General Office (GO) of Olivet Assembly (OA) of Southeast Asia (SEA) made suggestions for effective online evangelism on June 9th.
GO said that the COVID-19 pandemic has created unique circumstances and its share of difficulties. This crisis, however, has also created its fair share of people looking for a solution to their fears, struggles and hopelessness and that brings the obligation on our part to clearly share the hope of the Gospel.
In a time when the church is gathering digitally, there are many people and online visitors joining us who are hoping to find hope. Over the last year the church has moved completely online.
One of the key aspects of serving this new audience well is giving an effective gospel invitation online.
The following are basic principles for effective online evangelism proposed by GO OA SEA.
▲Pray continually
Pray, pray and pray some more. You are desperately in need of the Lord to speak through you in a way that transcends videos we produce. There are hard hearts sitting and waiting to be broken by the Holy Spirit. Prayer is the most powerful weapon for every aspect of the preaching ministry. Only He can touch those hardened hearts.
▲Keep it Biblical Teaching
Every Scripture expects to be preached in light of the Gospel. Every Bible communicator should have expectations upon themselves to deliver the Gospel every week to those who are logging on to watch their messages. Most likely, every time you preach online, you will have people watching who are spiritually lost. Deliver in depth each key message of the Romans, which conveys the core of salvation and the gospel.
▲Keep it Short
Most evangelist are preaching online messages in the 25 minutes to 30 minutes range. Your invitation to respond to the gospel should be short and concise. Get to the point of what you’re asking them to do, and get there quickly. If you make an appointment to study the Bible with them, you can give a long lecture later.
▲Keep it Moving to a Next Step
Every gospel proclamation has three responses: surrender, rejection or a request to hear more. You see those at the end of Acts 17. For two out of three of those responses, there should be a biblical, short and understandable way to move to a next step of surrendering to Jesus by hearing more of what that looks like.