The Bible says "go into all the world ..." in order to share Christ. Part of that world meets in little rooms or classes that are orientated around hobbies.
A teacher once told me: "Try something new every two years. Meet new people, make new friends and explore new interests."
Instead of having a passive hobby such as television, I thought that pursuing a hobby that could lead to witnessing would be a good idea. Sometimes it works well. Sometime, not so much.
I tried Chess, (http://www.chess.com/members/view/Prelgovisk ) but chess players aren't very talkative, and it wasn't as conducive to witnessing as I had hoped. I did enjoy it though. I met some nice people and learned a lot of neat openings.
I joined the "Civil Air Patrol" as a Chaplain, and this is proving to be a more effective opportunity. I get to speak to young people and also rub shoulders with the Search and Rescue community. I also upgraded my Ham radio license to "General Class" so that I may be a person of value to people in that community. To them I am "WP4NVR."
Am I still knocking on doors? Yes. But I am also getting through some formerly closed doors by adopting a new hobby or two. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.
About once a year we have a "Tract Day."
I order a "Sampler Pack" or assortment of gospel tracts from a couple of places and bring them to the church. During our Sunday school class, I put the people in small groups and give each group a pile of tracts. I ask them to each read a couple and evaluate them on:
1. Clarity in communicating the Gospel
2. Was it really good, mildly interesting, OK, dull or offensive?"
3. Would it be something they would feel good about giving to someone?
I have the groups come together and I ask a spokesperson from each group to give a quick review on their experience and share which were their favorite tracts. I ask which ones we should order.
I say "I am going to order our favorite tracts, but I want them all passed out. Who will pass out a tract if I order them?"
I place the order, and when they come in, I make a big deal about it.
We have a scheduled Saturday as "Tract Blitz Day." We try and have every member come and pass out tracts for about 2 hours. Then we have a lunch at the church and share our experiences of what happened.
The following Sunday, I ask them to give testimonies and praise their efforts in evangelism. We encourage and motivate each other to do more evangelism this way.
I find that our church is more likely to pass out tracts they have read and got exited about then they would if we just had a few that we picked and put out for them to take. It works!
