OUTREACH

FAITH - An Overview

FAITH is a miracle ministry for the people of Abilene and the people of our church. It provides a process of sharing our faith with people. The benefit of salvation for individuals and the opportunity for ministry growth provides a compelling reason for our church to adopt the FAITH process. It is a Sunday School evangelistic strategy for everyone and it provides tools for sharing and conversational evangelism.

What is FAITH?

FAITH is a Sunday School evangelism strategy to reach people of Abilene and beyond for Christ -- a lifetime process by which followers of Christ learn to share their faith with others.
The 16-week FAITH training course assists adults in sharing the gospel message. The course meets each week during two semesters a year.

FAITH developed over nearly the past fifteen years and originated with the First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Florida. It is a relatively simple process which enables one to share Christ with friends or strangers. As one leader of a Baptist Sunday School Board stated, this may be God's final call for the lost before Christ's return.

The Purpose of FAITH

Over the years we have benefited from several evangelism training opportunities that have taught us what to say and how to share the good news with unsaved persons. God will always bless any effort to share the gospel. However, in many churches, evangelism training has become a program. In some churches evangelism training has even become a separate organization or group apart from the main body of believers, apart from the nurturing and assimilating potential of the Sunday School. In too many churches there is little or no ongoing emphasis on evangelism training or on evangelism itself.

FAITH is an evangelism training system linked directly to the Sunday School. By incorporating FAITH into our church, we now have multiple opportunities and incentives to strengthen our ongoing Bible teaching and reaching ministries. By implementing FAITH, we mobilize our army of Sunday School leaders and members to share the gospel, give unsaved persons an opportunity to accept Christ, and enable believers to grow through ministries of your church.

FAITH calls for a high level of commitment from leaders and members and it is based on a high degree of accountability. It also offers believers the opportunity to be directly involved in proclaiming the good news of salvation and seeing the Holy Spirit at work convicting and changing lives.

Philosophy of FAITH

Read 2 Timothy 2:1-2. This simple passage is the key to understanding the impending strategy and success of FAITH. Our job is to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We are to teach others so they can teach still more people. FAITH is an intentional multiplying approach of evangelism and ministry training through the Sunday School.

FAITH is not a program, but a Sunday School strategy for growing Great Commission Christians. Great Commission Christians are those Christians who desire to share the gospel with the unsaved and who grow in their understanding that God is at work in the lives of believers and non-believers. Great Commission Christians want to be servants where God is at work.

Great Commission Christians are not made overnight. The process takes time. A person easily can learn the gospel presentation that is part of FAITH, but more is involved in this process. FAITH is built around important ingredients designed to help someone investigate, understand, apply, and pass on the gospel message.

FAITH does not require persons to start off knowing everything - only that God will cause them to grow in grace as they practice those things which Scripture teaches.

FAITH: A Sunday School Evangelism Strategy

For a moment let your imagination and dreams take flight.

• Imagine every member of your Sunday School class receiving a ministry visit at least once every few months.
• Imagine every prospect receiving a personal visit by a team of members (from his or her Sunday School class), each of whom is prepared to share a simple but direct gospel presentation.
• Imagine members who are excited about witnessing and about training others to witness.
• Imagine the results of visiting every member and prospect in a Sunday School class on a regular basis.
• Imagine persons who train other members of their class/department to witness and those persons weekly visit individuals assigned to their class.
• Imagine Sunday School members actively discovering and cultivating unchurched persons.
• Imagine unsaved persons attending Bible study and worship.
• Imagine getting with your Sunday School leaders every week to determine actions to take regarding people - people who have visited the church or who need some type of caring touch, ministry contact, or evangelistic visit.
• Imagine Sunday School leaders and members praying for and anticipating unsaved persons coming to know the Lord.
• Imagine workers planning and coordinating efforts because new classes are needed.
• Imagine more persons volunteering to assume leadership responsibilities.
• Imagine unsaved persons in your community hearing the simple message of the gospel and responding in faith.
• Imagine a process that helps believers make a renewed commitment to Great Commission work - one that puts them in the best position to study, grow, apply biblical truths, and impact others through the Sunday School.

Can you imagine these possibilities taking place in a church? in your church? What would happen in your church if church members responded to God's moving in their lives to energize them to become Great Commission Christians? Without question, this would be the beginning of a magnificent revival. When God's people recognize God at work and join with Him, they experience the world-changing power of His presence.

This scenario is not a dream. It is becoming reality because many pastors and church leaders are taking a renewed stand to do the work they know they are commissioned to do. Everyone in every church is busy, but not every church is busy doing work proven to bring results.

The fact remains that the Sunday School has, and continues to be, the largest army of people most churches have to accomplish the work of the Great Commission. It is still the most important army of workers enabled to do evangelism, ministry, Bible study, and fellowship. Sunday School also is a vibrant force for helping new Christians begin their lifelong discipleship journey. Let's focus on ways those hopes and dreams can become reality.

Primary Components of FAITH

To find information about a FAITH Clinic in your area, call LifeWay Christian Resources at (800) 254-2022 or click HERE to visit the official FAITH web site.