Introduction

As with any Christian work, if door to door evangelism is going to be effective, it must move through three phases:

1. prayer;
2. planning; and
3. perspiration.

Or, to be more precise:

1. prayer;
2. prayer and planning; and
3. prayer, planning and perspiration.

After all, the prayer does not stop just because the planning starts, and they must both continue once the real work begins.

Door to door evangelism is only one approach to evangelism. It does not replace guest services, open air preaching, home visitation, schools work or friendship evangelism, but it works alongside the other techniques as part of a holistic evangelistic strategy.

Prayer

Only through prayer will the church receive a vision for what God wants to do through a door to door programme.

The prayer must be guided by the Holy Spirit, in conformity with God's truth as revealed in the Bible. But it should also be guided by a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives of door to door evangelism.

  Vision

The church leadership must share in the prayer, and must share the vision. The activity must be talked about from the front of the church services. It must be recognised as a valued part of church life, and the people who do it must be honoured.

But all of this background is only relevant if the people involved really believe that God loves the world so much that He wants us to reach out to the people in our neighbourhood. People who are motivated by guilt make bad evangelists! We want people who are motivated by God's love, and a desire to do His work His way. We want people who are spiritually healthy - who know His presence in their lives, and who can communicate that presence.

We should pray for three aspects of God's truth to become real to us.

1. We live in the middle of a spiritual battle, and this battle has eternal consequences. What we do really matters!
2. People without Christ are really lost
3. God is already at work in the world, drawing people to Himself.

This means that all our evangelistic activity must have its origin in prayer, and must be constantly sustained through prayer.

  Purpose

The primary purpose of door to door work is to build bridges between the local church and the community.

On the Singelhurst scale, door to door work is part of the church's 'Sowing Level One' strategy. If people get saved or helped in other ways, that should be seen as a bonus.

  Objectives

The objectives of door to door work are therefore:

• to establish contact between the church and the local community;
• to communicate a positive image of the local church; and
• to establish the credibility of the local church in two areas:
• answers to life's ('spiritual') problems
• pastoral care

Planning

The three main components of planning are:

• organisation;
• training; and
• follow-up.

It's hard to know where to begin. But that's okay.

To get started, it really doesn't matter which streets you choose - just pick a set of streets which seem halfway plausible, and target those. You'll get feedback in various ways to help you refine the target area once you have started.

You don't have to limit yourself to residential areas. Some businesses might be willing to allow you to leave literature, use their staff noticeboards. Once they get to know you, you might even get recognised as a kind of industrial chaplain - this often works well.

It's probably helpful to begin small and target only those streets you can return to maybe 3 or 4 times a year. As more people join in, expand outwards, sideways, or whatever.

Why should the JWs and Mormons be the only people to reach out to our neighbours?

It's all part of going to the people, instead of waiting for them to come to us. Even if the evangelism achieves nothing else, it says: we care enough about you to get off our backsides and call on you. If only the cults care enough to call on people, what does that say about us?

But it does help if the door-to-door is done well...

Advantages and Disadvantages

  Advantages

The advantages of door to door work:

• Door to door work is easy. Depending on what you are asking people to do, almost anyone can do it. No special or rare skills are required.
• There is generally some flexibility in the timing of door to door work, so people can fit it in around their other commitments.
• It reaches the whole community, not just a special group.
• Like all outreach, it communicates that the church is interested enough in people to go out to them. The church is not just an inward-looking clique.
• It avoids leaving this area of outreach to the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.
• It opens up useful contacts for far more than simple evangelism.
• It is reasonably cheap as a means of outreach, and easy to organise.
• It provides a good context in which people can start personal evangelism.

  Disadvantages

The disadvantages of door to door work:

• Door to door work should be done in teams of two or three people - and always in teams when done by ladies. Ideally, it should be done by mixed-sex teams - which are not always easy to organise.
• Some forms of door to door work are not suitable for younger people.
• It is difficult to motivate people to do this work, although when they start, many people find it much easier and more enjoyable than expected.

Varieties of Door to Door

There are many options open to people doing door to door work. One of the basic questions is: will you be knocking on the doors, or just distributing something? Sometimes it clearly needs to be one or the other, but on other occasions the people doing the distribution can be given the freedom to choose.

The other big question concerns how many times people will be expected to call or call back. If you can schedule the work and be confident it will be completed in that time, people will be much more likely to join in. If they have to call back several times, or until someone answers the door, only the really dedicated will volunteer.

• Literature. General Christian literature - tracts, gospels, etc. More effective when it is locally produced, or at least locally relevant.
• Gifts. Special gifts for special occasions - battery powered candles at Christmas, for example, or the 'Jesus Video' as part of a publicised scheme.
• Publicity. Publicity and 'personal' invitations can be distributed. This works better for special meetings that the public will be interested in, or for significant events in the church calendar or church life, but anything can be publicised this way.
• News. Ordinary information about the church: this is what we are doing. Reminding people we are still here, and offering these services. Can be made more interesting and relevant to people by including personal stories: nothing exciting, but stories about God working in ordinary ways in the lives of ordinary local people.
• Help. You can offer to pray for people, or help them in some other way.
• Questionnaires. This one must involve knocking on the doors!

