
Often, when they sense that you are not going to force yourself on them, the level of comfort has now reached a point where they would be interested in hearing you out. A good way to tell is if the door is opened wider now. If you think another request for their time is warranted give it a shot.

If you have been granted permission to continue, change gears. Speak slowly, not sails pitch like, make a little small talk, find something to begin a conversation. What you are doing is letting the person get to see that you are not crazy. Be real, be friendly, if you are relaxed then they will relax. At some level, whether it is a child, dog or the house it doesn’t really matter as long as you are truthful and relax them…….

 

that's good Larry. I enjoyed that. I will print it to refrence and teach later if that is ok with you. (I am sure it is!) God bless,
-Ron

 

Door to door evangelism is a non-starter in San Francisco and has been for at least twenty five years.<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>First, many residences are built as flats (Individual apartments each taking up a full floor of the building. Think of them a horizontal duplexs ot triplexs.) At the bottom of the stairs is a iron security gate. So, you as a stranger have to get past this roadblock.<LI>If you have gotten to a door, you face the matter of liguistic logistics. The person facing you may not speak English. They could easily speak Chinese (Manderin, Cantonese, Shanghai, Fukinese or some other mutually unintelligable dialect), Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Spanish, and the list goes on.[/list]So, our evangelistic efforts perforce have been more out of the box. What worked/works in other parts of the country just will not work here in the same way. We have borrowed and adapted the work of other men (why reinvent the wheel).
Hoping to shed more light than heat,
Rob't Fall

 

So what are some of the ways that work in your area? I know a guy in Southern California who stages mock funerals to draw a crowd and then preaches.

Sometimes we go to parades or anywhere we can find a crowd and approach people that way.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Larry:
I know a guy in Southern California who stages mock funerals to draw a crowd and then preaches.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, we haven't tried that one yet. But we may just try that out. Although with this sophisticated New York crowd we may need a really dead person in the coffin to make them believe!

 

A mock funeral??? You mean, people just show up for anybody's funeral there?? I now have heard everything.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Larry:
So what are some of the ways that work in your area? SNIP
Sometimes we go to parades or anywhere we can find a crowd and approach people that way.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Here are ways we reach out into the community<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Consistent follow up with visitors. We are centrally located, so many visitors drop in without invitation or notice.<LI>Telephone ministry. We rent a reverse directory (the telephone numbers are grouped by street and number). This allows workers to call apartment houses with an invitation to our church and Gospel message, that they would not otherwise be able to get into by ringing a doorbell.[/list]

 

I don’t know if you all remember the post on how to witness to your family, from back in the summer? I mentioned that I got my dad to watch a video of a man doing street preaching and that that was a major turning point for him. Well the video was of a mock funeral at a park in New York.

They had several men dressed as paulberors and a volunteer was on the ground with a sheet over him. Thy spent about ten minuets fixing their ties and standing in a line with the “body” at there feet. The crowd just gathered to see what was going on.

The preacher got up on a crate and began with: “this is a mock funeral, it’s designed to call your attention to the fact we all have an appointment to keep, ten out of ten die!(statistics)…… the Bible says that “Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought to life immortality threw the Gospel” either that is true or it isn’t. If it is true, you owe it to yourself to examine the claims of the Gospel…….

He proceeds to give out the Gospel and reason with the crowd. He loves hecklers because they draw a bigger crowd. One heckler said, “if I can’t see it, hear it, taste it, touch it or smell it, I don’t believe it” the preacher asked him if he ever saw his own brain? The heckler said as a matter of fact I have had a CAT scan and have seen my brain. The preacher didn’t miss a beat and said, “you weren’t sure, were you”.

The purpose of his making the video was to encourage others by showing that Christians don’t have to hide behind the walls of the church. I hear that he recently went to Israel and did the same thing in Bethlehem. I reckon the Jews just about rioted when he started preaching Christ. Some things never change.

 

Something I have wanted to do but couldn’t get going was to have a booth set up at local street fairs.

Its sad, I wanted a permit to have a concession stand along with the Lions Club, Shrines and half the other Churches in the County. The local Chamber of Commerce said that it would cost x amount of dollars and a % of our sails. I told her that we would not be selling any thing, we were going to give away ice water and maybe pop if we can afford it. She said that she would have to check with her supervisor and get back to me, she called back and said that we could do it BUT she was sorry to say that all the permits were now given out (in five minutes time). There is a lot more to the story but wouldn’t it be something if the church actually gave something away?

 

That would be fantastic!

Too bad you weren't making any money so the city could cash in, too; maybe they would have found a permit somewhere....

 

There was a street fair in my neighborhood and there was a church doing exactly that! They were giving away water those clip on bracelets with WWJD or TRUST JESUS and they had all different kinds of tracts too! It was great! Too bad it wasn't MY church! *hehe*

Kathy
&lt;&gt;&lt;

 

I think what we need is a little hope here. PRAISE REPORT TIME!!!! My husband and I (most of the time him and our oldest daughter) go door knocking every Saturday. Well about three weeks ago he knocked on the door of a womans named Sam. PTL she got saved that day!!! We stopped by the next saturday but she wasn't home, so just like we'd planned we went back the following saturday. She said she was doing good and was planning on coming to church the next day. She did Pray with us that she'll be baptized soon and become a memeber of the church. Keep knocking, there are people out there that need to see your faces.
Paula

 

My worst experience door-to-door:

While living in New England, the pastor and I were visiting door-to-door (actually through an AWANA lead).

One gentleman seemed tolerant but distant.

On the third visit while we were presenting the gospel, he jumped up grabbed a meat cleaver and chased us out of the house with curses.

Several weeks later, The pastor and I worked up our courage (after some debate and prayer) and went back. He was very apologetic, said he had been drinking. Later he accepted Christ and became a faithful church member after a long struggle with the flesh.

HankD