As life in the UK starts to return to something more resembling the ‘old normal’, one question that churches are asking is what impact the past three years have had on evangelism – and new research by Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM) has some encouraging findings.
It turns out that many Christians didn’t let lockdown prevent them from sharing their faith, writes Daisy Addington. In particular, nearly 75% of the 250 users of CEM resources surveyed reported giving a Christian book to one or more of their non-Christian friends, with 23% of respondents having given away five or more books since 2019.
Even more respondents have been running evangelistic courses, with 87% having used a course since 2019. Given the difficulties of running courses during the lockdowns this figure points to churches’ willingness to be flexible in moving evangelistic activities online, as well as a desire to have a more structured conversation with those who turned to online church during the pandemic.
In terms of the sorts of guests who are finding evangelistic courses most useful, course leaders reported that they appeal primarily to those who are warm to faith but still some way off making a decision. On a scale of one to ten, with one being ‘hostile to Christianity’ and ten being ‘ready to become a Christian’, leaders said that most guests would stand between six and seven.
While clearly courses remain a useful tool in evangelism, leaders also acknowledged that there are also some barriers they struggle with. The main hurdles identified are the difficulties in inviting people and then keeping them on the course. This was true for 44% and 36% of supporters respectively.
The research will be used by CEM to update its Christianity Explored and Life Explored courses. Kay Carter, UK National Director for CEM, says: ‘We’re so grateful to all the people who took the time to respond to the survey. It was hugely encouraging to see that in spite of the circumstances of the past couple of years, Christians in the UK were using their ingenuity to share their faith. However, we also recognise the challenges of evangelism in 2022. Our job now is to use the insights from the survey to make sure that our resources rise to these challenges, and help more people meet Jesus in the pages of Scripture.’
