Multiplying Through Viral Evangelism!

Trainers

Pablo Cachon George Klippenes

www.efcastartchurches.org

www.nuevavidacv.com

QUESTION

• How does the gospel spread?

Interaction

• How did you come to Christ?

Viral Spread

Internet: Accelerated

Early Church Question

• How did an obscure, marginal Jesus cult become the dominant religious force in the western world in just a few centuries?

Early Church Growth

• In the first year after Christ’s death, the number of disciples went from 120 to 20,000 in a city of 55,000-100,000 (Jerusalem).

• 20-40% City Population

Key Scriptures

• Acts 1:15- 120 (core group)• Acts 2:41- 3,000 (public launch)• Acts 2:47- Lord Added Daily• Acts 4:4- 5,000 Men• Acts 6:7- Increased rapidly, large # Priests• Acts 11:26- Taught many people• Acts 12:24- Continued to increase & spread• Acts 17:6- Turned world upside down• Acts 19:20- Spread widely & grew in power• Acts 21:20- Many thousands of Jews

Conversion Growth Rate: 40%

Mormon: 43% China : 40% CP Movements: 40%

• Evangelical: 3%• Existing EFCA: 7%• Students: 14%• Plants: 13%

Common Explanations

Miracles

• Christianity did not grow because of miracle working the marketplaces (although there may have been much of that going on), or because Constantine said it should, or even because the martyrs gave it such credibility.

– Rodney Stark

Mass Conversions

Early Christian missionaries were so empowered by the “divine spirit” that at the first hearing whole multitudes in a body eagerly embraced in their souls piety towards the Creator of the universe.

Bible in corn field theory Apostles + Bible + Spirit + Easy Pagans = Mass

Conversions

Doctrine

• Mass conversions … assumes that doctrinal appeal lies at the heart of the conversion process—that people hear the message, find it attractive and embrace the faith. But modern social science relegates doctrine to a very secondary role, claiming that most people do not really become very attached to the doctrines of their new faith until after their conversion. Stark p. 14

Real Reason

Viral Spread

• It grew because Christians constituted an intense community, able to generate the “invincible obstinacy” that so offended the younger Pliny but yielded immense religious rewards. … And the primary means of its growth was through the united and motivated efforts of the growing numbers of Christian believers, who invited their friends, relatives, and neighbors to share the “good news.”

Social Networking: John 1

Oikos Evangelism

• The basic thrust of the New Testament evangelism was not individual evangelism, it was not mass evangelism; and it was definitely not child evangelism.

• The normative pattern of evangelism in the early church was OIKOS EVANGELISM. (Tom Wolf)

Household Evangelism

• We are quite right in stressing the centrality of the (oikos) household to Christian advance.

• Christian missionaries made a deliberate point of gaining whatever households they could as lighthouses, so to speak, from which the gospel could illuminate the surrounding darkness.

Gospel Examples

• Demon Possessed Man: Mark 5:19

• Zacchaeus: Luke 19:9

• Royal Official: John 4:53

• Matthew: Mark 2: 14-15

• John 4: Women at Well

Acts & Epistles Examples

• Acts 10: Cornelius• Acts 16: Lydia• Acts 16: Jailer

• Romans 16:5• I Cor. 16:19• Col. 4:15• Philemon 1:2

Sociology of Conversion

Three Universals

FamilyCommunity

Tribe: Interest

• Transcultural• Transhistorical

1. Belong to family2. Live in neighborhood3. Join a tribe

Early Converts: Islam

1. Wife: Khadijah 2. Cousin: Ali

3. Servant: Zeyd 4. Old Friend: Abu Bakr

Muhammad

Early Converts: Mormons

1. Brother: Hyrum 2. Brother: Samuel

3. Friend: Oliver Cowdery

4. Friend: David & Peter Whitmer

Joseph Smith

Early Converts: Jesus

CousinsJohn & James & Judas(son)

Mathew & James Business PartnersJohn & James

Peter & Andrew

BethsaidaPeter & Andrew

Phillip & Nathaniel

No ConnectionThomas

Simon the ZealotJudas Iscariot (Non-Galilean)

Jesus

What about today?

