Pumping gas, other gestures fuel 'servanthood evangelism'

by   Alison Wiseman                                                                                                                                         Vol. XI, No. 4, April 1998

Danelle Summers already had her mind made up as she and her husband, Clay, arrived at the Texaco gas station in downtown Wake Forest, N.C., prepared to share the gospel. She would volunteer to pump gas for customers while her husband attempted to witness to them. The plan was part of a witnessing technique called "servanthood evangelism." It's a simple concept -- random acts of kindness coupled with the sharing of the gospel.

"Well, I listened a couple of times and thought, 'I can do this!'" Danelle recalled. "It was exciting."

Less than two hours later, Danelle had led a woman to accept Christ as her Savior. Martina Morgan prayed to receive Christ declaring him Lord of her life before leaving the gas station on her way back to college in Virginia.

"She was just ready," Danelle said. "I said, 'You can pray to receive Christ right now' and she said, 'OK, I'm ready.' She said the prayer right then."

Students at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary began an organized effort of witnessing at gas stations in 1996 as a result of an assignment in an evangelism course taught by Alvin Reid, the seminary's Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism professor. Reid introduced the concept in one of his classes in the summer of 1996 and has since included it as part of the course curriculum. Other examples of "servanthood evangelism" projects include washing cars, cleaning windows, or rest rooms, offering to pay for someone's washing expenses at a coin laundry, yard work, giving away free light bulbs or soft drinks by going door-to-door throughout a neighborhood. All services are provided at no charge.

Reid said he got the idea of servanthood evangelism from his friend, David Wheeler, evangelism director for the state Baptist Convention of Indiana. Wheeler had learned about the concept by reading the book "Conspiracy of Kindness" by Steve Sjogren, pastor of the Vineyard Church in Cincinnati.

Reid and Wheeler have since collaborated to produce a manual tentatively titled, "How To Do Servanthood Evangelism," to be published by the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board later this year.

When Reid presented the evangelistic concept to his class, he received an enthusiastic response. After giving the students some ideas, he organized the class into work groups and asked them to come up with a project utilizing the witnessing concept.

Dean Sieberhagen, a master of divinity in church planting student from South Africa, and a group of his peers decided to target gas stations with the gospel. "We went twice, and the second time we went someone was led to the Lord," he said. "We saw how well this opened doors. We would say, 'Good morning, ma'am. We are here today to try to show the love of the Lord in a practical way. Would you mind if we pumped your gas for you?' Most people are responsive. They react with a little bit of shock. But whether you pump the gas or not, you've get an opening."

Reid said that during a 1996 two-week summer school course in evangelism, 43 people made professions of faith as a result of class members sharing the gospel. "I knew then we were on to something," Reid said. "Not all of those (conversions) were (a result of) servanthood evangelism, but the servanthood evangelism added fuel to the fire. They were witnessing like crazy. People were coming into class weeping (about how they had seen the Lord work through servanthood evangelism). It was a great experience."

After the two-week course ended, Sieberhagen developed gas station visitation into an ongoing witnessing program. He wanted to give other students and seminary wives who aren't enrolled in evangelism classes the opportunity to learn how to share their faith in practical ways. Throughout 1997, Sieberhagen led a group of seminary couples who lived near him on the same block to share the gospel at gas stations on the first Saturday of the each month. Each week new participants were introduced to the "Eternal Life" tract and given a crash course, if needed, on how to share their faith. After a time of prayer, volunteers visited area gas stations.

Participants were grouped in pairs. The Christian least comfortable with sharing his or her faith usually pumped gas while the other person got acquainted with the customer. A leading question, such as, "Do you ever think about spiritual things?" or "Do you go to church anywhere in the area?" often opened the door to sharing the gospel, Sieberhagen said.

"Many times, people are fearful about sharing their faith," he said. "They are encouraged just to come, even if they just want to listen and pump (gas) the whole time. By the end of the two hours, all the participants have chosen to speak, because they see the Spirit of God work.

"A lot of humorous things have happened," Sieberhagen recounted. "If someone is pumping $5' worth of gas and the conversation is going really well, then you want to pump real s-l-o-w-l-y," he mused.

During one witnessing encounter, the person pumping gas got so involved in listening to the witnessing conversation that she pumped $5 of gas onto the ground, Sieberhagen said.

Since starting the evangelistic outreach at gas stations, Sieberhagen said, six people have made professions of faith. Many times group members run into Christians who are then encouraged to share their faith or develop a closer walk with the Lord as a result of the encounter, he said. Around Christmas, Sieberhagen said, seminary students had the opportunity to share the significance of Christ's birth while volunteering their time wrapping gifts at a local Wal-Mart.

Reid said servanthood evangelism is not just social ministry, but intentional evangelism. "People are twice as open to talk about the gospel when you use servanthood evangelism," Reid said. "If I was a pastor, I would have our people blitz the community before Christmas. I would have our ladies make nice inexpensive Christmas ornaments and give one to everybody in the community. Before Mother's Day, give a carnation to all the moms in the community. You do this three or four times a year, and people are going to start thinking good about your church. You don't have to compromise the gospel to do that. Jesus did merciful deeds coupled with truth." [BP]