Involve Church Members in Discovering Prospects

Written by Tim S. Smith

If the church is going to be successful in fulfilling the Great Commission, it must discover and develop prospects. It is very important that the church have a plan to discover prospects and to also have a system in place to process the prospects. To be more successful the church's plan for prospect discovery should involve as many members as possible.

Do a Survey

PROSPECT FILE CARD, FORM 5, WHITE STOCK

A simple way to involve church members is to have them to conduct a neighborhood survey once or twice a year. The church can develop a series of questions and also discover the level of church involvement of those being surveyed. Recently, one church conducted a neighborhood survey focusing on the family. The church also used the survey to announce the pastor's sermon series. Through this approach almost 600 prospects were discovered. A twist to doing a survey is to have the church members go door-to-door asking the neighbors how they could pray for them.

How about a Block Party
Block parties are another way to involve families and individuals in discovering prospects. The church could conduct block parties in individual neighborhoods at separate times or simultaneously throughout the community. In one church, the Sunday night services were canceled and families conducted neighborhood block parties. There were over 50 block parties conducted with a total attendance of almost 9,000! Through this one event the church made a face-to-face contact with almost half of the city's population. Each family was asked to complete a registration card, informing them it would be used to provide church information to themand to give away door prizes.

Select a New Mover Team Leader
If your church is in an area where there are neighborhoods, consider having a member in each one as a new mover team leader. These leaders will keep their eyes open to moving vans pulling into the neighborhood. When a new family arrives then the leader welcomes the new family, shares information concerning the church, gives them a quick reference help for the community and maybe even shares a pie or cake. One church's new mover team leader has made it a practice to offer tools and a cell phone to the new family until theirs can be located. Even in the fast-paced life of today we all still need to be good neighbors. Being a good neighbor will never become old fashioned or out of date.

Just Ask
Another way to involve individuals in prospect discovery is to ask them!

Do a four week emphasis on family, relatives, associates, and neighbors. Send letters or make phone calls to the members during the week reminding them that this Sunday we all need prospects' names, addresses, phone numbers, and approximate ages. Place cards in the worship guide or in the pew and ask everyone to complete at least one. At the conclusion of worship invite everyone to place the cards on the altar and pray for these lost and/or unchurched families, relatives, associates, or neighbors.
After the four weeks of prospect discovery, spend four weeks in prayer for those names discovered.
At the conclusion of the four weeks of prayer, spend the next four weeks in training members in personal evangelism skills such as sharing their testimony, using a marked New Testament, sharing a gospel booklet and a simple gospel presentation.
After these four weeks, spend the last four weeks going after the prospects discovered. Hang on because God will do something great in your church during these 16 weeks! This process works well alongside FAITH Evangelism.

Make every effort to involve as many members as possible in the process of discovering prospects. The more people involved, the more prospects you will discover.

Tim S. Smith is a Sunday School and Open-Group Ministries Consultant for the Georgia Baptist Convention.

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