The answer to this question depends on your level of influence in your church. If you are a member or attender who does not hold a leadership position with formal influence, at this point your most effective avenue is to mobilize others for evangelism as described in How can I get others involved in sharing the Gospel?.

Be encouraged by the fact that often you can make the most impact in a Daniel-type capacity. Daniel had no official position, but was personally respected and had much influence without a committee membership or staff position!

If you are a recognized leader in your church charged with helping develop its vision and strategy, or you have influence with recognized leaders, getting your church substantially involved in evangelism is more an issue that relates to the wider life and ministry philosophy of your church. It is tempting for church leaders merely to adopt an evangelism program, offer training, and appendage evangelism on to your church as a program for those who are interested in it.

While this approach is better than nothing, it does not address the fact that our culture has drastically changed, and the typical American church must reformat much of how it is structured and operates before the church will see people coming to Christ through its ministry. Indeed, at the heart of the issue is how your church disciples its people. A more canned, programmatic approach to evangelism also neglects the Biblical mandate that evangelism is everyone’s responsibility.

If your leaders are uncertain where to start in thinking through these issues, resources such as the following are available:

Explore God is an example of the efforts of 370+ churches in the Austin, TX area to work together to share the Gospel vigorously in their city.

Tim Keller’s Center Church is fast becoming a gold standard for churches thinking through and re-structuring their ministries for maximal disciplemaking and evangelistic impact in their cities. Available at amazon.com and similar web portals.

Mark Mittleberg’s Becoming a Contagious Church helps church leaders consider the foundational conditions necessary for the entire church to be effective in evangelism. Available at amazon.com and similar web portals.

The Navigators’ Church Discipleship Ministries arm will work with your church to consider how to move your church toward a greater disciplemaking purpose, which includes the church’s evangelistic outreach.