Program emphasis. Fancy taglines.  Promotional drives. Sentimental appeals.  Guilt driven approaches.  

Do these sound like marketing strategies for evangelism in churches?  Maybe, maybe not, but the truth is that programs, promotions, and marketing strategies don’t convert people. The Holy Spirit does. Without the Holy Spirit’s conviction upon our hearts, we may witness an increase in church attendance, but the kingdom's growth may not be a reality. Then why do we need to promote, appeal, and market evangelism in the church?  Such efforts do not end in themselves but means to the desired end.  When the primary focus is on programs, promotions, appeals, and marketing, the kingdom growth has no room to take place.  Well-practiced and well-lived Christianity is the best winning support one can render in favor of kingdom growth.

As a teenager, I grew up on a remote countryside farm in Northwestern Province of Sri Lanka.  My life ambition was to become a police constable (PC) when I finish my high school.  One day, seeing my messy sleeping mat (as I often had), my kind and gentle mother waited till breakfast to say anything to me.  While enjoying breakfast, she asked; “Why do you want to become a PC?” I responded to her; “I want to catch and fix those misbehaved and those who violate the law.”  She looked me straight in the eyes and kindly said with a cheeky smile on her face; “Before you fix misbehaving and the law breakers, you have to learn to fix the place where you sleep at night.”  To this day, I have taken that kind rebuke as a daily responsibility to tidy up my bed before leaving the bedroom.  That gentle reminder from my mother helped me to make it a life habit.

“Each One Reach One” is not a mere fancy tag line of an evangelism marketing strategy to lure church members to witness.  In fact, Each One Reach One does not give baptismal goals. It aims to aid, train, and empower members to take witnessing as an individual responsibility and make it a winsome habit in life.  The biblical meaning of witnessing is a way to participate in the mission of God. This can be done by sharing the gospel in a caring manner (written and/or verbal communication), and by way of living a life that points others to the “Truth” which eventually leads people to a saving relationship with Jesus.  Each One Reach One is a way to educate members to know that witnessing is an individual responsibility that can be developed into a habit in life.  One’s caring attitude bears enormous weight in pointing others to “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 10:10).

The early New Testament church grew against the cultural influence and social norms.  Writings of the apostle Paul make it clear that the caring attitude of the believers contributed to a phenomenal quality and quantitative growth.  One among many caring deeds of the early church was to make the church a safe place for women who were considered second class citizens.  Each member in their newfound faith took witnessing as an individual responsibility and made it a habit to practice the teaching of Jesus and to extend help to those in need.  This may be something that each of our church members intentionally endeavors to do.  To make a good habit in life, we need to be intentional. “Everywhere there is a tendency to substitute the work of organizations for individual effort. Human wisdom tends to consolidation, to centralization, to the building up of great churches and institutions. Multitudes leave to institutions and organizations the work of benevolence; they excuse themselves from contact with the world, and their hearts grow cold. They become self-absorbed and unimpressible. Love for God and man dies out of the soul. Christ commits to His followers an individual work,—a work that cannot be done by proxy. Ministry to the sick and the poor, the giving of the gospel to the lost, is not to be left to committees or organized charities. Individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, is the requirement of the gospel.” Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 147.