Strategy for Door to Door

To be effective, door to door work needs to be...

• Regular. If you contact people once every other year, most people will feel you don't really care about them, no matter how good your literature is.
• Consistent. Decide how often to contact people, and stick to it. Make that level of contact a priority.
• Attractive. Badly produced publicity reflects poorly on the church. Do some market-testing to discover what the people you are reaching out to consider attractive. You may be surprised!
• Relevant. What are the main needs and issues facing your area? Concentrate on these, not ignoring items of more general interest.
• Geographical. Decide on your parish, and stick to that. It is better to do a good quality door to door ministry to half a dozen streets than a poor ministry to fifty. Expand your area as your resources grow.
• Generous. Never collect money for your church or its projects. Occasionally, you can collect money for some recognised secular need - Christian Aid is a good example, but never for the church roof. Always take something to give away.
• Supervised. You need some basic record keeping and administration for door to door work to succeed.

Regular visits are important, but this does not mean you can only visit places on the agreed schedule! If someone notices that someone has just moved in, arrange to visit them and leave a 'Welcome to our area' pack from the church - you do have one, don't you?

Or if a church member hears that someone down the street is sick, lost a job, had a partner walk out, is struggling with depression, or whatever - arrange a visit. Make it clear whether the person visiting is supposed to know about the problem - it is usually okay. "Someone told us that you... and thought you might appreciate a visit and someone to talk to. Can we help?"

It is worth checking your pastoral arrangements at this point... Are the existing church members visited when they are having difficulties? You can't really get people into the church on the basis of loving pastoral support, and then dump them once they have made a commitment!

Implementing the Strategy

It is always difficult to get many people involved with this kind of work, but there are things you can do to make it easier for people to volunteer. Or, things that can be done - it doesn't have to be you.

• First, decide where you want people to distribute. A marked area on the map - or a list of streets - is helpful for two reasons. Firstly, it enables the church to prioritise. Some parts are more strategically important (or should be, at least!) than others. Listing them will help ensure that they, at least, get covered. And secondly, it makes the job achievable. Without a boundary, the job is (or, at least, seems to be) infinite. People need to feel that they can make a difference: if there are 20 streets to be done, by doing one street, they are completing a significant part of the task. Even if there are 200 streets being targetted, you know you have made a contribution towards achieving the goal. It may not make logical sense, but it is the way people work.
• Second, determine how many houses and/or flats there are there in each of the streets you want covered. If people know how many houses, they know the size of their commitment, and they are more likely to volunteer. If I know one street has 50 houses and another 150, I can choose between them depending on how much time I can spare. If I don't know, I may fear the longer street could have 300 houses or more, and decide I don't have time to commit to anything. By making the task measurable, you make it more achievable, and get more volunteers.
• Third, prepare the literature. People really do not want to spend their time at the end of a chuch service counting out leaflets, especially if they don't know how many to count out! If you can parcel up the leaflets into 50 for this street, 42 for that, 178 for another, people are much more likely to take them.
• And, finally, for this kind of job, you really need to get one of the church leaders to stand up at the front, wave a pile of leaflets at everybody, and say: I am going to do this street, it's easy, so would you all please take the leaflets for one or more streets at the end of the service, thank you. Sometimes the leaders need to be seen to be leading by example...

The fastest way to get volunteers is to ask people to volunteer during a church service. Pass the packs to people in their seats, there and then. But this is not a good technique if you want to vet who is involved.

It can help to give people an idea of the sort of time commitment involved, if they have not been involved before. For straightforward leafleting in a suburban area with small front gardens, it is reasonable to average two houses a minute, which works out at 120 an hour. Of course, if you are planning to talk, it will be a lot slower.

Some points to be careful about.

• Do what you promised! If you say someone from the church will call back, make sure someone calls back. If you promise to pray, make sure the request is noted and prayed for.
• Provide a mechanism to ensure that all the resulting needs, requests, etc. are followed up. Somebody must be responsible for this!
• If you know you can't complete the block, just work systematically until the time runs out. Then the next time, just start from where you finished.

The distributors must leaflet every house and flat in their patch. This includes church members and other known Christians! There are several reasons for this.

• It makes sure all the church members have a copy of the literature themselves!
• It means church members know when their street has been done, so they can talk to their neighbours about what they have just received.
• It avoids the problem of worried church members contacting the church leaders, worried that their street has been forgotten.
• It simplifies the administration. Address lists of church members are always difficult to keep up to date, and you are almost certain to make mistakes if you aim to miss out the church members. It really is quicker and easier to leaflet everybody.
• If people are watching you go down the street, they will be suspicious if you miss out some houses. What do you know about the people you choose to visit? Are you 'going for' the weak and vulnerable?

