LEARNING TO BE SOME THINGS FOR SOME PEOPLE
Finding your church's niche seems to be one key to effective evangelism.
Mark Galli
October 1, 1991
When one morning I visited Perimeter Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, I thought I had found the model of effective evangelism. That afternoon I visited Paulding Baptist on the other side of town. I left bewildered. It, too, modeled effective evangelism, but there the similarity ended.
Perimeter has a large, modern facility with sharp lines and soft colors; it's surrounded by a freshly paved, lined, and landscaped parking lot. Everything is in superb condition. Paulding is housed in a former Harley-Davidson motorcycle warehouse adjacent to a junk yard. The interior is clean but merely functional. The parking lot is unpaved and has potholes.
Perimeter reaches business executives, teachers, administrators, and lawyers. Paulding reaches both rich and poor, blacks and whites, most of whom work as mechanics, clerks, and repairmen-although some members count themselves teachers, administrators, or businesspeople.
The Perimeter pastor, Randy Pope, spoke about the need to take down religious barriers and avoid religious language to reach his post-Christian, secular community, much of which is indifferent or hostile to the Christian faith.
The Paulding pastor, Toby Frost, said the people he reaches already know something about Jesus and have respect for religion, albeit from afar. Still, says Frost, "These people really want to hear about Jesus."
Pope says his church doesn't make visits into people's homes: "People won't come to church if they know they'll be visited the following week."
Frost believes home visitation is one of the keys to the church's effective evangelism. So after introducing themselves at the door, a home visitation team will often politely invite themselves into people's homes: "May we come in and talk for a ...
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