Reading: 6.3—Corporate Outreach and Evangelism

6.3 Corporate Outreach & Evangelism: Personal outreach and evangelism by a Great Commission pastor, leader, or congregant is most effective when the church is corporately engaged in outreach and evangelism. The ministry of the church supports the outreach and evangelism efforts of the individuals and the individuals support the outreach and evangelism efforts of the church as a corporate body. This creates an upward spiral of conversion growth in the kingdom and in the visible church.

To set the stage for this discussion, let me point out what happens when the personal commitment to outreach and evangelism and the corporate commitment to outreach and evangelism are NOT in alignment. In somewhat simplistic terms, let’s look at this from two sides. First, let’s say there is a strong commitment on the part of the pastor and leaders to corporate outreach and evangelism. Many church or departmental ministries work diligently to connect with the community, establishing a positive presence in the community that contributes to drawing folks into the church. However, once those newcomers arrive, the individuals that make up the congregation seem cold or aloof toward newcomers, not welcoming them warmly and not giving newcomers the sense that they belong. More than likely, these newcomers will come and go very quickly.

Second, the flip side, let’s say we have some individual in the church that actively engages in outreach and evangelism in the community, building relationships and nurturing them. At some point, his or her presence in the lives of these community folks presents an opportunity for them to engage in attending a worship service or some other gathering. However, the church at large doesn’t reflect the relational attributes of this individual church person and, though he or she has successfully labored to build that relationship, this doesn’t scale up to a relationship with the church. In such a case, the church has failed both this active engager and the newcomer.

Here’s a brief example: I was pastor of a church that went to great lengths to establish this kind of alignment between the general ministry of the church and the personal ministry of its people. There was one woman in particular who was an avid networker and who built many relationships with folks in the community. Many came to our church through her invitation and, since we were geared up to receive newcomers well, many found Christ, plugged into our particular body, and served and were served among us. However, when I left that church to go full time into revitalization training and consulting, the pastor that followed me came in with a very different approach to ministry that was out of step with the outreach ministry culture we had established. After maybe six months or so of this new administration, I received a communication from this avid networker. She told me that she no longer felt that she could invite people to this church because she lacked trust and confidence in what they would experience. Her personal efforts in outreach were not being supported by corporate alignment. It was heartbreaking for me and spotlights why this alignment is so important.

All to say that, strategically, the one-two punch of effective outreach and evangelism is for the ministry of the individual and the ministry of the church at large to be in alignment, each supporting the other. We’ve already covered some of the dynamics of personal outreach and evangelism, so in this section, I’ll focus on the corporate element. To do this, I want to introduce an approach I’ve titled, DNA: Dynamic Newcomer Accelerator.

DNA: Dynamic Newcomer Accelerator

Newcomer Passion: Develop a culture of passionate concern in your church for those who are

lost in the harvest.

Newcomer Identification: Determine your church’s geographic and demographic targets so that

missional ministry can be defined, directed, and focused.

Newcomer Connection: Build sustainable relationships in the harvest within your church’s

geographic and demographic targets.

Newcomer Acquisition: Move sustainable relationships in the harvest toward direct engagement

with the ministry of your church such as attending a service or some other event opportunity.

Newcomer Satisfaction: Guarantee that newcomers to a service or event leave fully satisfied

with the experience, opening the door for ongoing engagement.

Newcomer Retention: Assimilate newcomers quickly so that their commitment can be nurtured

and expanded, commitment to the church and commitment to Christ.

Granted, we’re just skimming the surface of this DNA concept here. I’m sharing this to demonstrate the lengths to which a Great Commission corporate culture commitment will go to make a credible missional difference in a community. However, even in this outline form, the Dynamic Newcomer Accelerator provides the railroad tracks for developing an effective newcomer impact strategy. Use these headings with their one sentence directives to begin processing through what it will take for your church to engage outreach and evangelism corporately as a matter of both culture and strategy. Note that the elements of the Dynamic Newcomer Accelerator are currently under development as a training curriculum. Stay tuned!

Corporate ministry is a function of corporate leadership, so, as a pastor, it’s your responsibility to set the tone by modeling pastoral commitment to corporate outreach and evangelism in how you conduct your pastorate, and by especially grooming this component in other staff and leaders. Selection of staff and leaders should reflect this commitment by including it among the criteria for staff and leadership positions. This perspective can be learned, but mobilizing personnel with this element already built in saves time and energy.

Leaving a Gospel Footprint corporately is greatly enhanced by a commitment to the Dynamic Newcomer Accelerator (or something like it) and by a strong commitment to corporate outreach and evangelism among pastor(s), staff, and leaders.