– 15th Annual Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year – Evangelism Most Christians are stuck in the huddle.Even though we believe in outreach, most communities tend to focus on our own needs. That turns us into insular groups without many relationships with outsiders. So evangelism is occasional and conversions are rare. How do we change?In their groundbreaking book I Once Was Lost, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp identified five thresholds that individuals cross when they shift from being skeptics to followers. Now they and Val Gordon show how huddled communities can become witnessing communities and then conversion communities, where evangelistic growth becomes the new normal. The authors have studied the growth of congregations, what enhances and limits them, and have gathered best practices for transformation. Our churches and fellowships can become places where evangelism is not done by a just few people, but where the whole community itself becomes a winsome, thriving witness to those around it.Break out of the huddle. Find out how.
Table of Content
Introduction: A Case for Hope
Part I: Three Types of Communities
1. Huddled Communities: Limited Witness
2. Witnessing Communities: Engaged in Witness
3. Conversion Communities: Aligned Around Witness
Part II: Two Macrostrategies for Breaking the Huddle
4. Nurture Discipleship Momentum
5. Mobilize Relational Evangelism
Part III: Two Macrostrategies for Becoming a Conversion Community
6. Embrace God Movements
7. Align Vision, Structures, and People
Part IV: Leadership Lessons
8. Leading Your Community Through Change
9. Be the Change
Conclusion: Great Joy in the Work
Acknowledgments
Online Supplemental Materials
Notes
About the author
Val Gordon is the owner of Gearshift Consulting, a firm specializing in assisting mission-driven organizations to overcome their obstacles to growth. She is also a consultant with the learning and talent department of Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, and she previously served Inter Varsity as associate regional director of New England. She lives with her family in Mystic, Connecticut.
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