Street Evangelism & Prayer Booth
This February, we went into Salisbury, a neighboring city of Spencer, N.C. where most of our community outreach activities are based. The main goal of this outreach was to remind people about our Savior Jesus Christ, pray for the sick and hurting, and invite them to Dinner Church that we host on Thursdays.
As we gathered near the main square for prayer, we realized that there were not enough people for us to minister to. We decided to split up into pairs and minister to people from door to door. The participating youth were especially nervous, but a few older guys with previous evangelical experience gave tips and helped reassure and support the younger people.
Daniel Saschenko, the youth pastor of Good News Church, brought a team of his youth who were more than happy to join our cause. As we knocked and rang doorbells, people began to open their doors and let us in. Among those we ministered to, we found many people that had left their local churches because they were hurt by someone there. Some cited that the reason they left had to do with overly harsh rules, while others said that they no longer supported the vision of the Church. Despite their excuses, we did our best to witness to them. Our hope was that our seemingly insignificant conversations would spark a fire in their hearts and help steer them back toward the church. Going from house to house, we offered prayer support to the people we visited. The majority allowed us to pray for them. And of course, we invited them to our Dinner Church, emphasizing that it is a casual and simple event where God-loving people gather together to talk about the Bible.
Throughout the course of this event, I came to realize that a lot of people are alone and lonesome. The people that welcomed us in were extremely glad to see us. One lady, tears in her eyes, took a minute to thank God for bringing Christians into her home. Another lady was so excited to see us that she asked if she could bless us. She spent the next 5 minutes praying a blessing over our team. We originally thought that this event would last about an hour and a half. Instead, it lasted over four hours, as more and more people wanted us to pray over them.
The next day, I had a few text messages and emails asking for more information on our ministry and our Dinner Church. In the past, we spent money on advertising through different social media platforms, but it would often target people outside of our reach. Evangelism outreach helps us target the people in our demographic area. We received very positive feedback from the community. Overall, I feel that this outreach was an extreme success, and we have now decided to do such events quarterly.
