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Reach out to members of your congregation to ask them if they would like to learn more about teaching evangelism. Focus on new members and members who show an interest in deepening their faith so they can share it with others. You can also ask friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers, and peers at school if they’d like to learn how to evangelize. Begin by outlining how long the teaching will be for the participants. You may start with a 3-4 month commitment where you meet for training once a week for 1-2 hours. You may also ask participants to set aside 1-2 hours a week for homework or home study. Make sure the participants are comfortable with the start and end date for the training. Check that most, if not all the participants can attend every weekly meeting or training session. Open the training by inviting participants to share their personal feelings and experiences about their faith. Ask them to explain how they feel about Jesus and God. This will help set the tone for the training sessions and allow the participants to open up. For example, you may say to participants, “I invite you now to share your experiences with Jesus” or “Would anyone like to express what their faith means to them?” A key aspect of evangelizing is being an attentive listener to others so you can make a connection with them. Explain the purpose of active listening and the importance of maintaining positive body language when you listen to others. Show them how to maintain eye contact and turn their body towards the person they are engaging with.  You may demonstrate active listening by asking a participant a question about their faith. You can then listen attentively, maintaining eye contact and nodding to show you are engaged. Avoid interrupting or cutting off the person as they are speaking. You can then respond with “What I hear you saying is…” or “I believe what you are saying is…”. Once the person agrees you have heard them correctly, you can respond to them in a respectful way. Some of the people the participants will be evangelizing will have different ideas about faith and Jesus. Rather than shut these people out, participants should pose questions that are thoughtful and probing to start a dialogue. The questions should allow the person to express themselves and feel they are being treated with respect. For example, you may have participants ask questions like, “Can you tell me how you view faith and Jesus?” “Can you tell me more about your beliefs?” or “Would you be open to exploring a different set of beliefs?” Pair the participants together and have one person be the evangelist and the other person be the potential convert. Have the participants practice using active listening and probing questions to get a dialogue started.  Ask the participants to switch roles after 5-10 minutes so they can experience both sides of the discussion. Have participants share any thoughts or reflections after the practice sessions with the larger group so everyone can learn from each other. Ensure participants that the training session is a safe, open space where they can express themselves honestly. Remind them there is no single right way to evangelize and that the training sessions are a learning opportunity for everyone. Make sure participants feel comfortable in the sessions and included in the group discussion.
Find participants in your congregation and social groups. Set a clear start and end date for the training. Encourage participants to discuss their faith in Jesus. Show participants how to be an active listener. Teach participants how to ask thoughtful, probing questions about faith. Have participants perform example situations to practice. Keep the training atmosphere open and inclusive.