Most Christians approach evangelism with great apprehension because they don’t know how to get into the gospel with their friends. They don’t know what to say, and they don’t know what to do when their friends reject the message.
Search Ministries is a national, trans-denominational ministry that helps Christians provide their unbelieving friends with a comfortable, natural opportunity to think through their beliefs. There are 20 full-time staff across the country and many more volunteers conducting a four-faceted ministry.
The first is the seminar ministry, of which two are offered. In the friendship evangelism seminar, participants discover via lecture, role play, discussion, worksheets, and multimedia presentations how to reach their friends with the message of Jesus Christ naturally. They learn the importance of friendships with non-Christians, for friendship is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
The second seminar deals with apologetics. Participants are taught how to turn the common objections into opportunities to share the good news about Christ. The seminar concentrates on developing skills—not just what one says in answering objections, but more important, how he says it.
The second facet of Search is the home discussion series, putting principles learned in the seminars into a practical format. The standard series begins with three weeks of preparing the Christian core group in the essentials of prayer, love, and friendship evangelism.
These meetings are followed by four weekly one-hour discussions that take place informally, in a living room. There, unbelieving friends, invited for an open discussion of religion, may ask any question they have about God and life, with the promise that Christianity’s answer will be shared. Because the atmosphere is casual and relaxed, barriers topple and seekers are lovingly exposed to the claims of Jesus. Although some will come to know Christ during those four weeks, the series is not an end in itself. Rather it is designed as a catalyst to trigger later conversations with friends about Christ.
Once the subject of Christianity has been broached during the series, it is much easier in the months following to engage in a conversation concerning Christ. Friends may have to hear the good news more than once from caring believers before they warm up to the message.
The third and fourth facets of Search’s thrust are discipleship training and leadership training. Search is committed to helping integrate the new believer into the Christian community, and to preparing lay people to lead the discussion series. Its goal is to equip others to do the work of lifestyle evangelism and discipleship rather than to do the work for them.
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