Like many people, one of my struggles is trying to come up with ways to “do evangelism” in the 21st century. I loathe gimmicks, and I loathe bait-and-switch events. Relational evangelism is really the way to go, but it still leaves huge gaps: what about all the lost folks we don’t have relationships with, and how do we build those relationships to begin with? I’m still searching for answers to this.

But there is one classic approach that I think still has merit: going door-to-door. Its merit is not through its effectiveness – it is terribly ineffective – but comes from the fact that (1) going door-to-door keeps our people intentional about evangelism; (2) it helps us talk to people we would otherwise never cross paths with; and (3) it helps with the “go and tell” of the great commission – too many of our evangelistic approaches are more along the lines of “come and hear”.

There are many who argue that we should not do door-to-door evangelism because of its ineffectiveness in the 21st century. I am tempted to join them, but thus far have resisted for the reasons mentioned above.

You have probably heard the (apocryphal?) story about D. L. Moody. One day following a service a lady came up to him and told him that she did not like the way he practiced evangelism. “Well, what’s your way?” he asked the lady. “I don’t have a method,” she responded. Moody concluded, “Then I like my way better than yours.” It is fine to dislike various methods of doing evangelism, but make sure you have an alternative to propose.

What are some other ways you do evangelism? How do you build relationships with non-Christians? What non-gimmicky approaches do you use to start conversations? How do you go about fulfilling the great commission?