Evangelism Vision

At Harvest we believe the Bible is true when it says in Revelation 12:11 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” At Harvest we believe we overcome by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior through the blood of the Lamb. We also believe we overcome by the word of our testimony. If we want to live victorious Christian lives we need to be sharing our faith.

There are four phases of evangelism at Harvest Fellowship: Outreach Events, R.E.A.L. Activities (Relating-Evangelistically-All your-Life), Friendship Evangelism, and training through ”Becoming a Contagious Christian” course. Pastor Larry also does an extensive course on Apologetics.  All are necessary and needed for the church to effectively reach the lost and become radical mature disciples of Jesus.

The First Phase is the Outreach Events!

Harvest Outreach events are scheduled where a number of people from the church gather together to share their faith by telling people the gospel and inviting them to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, serving, gathering in parks for service or giving to the community.  The goal is to make disciples in our city by working together.  Outreach Events are scheduled and include, neighborhood surveys, soda / water bottle giveaways, free BBQ’s, Thanksgiving baskets and Christmas basket giveaways.

 The Second Phase is our R.E.A.L. Acitivity!

R. ~ Relating E. ~ Evangelistically A. ~ All your L. ~ Life The R.E.A.L. Activity helps you live out your faith in real and practical ways! As you go about your day-to-day lives opportunities come up to do “random acts of kindness.”  The idea is to cultivate a lifestyle of evangelism where your individual acts of serving and kindness are seen corporately instead of individually. Evangelism cards are available for you to give out to people along the way. For instance, if you are driving through McDonalds you can pay for the car behind you and leave a Harvest Evangelism Card with the cashier to give to the people in the car behind you to let them know they were “recipients of a kind act” from Harvest Fellowship! This gives people a point of reference (Harvest Fellowship) when they are ready or open for a need for God in their lives.  A quote from Steve Sjogren states, “Servant Evangelism wins the heart before it confronts the mind. A small act of kindness nudges a person closer to God, often in a profound way as it bypasses ones mental defenses. The average Christ-follower is willing to hand a stranger a can of cold Coke on a hot day (low risk). The high grace is seen in the typical reaction. “Oh, thank you!” “This is so nice!” “I can’t believe this is for free!” And, “Why are you doing this?” Kindness builds the bridge for the person to receive a touch of love from God. It’s simple, practical, effective, inexpensive and fun!” http://www.servantevangelism.com/main.cfm

Why Pray for Unbelievers?

1. Out of love – if we love our neighbor as ourselves we will want him or her to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior too.

2. Out of holy fear – if we realize that Hell is for real and for eternity then we will not want our friends, family or neighbors to go there.

3. Out of knowledge of the nature of God – who loves to be merciful and desires that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

4. Out of knowledge of the power of prayer – prayer often succeeds when all else has failed. It is the only way we have of asking God to move in someone’s life and heart. We know that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. We know that prayers according to God’s will are answered. This is not spiritual manipulation from a distance. Rather prayer grants the person the ability to see clearly and make a free and informed choice, free from the manipulative bondages and blindness that the Devil tries to impose. We can legitimately pray that a person may be able to freely choose between the mercy and glory of God and the temporary trash of this world. We can pray that their blindness be removed and Christ shown to them convincingly and clearly. Imagine if we could present every non-Christian with a clear convincing presentation of the facts. Imagine they were made to choose between the love of Jesus Christ, eternal glory, a magnificent resurrection body, life in heaven etc. versus pain and torment and death and disgrace for all eternity. Only a crazy person would choose to remain a non-Christian. Prayer allows the unbeliever to glimpse the facts for what they are and to make a sensible choice. It is not unfair or manipulative -it is the fairest, most freeing way we have.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, ² for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. ³ This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, a man, Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself– a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time. (1Ti 2:1-6 CSB)

Click the link below to know how to pray for the lost.

What to Pray for the Lost

The Third Phase is our Friendship Evangelism! I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1Corinthians 9:23 (ESV)

Friendship evangelism is intentionally making friends with non-believers in order to be an example, gain trust and ultimately share Christ with them. We at Harvest Fellowship encourage all of our members to engage in Friendship Evangelism. We pray for our lost friends in our Life Groups regularly. We also invite our lost friends to our Life Groups. Check out our Life Group page by clicking here!

The Bible says, in Revelation 12:11 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Evangelism 101

The Fourth Phase is Training in Evangelism (NIV) 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

We offer a training class called, “Becoming a Contagious Christian” which helps non evangelists discover the style of evangelism that fits the way God made them. It also trains the person on how to share a simple presentation of the Gospel and how to answer difficult questions people might ask. There are six different styles of evangelism found in the Bible. Pastor Larry also teaches an apologetics class that goes into great detail on how to witness to Muslims, Jews, Atheists and Cultists.

Get involved in evangelism and you will never be the same!!

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (Phm 1:6 NIV)