Project: Great Commission
The crowd at the "Alfa y Omega" outreach weekend.
Outreach & Evangelism Training
2 Timothy 2:2: And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Training laypeople in outreach is a critical step in church growth, and in carrying out the Great Commission. It's true at home and it's true everywhere.
A part of "Project: Great Commission" is aimed at just that. We are training the laypeople of the churches to share their testimonies and to share the Gospel through a 3 month program. As part of the teaching there is scripture memorization, learning how to use tracts as an evangelistic tool, learning what exactly is the Gospel, preparing one's testimony to share in a 5 - 7 minute timeframe, and lots of practice! At the end of the 3 month program, we have a graduation weekend of sorts, where the Jesus video is shown, and many of the church members share their testimonies and the gospel with their neighbors. On Saturday, they also have special music and offer refreshments as well. This past year, we held six such outreaches, and around 2000 people participated in all. And most importantly, the laypeople of the church, for the first time, shared their testimonies and their faith with the public. Praise the Lord!
Photos
I and my teaching partner at the time, Doug Paratore, travelled once a week to each of the three churches taking this class in the Fall, and three churches this spring. We taught them using Powerpoint shows, blackboards, old fashioned role playing demonstrations, and memorization games. Here are some church members practicing their verses for their Gospel presentation.
Fall Classes
The first outreach weekend was with "San Jose Alto". Here is a night shot of the movie presentation. About 250 came Friday night, and 150 Saturday.
"San Jose Alto", like all the churches' neighborhoods, is a poor, and dusty area but with a decent sized population to reach out to.
The next outreach weekend was "Alfa y Omega", and they had about 300 Friday night, and 200 Saturday. Their potential outreach area is quite large as well.
Here are two members of "Alfa y Omega" sharing their testimonies on Friday. They also had two groups that played praise music.
The third outreach weekend was at "El Salvador", and was quite spectacular. Their Saturday event was packed with music and dance specials from children, Ladies, and Men's groups. This neighborhood is by far the smallest, set on a thin strip of land between the highway and a huge canyon. It is more rural than the rest, as this house adjoining the outreach site clearly demonstrates. Here are four different people sharing their testimonies and the Gospel on Saturday's outreach.
Spring Classes
We blended a couple of our ministries together by using some of the boys from Casa Gabriel to help with the setup and tear down of the equipment this spring, and it was very successful! Here a couple of the boys who helped; John and Jorge.
Cusubamba Baptist Church was the first one of the Spring session to hold their outreach. They are high in the mountains an hour away from Quito, and very rural. (Their own web page for more info)
Here we are setting up.
There was music by various sister church groups in the afternoon, and the church members shared 4 different testimonies , and two more shared the gospel using the "Roman Road" (once before the movie in the afternoon, and once after the movie).
Candelaria Baptist Church, the "mother church" was the next to have their outreach. We had to deal with rain of Friday, but two large tents held most of the people, and a makeshift tent covered the equipment from getting wet. Here are some photos of the setup, the neighborhood, the ladies getting the cooking fire going for the free coffee, and some of the characters that helped. One of the men climbed the poles to put up the screen in his "Sunday" clothes! Here, a layman shares his testimony, and a visiting church shares their music with the crowd.
Parada Siete was the final class to hold their Campaņa this Spring. Their outreach weekend was May 6 and 7.
A big part of the outreach was to show a Christian movie in the evenings to attract the neighbors. Putting up the screen was one adventure. Protecting the equipment from the rain was an interesting challenge as well...
The site prepared, the pastor speaks to the pastor of the "mother church" as we wait for the time to start. There were a number of groups who played Christian music in the afternoon, with testimonies in between. Here are some of the interesting faces that showed up that afternoon in this rural neighborhood and were blessed by music, testimonies, and the gospel. After the movie in the evening, one final person shared their testimony, and another the gospel using the "Roman Road" presentation.
*Please note that each church has it's own webpage that can be accessed through the "Project: Great Commission" webpage.
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