Friendship Friday

by   Reverend Walt Tomme                                                                                                                                                             Vol. I, No. 2, April 1988

In a world like ours, believers must take aggressive steps in getting the gospel to people who, of their own volition, will never darken the doors of a church. Just to invite them to a church meeting will not work. The most fertile soil for evangelism is the personal relationships members of every church already have with unsaved friends and acquaintances.

Members rarely have time to reach out to their own neighbors, business associates, and friends because their schedules are already packed with church activities. Many believers no longer possess any quality relationships outside the church for this very reason. Perhaps this is part of the reason many churches are not growing and not reaching people for Christ.

With this in view, Capitol Hill Metropolitan Baptist Church, in Washington. D.C., has initiated a new effort toward total-member-participation evangelism. The first stage is a monthly event called "Friendship Friday."

The second Friday of every month is free of church activities, and members are encouraged to spend that evening building a relationship with an unbelieving friend. The evening's activities may be dinner in the home of a member, dinner out, or some mutually enjoyed activity or entertainment. The objective is the building of a quality relationship that will yield opportunities to share Jesus Christ. It is the plan of Capitol Hill Metropolitan to see 100 percent participation in this effort to reach those who are already available for the reaching.

A second way to encourage this is special event evangelism. An example is the evangelistic dinner Capitol Hill Metropolitan recently sponsored. Members of the church were enlisted to invite several lost friends to the dinner, which concluded with Senator Armstrong's testimony. He gave the group an opportunity to pray to receive Christ as he closed in prayer.

Before the evening was over, each person was asked to complete a comment card that asked their response to the testimony and invitation. The result was encouraging. Of the unbelievers in attendance, 35 percent indicated they had prayed to receive Christ that evening, and an additional 35 percent indicated a strong interest in participating in a discussion of spiritual things.

As believers take an aggressive but sensitive role in these and other types of evangelism, they will find great encouragement within their individual lives and in the life of their local fellowship. Most important, however, our Savior will be honored as more souls are won to Him.