Evangelism follow up is one of the hardest duties in any church. Going out for evangelism is tough but follow up makes evangelism look easy.
For a church to have effective follow-up, there must be a well thought out strategy. There are many evangelism follow up strategies that a church can implement to retain new converts.
However, the challenge is finding a strategy that suits the way of operation of a church. Some evangelism follow up strategies require a few members in the church to carry them out while others require multitudes.
If the church membership is low, it is best to use evangelism follow up strategies that require few people.
Whatever evangelism follow up strategy you pick, make sure that you have the resources to carry it out.
Effective Evangelism Follow-up Strategy
1. Befriend the New Convert
This is nothing new when it comes to evangelism follow up strategies. However, I would like to put a twist on it.
In many churches, when someone gives his life to Christ, they call a few leaders who talk to the person about the church activities and encourage the person to attend services.
While that kind of approach works, it is ineffective.
That approach fails in most cases where the leaders of the church don’t have genuine friendship with the new convert. As humans, we can read in between the lines.
Church leaders forget that new converts are humans and that they desire genuine friendships. Also, new converts fear being too close to leaders because they feel they are not at the same level of spirituality.
So, how should a new convert be befriended as an evangelism strategy?
First, leave the new convert alone. After the person has given his life to Christ, pray in the hearing of the person and ask Jesus to preserve him. We all know that Jesus is the good shepherd.
This is important because it will help the new convert know that Jesus is his shepherd and not the pastor or anyone in the church.
Once you have made this prayer, distance yourself from the new convert for a while. You can give him a few weeks or months and observe how he fares on.
If he misses church a few times, don’t worry. The period you leave the new convert alone helps him set up a solid foundation in Christ.
The period will also make your evangelism follow up easier since you only have to observe.
Reach out
After a few months, you can now approach the person and ask him how he is finding the new walk. Don’t suggest anything, just listen to the person.
If the new convert has challenges, he will let you know. Where he needs explanations, give him as the Lord leads you.
Conclude by letting the new convert know that he can reach out to you at any time if he has any concerns. If the person is genuinely interested in growing his faith, he will contact you.
If the person doesn’t contact you, it may be that he prefers to build his faith in secret or is not genuinely interested in salvation. Either way, your time is spent wisely.
2. Assign Responsibilities to the New Convert
The second step in effective evangelism follow up is to assign a new convert a responsibility. It is only by the new convert having a responsibility that he will feel part of the Christian community.
Give the new convert duties that whether they are done or not, they don’t affect the operations of the church. You can ask the new convert to read scriptures during a church service.
You can as well assign the new convert simple tasks like writing the lyrics of five gospel songs of his choice. Make sure to set deadlines for the responsibilities you give.
Before you know it, the new convert will be assimilated into the community and may even be willing to do more than you assign him.
The responsibilities you give to the new convert will also help you see the strengths of the new convert and where he can serve best.
However, don’t be quick in sending a new convert to a department. He can easily become dormant if he is not given responsibility in the department. Rather, make him your own project for a while before handing him over to a department.
3. Evangelism Follow up Strategy: Be an Example
The third evangelism follow up strategy has everything to do with you. New converts are humans and they learn by copying. While some may overlook your character, most don’t.
If you tell a new convert to pray every day, make sure the convert can easily tell that you pray every day. Be like Jesus; He asked his disciples to pray when He was praying. He asked us to carry our crosses and follow him when He was carrying His.
It is easy for a new convert to work hard on his faith if he sees you working hard on your faith. Sometimes you can call the new convert, hold hands and pray without giving him any advice.
Let him know that you too are depended on prayer and reading of the word. Don’t be afraid to work on your salvation when the new convert is watching.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples how to do God’s work, He did it when they were watching. Most of the time they were lazy but Jesus kept up his excellent performance.
After Jesus left, the disciples became hardworking because they had seen how Jesus did things.
This is a good evangelism follow up strategy. If you can maintain a godly standard in your walk, new converts will work hard to match you.
If you do evangelism in a team, encourage the team members to live upright lives and work hard on their salvation.
There are many believers who came to the faith because the people who introduced them to the faith were upright and they worked hard on their faith.
Evangelism Follow-Up Strategies: Conclusion
These are the three steps you need to take to have an effective evangelism follow up. When people encountered Jesus, they loved His personality to the point that they would leave what they were doing to learn more about Him.
Jesus didn’t have to go back to find out how someone was doing because new converts looked for him every day. Think of the ten lepers that Jesus told to go and they would be cleansed; when they were cleansed, one returned to Jesus to thank Him.
The man who was possessed by demons and could not be restrained, when he was set free from the oppression of demons, he wanted to go with Jesus.
The Samaritan woman after a conversation with Jesus ran to call others to listen to Him. Jesus had impressed her with His words.
The man who was born blind after Jesus told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam came testifying of a man called Jesus yet he didn’t know Him.
Jesus later met Him and the man believed.
Evangelism follow up becomes very easy when you work to become a faithful servant of God.
All the best!