Casting VisionTo The Church
Formulate a message to the church based on what God has placed in your heart. Talk about past victories and things learned from past mistakes in evangelism efforts. Cast vision for the best outreach effort focused on Pentecost Sunday your church has ever implemented.
Target Saints:
Before your town or city ever gets excited about Pentecost Sunday, your church must get excited. It is true that most of the people you are trying to reach are beyond the walls of your sanctuary, yet we get the proverbial “cart before the horse” if we bypass the important step of first inspiring those within.
Sheldon Van Auken wrote that the strongest argument for Christianity is Christians when they are drawing life from God. The advantages of an inspired church are obvious. If your people catch the vision, they will have more, as a church body, to offer the visitors who fill your pews. If your people are enthused, they are going to talk about Pentecost Sunday at work, at school, and at church. And inspiration is contagious. On the other hand, an uninspired group of people trying to reach a busy, secular world is an exercise in futility.
Small Group Meetings
There is nothing quite like a small, informal meeting to build a feeling of ownership of the Pentecost Sunday Campaign. Divide your church into manageable groups (no more than 20 people), meet with them, and ask some important questions. How can we fill our pews? Do you know someone you can bring? What is your vision of Pentecost Sunday? In one such meeting, a brother said, “I can see my unsaved father standing beside me, speaking in tongues, as the Lord fills him with the Holy Ghost!” Someone else spoke their faith and said, “I can see our church full of people!” It happened!
Altar Workers Seminar
Schedule an Altar Workers Seminar to train people who will be praying with visitors in the altar. We have provided wonderful material here on the website for teaching your altar workers.
Ushers, Greeters and Parking Attendants
Meet with your Ushers, Greeters and Security personnel, tell them what you expect them to do. Be prepared for an overflow crowd. Capacity crowds present parking problems at some churches, so arrange ahead of time to have satellite parking for your church members. You can run a shuttle to pick them up and drop them off.
A Guest-Friendly Church
You might use some of your mid-week services to teach the lesson “The People Business.” A church member who is guest-conscious is invaluable.
Invitational Material
Follow the Calendar to ensure that your Pentecost Sunday invitational material is printed for distribution at your Launch Service February 25, 2018.
Have some cards (pre-printed if possible) ready for your members to write down how many people they plan to bring for Pentecost Sunday. Each person will obviously need to invite many more individuals than what they pledge in order to have that number in attendance. See Sample Commitment Card here.
Launch Service
Have your church spend time praying and fasting for the Launch Service. Arrange music to revolve around a theme of reaching the lost. Prepare a message that will challenge your church to be a witness, because winning the lost is everyone’s responsibility.
Ask your members to fill out their cards and then carry them to the altar. Pray together over the cards, anointing them with oil.
After the service, have invitation cards and/or fliers available to everyone.