As God challenges us to more radical lifestyles through the work of the Holy Spirit, we will be motivated to reach out to our friends. We need to experience how much God loves those who don't know Him. That will change our heart attitude towards our friends. This is a subject for prayer, and needs to be worked through in the group. It's vital that evangelism is motivated from love - not duty. We need to receive God's heart for the lost and receive the Holy Spirit's empowering to reach out.
The role is to empower us to be witnesses and to reach our friends with the gospel. That's done through accountability in the group, to encourage prayer and an expectation that God is going to use us. The group can create strategies together to reach not-yet Christians, taking responsibility together for one another's friends, i.e. take advantage of socials to invite friends along to.
A group of believers who loved one another was seen as a powerful witness by Jesus (John 13:35). By exposing a not-yet Christian to this loving community, they experience something of God and are drawn to question what is motivating the group. Once friends begin to respond to God through the group's witness, an excitement grows as everyone sees the power of the gospel at work. That changes the whole dynamic of the group, making growth and multiplication the normal expectation.
We'd also like the Witness section to include a "What" component. WITNESS --> sharing with others WHAT God is doing in your life!
Some ideas:
- Have you had any chances to show or share the good news this week? (People can share both chances they’ve taken and ones they’ve missed.)
- Share one idea for blessing someone you know. Could the group help you?
- Brainstorm things that are keeping people from coming to Christ – pray specifically about these
- Discuss ‘what is evangelism?’
- Discuss whether the group members believe they can bring friends to Christ? How might this happen?
- What does it mean for us to be a good witness in our neighborhood, workplace or group of friends?
- Encourage each member to work out how they might have significant friendships with people who aren’t Christians. Share ideas for this.
- Brainstorm appropriate social events the group could hold which would cement group relationships and provide a good opportunity to invite others.
- Ask people to name those who they’d like to become Christians.
- Pray for these named people on a regular basis (perhaps split into 2s and 3s to pray for one-another’s friends).
- Arrange (and keep arranging) social events for FoF to which people can be invited
- Are there any ways FoF can be a blessing to the wider community: involvement in a church activity; supporting one particular FoF member; local community projects?
- Write the names of all your friends you are praying for on a piece of paper. Pile the pieces of paper up in the middle of the group then pray for those people and for opportunities to speak to them.
- See if the group can establish a list of 50 names of people they would like to see become Christians. It doesn’t matter how many people each member mentions – 2 or 10!
- Encourage people to draw their ‘circle of influence’ (as an actual set of circles on paper) and consider how they can bless people within these circles.
- Discuss – if our friends were to become Christians, what kind of ‘gathering’ would they need us to be? Could we be doing things differently?
- Prayer/Research: Set out the vision of the group – to grow and multiply God’s Kingdom (this is important from the start).
- Pray for your area or the network in which the Life Group [FoF] is based (i.e., your locality, age group or lifestyle, etc.).
- Encourage each member to work out how might make significant friendships with some people who aren’t Christians. Share ideas for this.
- Set aside days to fast (food or something else) and to pray for the growth of the group.
- Survey people in your area / network of friends. How is Christianity perceived? What needs could the church be meeting?
- Consider ‘servant evangelism’ – announcing the kingdom of God though acts of generosity and service (especially to neighbors and friends). This could include offering help with gardening, decorating, car washing, litter picking…
- Organize a community party.
- Make a list of the different skills in your group that might be offered to group members / people known to the group / a selected local area.
- Consider adopting a missionary or Christian outreach movement.
- Take opportunities to remember the wider mission of the church – through informed prayer meetings, or using the Operation World prayer book.
- Prayer for witness and wider mission concerns could make up occasional ‘prayer for mission.’ Have a group meeting with extended time for worship and prayer.
- Create a big picture each – ‘my life journey’. Mark on it significant events that have shaped you; then put a cross shape where you feel God has been especially at work in your life. Then take time to listen to each person’s story (this takes time!)
- Phil Potter (The Challenge of Cell Church, p. 98) recommends a four-stage process:
- Ask and intercede
- Break out and bless
- Come and see
- Decide and receive.
