Pray with us -- surveys

For a few months we've been putting together a plan to give us more opportunities to share the Gospel around town. Everything is now in place and we're planning on getting out this week to begin some widespread seed sowing. We thought it would be a neat idea to share our plan with you, along with pictures from the place we'll be going to first so that you can be praying for us, and more importantly for the people with whom we will have contact.

First up on our list of locations is pretty much next door to us...the "Academy of Agriculture" (Akademia Rolnicza in Polish). Literally less than a block from us, the Academy is one of Poznan's many universities where there are countless students studying on any given day. It won't be difficult to find people to speak with, for sure!

One of the features of the small campus is a statue of "The Sower". While they were thinking more of sowing seeds for crops, we are praying that the seeds of the Gospel will find fertile soil in the hearts of the students there. It's a beautiful image for me to think about sowing Gospel seeds in the shadow of the campus' Sower. Pray with us that the Holy Spirit will give us sensitivity as we share.

While public transportation is vital in Poznan, there are bus stops and tram stops surrounding the campus. These will be hot zones where we'll be able to find larger groups of people. We want to be realistic about setting goals for the number of people we can speak with because we know we can never speak to everyone. But as you see the faces of some of the students waiting for the bus or tram you can be praying even for those specific people...or for others like them that need to know what it means to follow Christ...what it means to really live!

When we approach people we will be "armed" with a couple tools. First, we'll ask if they have a few minutes to answer some questions on a spiritual survey that we have. The survey includes basic questions concerning their general spiritual "condition" (sounds trite but really isn't). As we move through the survey there are natural points where we can jump into a conversation about becoming a Christ follower. We've got some great tracts which were developed by a colleague from Warsaw that we would love to go through with the people we talk to...but it is ultimately their decision. No matter if they say they'd like to hear what's in the tract or not we will give it to them...along with a very small info sheet about our church, when we meet, etc.

Here's the thing, y'all. Just to be utterly honest with you, this kind of thing scares me. I'm what I call a "learned extrovert"...meaning I can be that when needed, but otherwise I'm more introverted. So, to think about approaching strangers is pretty frightening for me. I also am much more prone to believe that evangelism through relationships is much more effective than such widespread strategies (or door-to-door). But...

People need to hear the Gospel. We won't see new churches, or even small groups, without sharing the Gospel with individuals. We're accustomed to sharing through relationships...but pretty inexperienced when it comes to the widespread thing. So, we invite you to pray with us...that we would be bold and not fear...and that the hearts of those we come in contact with will be open to the Truth.