If the church has never done any systematic distribution in the past and you really don't have details of the number of houses in each street, you can get the basic details from the Post Office's Postcode book for the area, but this needs to be filled out with a bit more information. Some ground work is needed before you begin.

Divide the parish up into a number of blocks. A block may be a street, several streets, or part of a street. The blocks should be roughly equal in size: between 30 and 50 houses is a good number. The blocks should be well-defined, so that the people doing the distribution are in no doubt as to whether a particular property is included in their block.

Remember that some people will be doing the door to door - maybe for the first time - in the dark, and many house numbers are completely missing, or hard to find even in daylight.

For example:

Block	1: Blaise Walk
Properties	Blaise Walk, Odds: 1-15, 19-23
	Blaise Walk, Evens: 2 - 44
	Others: None
Total	34
Notes	The houses at each end of Blaise Walk belong to the adjoining roads. Mr Smith at no. 17 does not want church literature, but will take other local community notices.

When You Go Out

  Before you go

A basic check list before you go out.

• Check you have everything you need (see below).
• Make sure know what to say.
• Agree on the teamwork strategy. (Will go round on your own, or in twos or threes? Will you let another team member know before entering a house?)
• Confirm when and where you will meet up before you leave.
• Pray together - for good contacts, effective use of the opportunities, and protection from the enemy's attacks.

  What to take

You should take the following items with you.

• A record sheet, listing every property you intend to visit with space to take notes (see below).
• A pen.
• A small - preferably pocket sized - Bible or New Testament.
• A small supply of tracts.
• Contact details - either yourself or someone at the church - name, address, phone number, times when available, etc.
• Whatever gifts or leaflets you are intending to distribute - include a few spares.
• Suitable clothing! Comfortable shoes are important. Consider whether you will need a warm coat or something waterproof.

  What to say

• A polite greeting - "Hello," "Good afternoon," or the like
• Identify yourself - "My name is Pat Smith."
• Identify where you are from - "I'm from Saint Egbert's"
• Say why you are there - "We are distributing a Community Newsletter free to every household in the neighbourhood. Please have a copy."
• Open the door to further contact - "If you think of anything we can do for you, you can get in touch with Fred Bloggs - his details are on the back of the leaflet."
• Appreciate them - "Thank you for your time. I hope to see you again."

  What to do

• Visit everyone - even church members and members of other churches
• Record the result of the visit (see below)
• Don't be pushy - if they don't want to talk, move on.
• Be confident - God is with you
• Pray constantly
• Pass on any messages or requests - and make sure they are acted upon. This must include the 'never visit me again' messages! Be precise when recording the messages.
• If a notice says "No junk mail," it is valid to ask (once!) what they mean. Would they like the community newsletter delivered or not? Make sure you record the answer, either way, and act on it.

  What to record

First, the equipment: some people prefer a clipboard, some a pocket notebook because it looks less 'official'. There is nothing wrong with looking like you know what you are doing! If you use a clipboard, try to find one with a fold-over cover - they are better when it rains.

You should record:

• The house number!
• The fact that you visited
• Any request
• If the house is uninhabited - for sale, being revovated, or boarded up
• Any name the person you were talking with gave you.

Safety on the Streets

We need to be responsible in the area of personal safety. This must include:

• Praying for safety
• Making the right preparations
• Training beforehand, so people know what to do if anything goes wrong

But it is worth noting that it is very rare for anyone to be attacked while doing door to door work. It must have happened, but this is not a high-risk activity. People, even ungodly people, are generally reluctant to hurt Clergy and other 'God' people.

  Precautions

There are some simple precautions you can take.

• Pray - and ask for others to pray - for your protection. Not just safety from attacks (physical and spiritual), but also safety from accidents which would prevent or hinder your work, and also for good health.
• Let someone know where you are going, and when you are due back. Make sure they know you have got back safely.
• Go out in teams of two or three, never on your own. Stay in touch with each other, and keep your eyes open. If it looks like there might be trouble, get together.
• Don't take with you anything which you really don't want to get stolen. If you have a gold watch and a wallet stuffed with notes, leave them at home.
• If possible, take cheap mobile phones with you. If you are going to be delayed, make sure somebody knows. If you are invited into anyone's home, ring or text someone to tell them where you are.
• If anyone tries to steal from you, let them have it. Your life and health are more precious than your stuff.

  Reactions

If you do find yourself in a potentially dangerous situation...

• Pray. "Help!" is perfectly valid in this kind of situation.
• Retreat. Door to door evangelism does not turn you into a kind of Christian vigilantee. If this is not an option, or does not work...
• Remain calm, be polite, talk slightly more quietly than usual, do not attempt any form of humour and be careful of your body language - avoid appearing agressive.
• Debrief. Talk to the project leader or church leader as soon as possible, pray together and decide what to do next. You may wish to remove this address from future contact.