Preach The Gospel and Invite People To Respond Online
By now we’re beginning to understand the complexities of online church. For many, it may feel like we’re just talking to a camera. While that may be true, I want to remind us that there are people that are viewing your content that may not know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. Just like we encourage to do when they’re live, we also encourage you to do this EVERY SUNDAY online; Preach the gospel and invite people to respond.
Preach The Gospel
If you haven’t watched John Albiston’s webinar on Effective Pulpit Evangelism, stop right now and do that. The essence is that every week you should find a time to preach the gospel. Maybe it’s 3 minutes at the end. Find ways to communicate what it means to make a U-turn and follow Jesus Christ. Preach the full gospel (Jesus saves us from a life of sin, for a life of purpose) and call people to give up their own ways and embrace Christ in a personal relationship.
Invite People To Respond
Once you’ve presented the gospel, invite people to respond in prayer and make that commitment to begin the journey to follow Him. Now we know that this is just the first of a thousand steps in our journey with Christ but it’s an important first step. The second step is to let you know they prayed that prayer. In the online space, you might want to have them type “I Believe” in the comment/chat section. You can also have them fill out an online form (an easy solution is JotForms) to indicate that they made a decision to follow Jesus.
Follow Up
Once you’ve seen their response in the comment/chat section or received their online form, it’s imperative you follow up. You can send them a Next Steps booklet or a digital bible reading plan as a way to initially connect. Then, use Zoom to start a new believers class and begin the pathway of discipleship. Connect new believers to people in your church so they can walk alongside them.
This shouldn’t be something you do once in a while, it should be every single week in every single ministry; preach the gospel and invite people to respond.