The pre-training consisted of a three-week preparation period (weeks 1-3).
This phase implemented the first goal of the project, which was to assess congregation members’ understanding and practices of personal evangelism.
Week 1
On Sunday December 31, 2017, I announced the training project and
conducted the church-wide survey during fellowship hours. I invited all church members to participate in this survey prior to the Sunday worship service. I called church members to prayerfully consider participating in an evangelism initiative that focused on personal evangelism training and accountability in fulfilling the Great Commission. The first sermon was delivered: “Reviving the Great Commission” (see appendix 10). After the service, the church-wide survey was distributed to all those in attendance (see appendix 1). The purpose of this church-wide survey was to offer an invitation to church members who were interested in following the Great Commission. This survey was also used to determine if the sermon had produced a change in thinking related to evangelism. The surveys were handed to the congregation (church-wide) after worship for them to complete during the fellowship meal. Roughly 89 percent of attendees responded; they filled out these surveys and returned them on the same day. The results show just how much the congregation was willing to participate in the project.
Week 2
On Sunday January 7, 2018, prior to the Sunday service, I presented the curriculum evaluation rubric to church leaders and deacons (see appendix 3). As I explained to them in the previous week, they would use this rubric to evaluate the
training materials that I already gave to them. The evaluation criteria exceeded the
“sufficient” level of 90 percent (see appendix 4). All panelists marked them at 99.3 percent as a concurrence of proceeding forward.
This training contained the following objectives: (1) to increase church members’ awareness of personal evangelism, (2) to combine personal accountability among church members with the calling of being a witness, (3) to instruct church
members about the necessity of evangelism, (4) to equip church members in the mode of urgent evangelism, and (5) to encourage church members to be faithful to God’s
command to be his witnesses.
The recruitment occurred during this week as planned. During the church announcement, I called out the names of the fifteen selected candidates before the congregation. These fifteen trainees to-be were enlisted among the church members who previously completed the church-wide survey to participate in the personal evangelism training. I briefly mentioned to the congregation that all recruited persons selected from among church members had to meet certain criteria in order to participate in the training.
First, the selected persons must be active members of CGVBC in good standing. This meant that the enlisted participants had to be born again and water baptized. Second, they had to be regularly attending Sunday worship, Wednesday night corporate prayer, Friday night Bible study, or Sunday Bible study. Third, participants had to have either no prior evangelism experience or only a one-time training. The reason for this standard was to ensure that the participants would take the training seriously and that the church had a desire for key people in the congregation to grow in their understanding of personal evangelism and to develop a passion for sharing the gospel.
The second sermon was delivered: “Keeping the Main Thing Main Thing” (see appendix 11). It addressed the priority of personal evangelism. During the fellowship meal after the sermon, I met with the fifteen selected trainees and assigned them into three teams. Table 2 provides a brief profile of the participants for training purposes.
Table 2. Profile of training participants ID MM/DD Ages Sex Years a Christian # of
Trainings Team #
T-0101 70+ Male 11-15 Once 2
T-0102 60-69 Female 11-15 Once 2
T-0103 70+ Female 11-15 Once 2
T-0106 40-49 Male 1-5 None 2
T-0124 50-59 Female 25+ Twice 2
T-0126 18-20 Female 1-5 None 1
T-0323 18-20 Female 6-10 None 1
T-0331 40-49 Female 1-5 None 3
T-0509 40-49 Male 1-5 None 3
T-0608 18-20 Male 1-5 None 1
T-0905 40-49 Female 6-10 Once 3
T-1008 18-20 Female 1-5 None 1
T-1014 20-29 Male 6-10 Once 3
T-1015 40-49 Female 6-10 None 3
T-1217 18-20 Female 6-10 None 1
Week 3
On Sunday, January 14, 2018, the third sermon was delivered: “Chasing the Chariot to Witness” (see appendix 12). It addressed the urgency of personal evangelism.
After the fellowship meal, the one-hour training orientation with the fifteen trainees took place. I provided a synopsis of the training to participants. The training consisted of seven sessions held every Friday, 7:00-8:30 pm, from January 26 to March 9, 2018. Upon completion of the seven training sessions, there were two weeks of evangelism field practice. The field evangelism evaluation sessions took place on March 16 and 23, 2018.
There was also a post-training evaluation session, which took place on March 30, 2018.
Finally, the project concluded with a celebration service, which took place on April 1, 2018.
I also asked the participants to filled out the pre-training questionnaire (see appendix 5) and then return it at the next meeting. The purpose of the questionnaire was
to assess the participants’ understanding and practice of personal evangelism prior to the training. All participants agreed to give their information as well as their perception of the personal evangelism practices that that might have. They were asked again to identify their appropriate age group and how long they had been baptized. They were also asked to give their birth month and day along with their name/nickname, previously provided on the church-wide survey, as a way of distinguishing between participants’ answers. The results of the questionnaire were used as a baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of the training. The same questionnaire was also given at the end of the training to see if
participants’ opinions and attitudes changed as a result of the training. As shown in the test results (see appendix 6), the personal evangelism training had a positive impact on the participants, especially in the following areas: an 84-percent increase in Bible
knowledge, a 91-percent increase in personal accountability, and a 92-percent increase in evangelistic skills.
Phase 2: Training