We first began the meeting with open discussions and
updates.
1) We decided that we needed to get rewards for the children that help clean
the church after Sunday school.
2) We need to purchase supplies that can be used to clean up the restrooms in
the church.
3) We wanted to remind Sherif to install the headphones in the church that are
to be used for English translations (this has been accomplished up to date).
4) We need 4 English signs that say "Reserved for English
Translation." We might want to write this out in Arabic as well for
the Arabic-speaking individuals to understand. (Irene B. was in charge of
this and she did bring in one thus far. It looks very nice and I am sure
that it will help us a great deal in organization).
5) The first person that arrives to the Evangelism meeting, promptly at
We then read a handout, entitle "What Are You Going To Do With a Person:
His Name is Jesus?" This provided the group with an introduction to the meeting and
showed us how important true Christian love and Evangelism is in the lives of
many different types of people. We talked about how we need to devote our
thoughts, lives, actions, and everything to Christ, since He has died in order
for us to live! The entire day should be
a continuous life with Christ, with every aspect of the day conducted FOR
Him.
***I have attached this handout to the e-mail***
We then began to discuss an extremely important topic:
THE GREETING MINISTRY
This is a ministry for Christ and encompasses the believer revealing Christ to
others, in order to draw others to the Church.
Our objectives as servants:
1) Make people feel WELCOMED to the
church
2) Let our newcomers feel WANTED, not
just welcomed.
3) Let them feel like they BELONG to
the Church; not simply a visitor for the day.
- We need to make sure that we welcome people warmly, with genuine love for
them.
We listened to a story given by Victor Beshir that was found at
www.ChristianToday.com. This story was about a hotel owner that wanted to
treat visitors with great love and her goal was to bring them to Christ.
One day two woman entered the hotel, one was talking, and the other was
silent. The owner of the hotel had two choices- either to neglect her or
do her best in showing her Christ. The next morning, the owner welcomed
her and attempted to make conversation with the visitor. After three
days, the lady still had not responded to her warm welcome and so the owner
decided to give her a gift and include a small brochure about Christ. The
owner tried to hug her, but the lady did not return the hug. After three
months had passed, the visitor wrote a letter to the owner of the hotel and
told her that she had never been hugged before. She continued to talk
about how her life had changed and she now knew the Lord and allowed Him to
work in her life.
- We need to encourage
the individual(s) to participate in the Divine Liturgy. Each
new comer needs to receive a Divine Liturgy in order to follow along in the
service.
- We must encourage them to join in
fellowship after the Divine Liturgy has finished. This is a great
way to make them feel welcomed, wanted, and a “part” of the Church.
The last part of our meeting addressed the many preparations that we, as
servants, must do in order to make our evangelistic efforts prosper and
succeed.
1) We need to know that first
impressions are very important—the person can determine whether
he/she will return to the church in a short period of time.
2) We want to have a warm and
sincere handshake or other form
of greeting for the visitors, so that they know how happy we are to have them
in our church.
3) We need to realize that in order to serve others, we must enter the Church before them in order to prepare
for their arrival. This means that we need to come earlier
than the rest of the congregation.
4) We must come at least 15 minutes prior to the rest, in order to
prepare pens, cards, a table, pamphlets, etc. for the people that will attend
that particular day.
5) We will
need at least one man and one woman seated at the table in order to organize the table and help
seat the visitors in the Church itself.
6) We need to seat
the visitors towards the upper-middle of the Church. The front of the Church can
be quite intimidating and the back of the Church can be noisy and full of
distractions.
7) We would want to seat the English-speaking visitors where the headphones are
available so that the sermon can be translated for them. Also, it may be a good idea
to seat the newcomers close to the aisle of the Church so that they can view
the altar and truly enjoy the Divine Liturgy.
Lastly, we discussed the need to expand the Evangelism group, so that it may
grow and become stronger. The attendance is not always as strong as it
should be, but God-willing it will prosper and become a successful mission for
our church. Please remember to pray for this meeting and those who serve
in it. God Bless +
In Christ,
Jasmine Jourjy