Door-To-Door?

I had something happen to me for the first time since being a pastor of my current church.  I was out visiting people, and I came to the last person on my list.  This person was a prospect, and I had not called beforehand, but figured I would stop by and introduce myself.  We try keep contact with those that are interested in our church by taking notes on a prospect sheet.  This enables us as a church to know how much and when we contact them.  The last note from a few months ago said that they were friendly and open to hearing about our church.

Besides, I had my secret weapon with me as well.  His name is Jim.  Jim is an older gentleman whose copious amounts of energy are barely tolerable.  But he’s a great servant of the church, and he loves nothing more than to share his faith…with anyone.

I figured this visit would be congenial.  I was wrong.  Three milliseconds after saying I was from a church I was recovering from the ringing in my ears from the sound of a door being forcefully slammed in my face.

I looked at Jim, who was accompanying me.  He shrugged his shoulders, halfway smiled, and said, “Sometimes they go that way.  Let’s see if we can find anyone else to talk to.”

When I got back to my office after the outreach, I wondered how effective door-to-door evangelism and church visitation was in our current culture.  So I did a little research in Internet hinterland.  What I came upon interested me.

Apparently, people are more open to an invitation to church than the gospel message when you knock on their doors.  And a good number of people regardless of age are open to church invitations and hearing about the gospel message.

But the good news is limited.  Only 39% of those who rarely, if ever, go to church are open to door-to-door invitations.

At our next outreach meeting, Jim asked me if I wanted to go door-to-door with him again.  Trying to quell his enthusiasm a bit, I told about my new found statistic, that only 39% of people may be interested in what we have to say.

He cocked his head and smiled.

“You mean to tell me that at least 4 out of 10 people are going to actually listen to what we have to say?!”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Well, what are we waiting on?  Let’s get out there and tell some people about Jesus!”

That evening, Jim knocked on six doors.  He met a Jehovah’s Witness, four people who were unchurched, and one churchgoer.  He shared the gospel message twice.

Half empty or half full?