Knock on the door. If they open it, here's what you say:
"Hey, I'm (name) and this is (name). We go to (church name). We're just out here trying to care for the community through prayer. Do you have anything going on in your life we can pray for?"
If they say no, tell them to "have a blessed day" and go to the next house. You should still pray for them on your own that God brings them to Christ.
If they say yes, go ahead and pray out loud for them. Then, say:
"You know God really changed my life
through a prayer. If you have a minute, I'll tell you how." Or "If you
have a minute, I can tell you why I pray."
If they say no, thank them for their time and move on to the next house.
If they say yes, use your 20 second
testimony.
Then, offer them an opportunity to hear the
Gospel.
If they say no, "thank you for your time and have a blessed day" and go to the next house. If they say yes, assess their response.
Tactic for common issue: Some people think
they're good enough that they don't need Jesus. Ray Comfort shows
that you can use the Ten Commandments. Ask them if they have ever lied,
cheated, or stolen? Did they look on people with lust or anger? Follow
with what Jesus said about that. Other easy ones are taking God's name
in vain. Compare it to using your mother's or father's name as a curse
word. Finally, no other gods (or idols) before me. We might worship
things God made, make up our own gods that give us what we want, or make
ourselves out to be god. These should convict people plenty. True
repentance requires godly sorrow (conviction).
Some people will try to say all religions are the same or go the same place. David Platt replied to that this way:
"It sounds as though you both picture God (or whatever you call god) at the top of a mountain. It seems that you believe we are all on the bottom of the mountain, and I may take one route up the mountain, and you take another, and in the end, we will all end up in the same place." (They agreed excitedly.) "Now, let me ask you a question. What would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain came down to where we are? What would you think if I told you that God doesn't wait for people to find their way to him, but he comes to us?" (If they think that's great...) "Let me introduce you to Jesus."
(Explain red/yellow/green lights. These model a person's spiritual state that we know of. Red doesn't want to hear anything you say. Yellow is open to talking to you. Green is someone who professed Christ.)
If red light, they're saying no. Tell them
have a blessed day, mention they can visit you at (church name), and
move onto the next house while praying for them.
If green light, they accepted Jesus or already are a Christian. Walk them through the Great Commission Landing. Ask them if they want to join you. Sometimes they will.
If a yellow light, they're listening but undecided. Get their name and number to follow up with them. Leave them a church invite, too.
Other situations:
What about a question you can't answer? Say
I don't know. Shows authenticity. Get their number and say I'll get back
to you.
If men knocking on ladies door, don't stand right up against the door, do keep non-threatening body language, and don't go in. Even if invited in, don't go because the husband might show up later wondering what you're doing here. It could become a bad situation.
What if a family invited you in? Esp if immigrants, they might do that. Go for it if you feel comfortable. Look at their cues to follow their example.
(Give the group cards that, front
and back, remind them of what you taught
them.)
(For your training day, send about four
teams of ten people to specific neighborhoods. They carpool. Each team
is assigned a single neighborhood they drive to. Once at the
neighborhood, split up into pairs that go door to door.)
(Everyone goes door-to-door for about an
hour.)
(Do a debriefing. Ask everyone what they encountered. Cover red/yellow/green/blue lights, prayers, shares, salvations, and lessons learned.)
Example debriefing from our session:
26 red lights, 46 prayed for, 9 gospel
shares, and 0 salvations.
(Extra: Here's door-to-door training from Communidad en Cristo Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. Use or add stuff from it to your session if you want.)
(Legal: Like all of our on-site content, this training is public domain so that you can use, modify, share, or even sell it. Do whatever brings more people to Jesus Christ.)
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