Here we go! We’ve been talking about faith for the last two months. Now we’re going to begin this three month focus on sharing that faith. We’ll start by not sharing at all – but by talking about God’s heart. If we’re going to focus on evangelism, we’re going to do it right. Not to grow the church numerically but to grow closer to the heart of God! Our Mission Map is up and empty – that’s what our town looks like if no one shares their faith. We’ve got bible study booklets and invitations printed. We’re ready to go with God. Here’s what got us to the launch.
4 Weeks Out:
- Start praying for your church’s faith!
- Teach lessons on faith to get hearts ready
- Purchase the books from IPIBooks.com
- Fill in your church calendar with the events you’ll do
- See Hometown Missionary Events for suggested events
- Take into consideration holidays and other events and be flexible
- Make a calendar or bookmark with events to hand out
- Go to Vistaprint.com and make general church invitations
- Make sure you have a simple bible study series printed and available for free that people can use to share the gospel with their friends
- Ask someone to create a Mission Map to display throughout the campaign
- This is a large but simple map of your area that people will fill with notes (Mission Moments) as they complete challenges from the book
- Can you store it at your facility?
- Do you have post it notes or a way for people to add their Mission Moments to the map?
2 Weeks Out – Intro Video:
- Give out the books (We only had pamphlets – this campaign became the book)
- Put the Mission Map on display
- If your church is on social media start using #hometownmissionary (if your church isn’t on social media get after it!)
- Hand out events calendar/bookmark covering the next 3 months
- Start talking about becoming hometown missionaries
- Put invitations and bible study booklets out so members have all the resources they need
- Check out the launch slides we used for week 1 – change it up with your own graphics or use graphics from the linocuts in the book
1st Sunday Launch – Week 1: The Heart of God
- Introduce the book
- Participants will read a chapter a week and do a daily devotional Monday through Saturday
- Here’s our launch slides
- Try to announce everything coming up 4 weeks in advance
- Have leaders or elders pray
- Preach a sermon based on the first chapter of the book
- Emphasize not sharing your faith – this is all about God and getting our hearts right.
- Many have been wounded by events like these in the past that were done with a humanistic focus
- The first few weeks should be healing and trust building
- The challenge this week is to write a love letter from God and post it on social media – this is kind of the first sharing of the campaign without really sharing.
- Use the #hometownmissionary #loveletterfromGod
- This is a powerful way for people to out themselves as Christians
hometownmissionary.com 