Today: 90%

• Andy Stanley & Ed Young• Super Pastors• Megachurches• Awesome Worship

• More than 90% of the adults we baptize came at the invitation of a friend.

Arn Study: 90%

2% 3%

6%

2%

5%

1%

3%

90%

• Special Need: 1-2%• Walk-In: 2-3%• Visitation: 1-2%• Pastor: 5-6%• Crusade: .05%• Sunday School: 4-5%• Church Program: 2-3%

• Friend Invited: 75-90%

Crusade Evangelism: 3-7%

• Campus Crusade:– “I found it”– Conversions: Thousands+

+– Church Incorporation: 3%

• Seattle BG Crusade– Attendance: 434,100– Conversions: 18,136– Church Incorporation: 7%

Recent Convert Study: 71%

• A caring Christian friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member, is the single most important factor in seeing a person come to a living faith in Christ.

UNCHURCHED 2007

35

Unchurched Study Summary

1. Don’t like us Get on nerves:

44% Hypocrites: 72%

2. Confused about God

36

I have at least one close friend who considers himself or herself a Christian: 89%

82%

4%6% 7%0%

20%40%60%80%

100%

StronglyDisagree

SomewhatDisagree

SomewhatAgree

StronglyAgree

37

53%

9%13% 25%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

StronglyDisagree

SomewhatDisagree

SomewhatAgree

StronglyAgree

I would enjoy an honest conversation with a friend about religious and spiritual beliefs

even if we disagree: 88%

Master’s Plan

Viral Spread

WHY?

Why is the viral spread of the gospel through social networks so effective?

1. Trust Factor

Skeptical Age

76%of consumers don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisments. Yankelowich

Major Exception

THERE IS STILL ONE TRUSTED MEDIUMLEFT IN THE WORLD

MY FRIENDS – THEIR FRIENDS – AND ALL THOSE WE COLLECTIVELY RESPECT

Natural Sharing

• The early church was not encumbered with the wholly unnatural (unnatural then and unnatural now) experience of forced evangelism; going reluctantly, flinchingly and embarrassingly door to door to encounter people they did not know, to explain a message which the first time often did not make sense, to an audience totally uninterested or unfriendly.

Mormon Evangelism

Cold Turkey: 1:1,000

Home: 1:2

2. Transformation Factor

Transformation

• The early church spread through oikos evangelism - evangelizing family members who saw the old sinner become the new saint; sharing with the neighbor who questioned how such a difference had come over his old friend, and reaching the guys in the local trade union or the oikos that played tennis together.

Fragrance

• In the early church, it was the restoration of balance, the restitution of wrongs, and the fragrance of an enchanting new life that drew so many to the fledgling oikos of God.

• II Cor. 2:15 “Aroma of Christ”

Transformation Is Key

• If oikos evangelism is God's key to the natural and rapid spread of the Good News, … then life transformation is the key to oikos penetration and persuasion.

3. Time Factor

Engles Scale: Process

A. Paul’s Conversion

B. Peter’s Conversion

Jn. 1: Andrew Introduces Mark 5: Discovery Mt. 16:16- Christ declaration Mt. 16:18- Rock Mt. 16:23- Satan Mt. 26:33- Never deny Mt. 26:70- Don’t know him Jn. 21: Love me? Acts 4: Sanhedrin Acts 10: Cornelius (Unclean) Acts 11: Jerusalem church Acts 15: Council (Grace) Galatians 2: Hypocrisy

Takes Time: 86%

One Time Several Months Several Years0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

14%

32%

54%

Vision New England: Recent Convert Study

Trust Network

Buddy Family

Neighbor

Co-worker

You

The End

Key Books