By Tim Massengale
Mike took a deep breath and tried to calm the butterflies in his stomach. He was not very good at this but he was determined to try. Holding the soft drink and chips in one hand and the church flyer in the other, he approached the counter at the local Quick-Stop to pay. Smiling, he handed the girl his money and as she rang up his purchase he spoke with only a slight quiver in his voice, “So, Janice, do you go to church anywhere in town?”
She glanced back and smiled slightly. “No, not regularly. Why do you ask?”
“Our church is having a special Endtime Prophecy Crusade and I wanted to invite you to come if you are interested.” Mike handed her the flyer. As she looked at it he explained what the services would be about and when it would start.
She smiled again, and said, “Thanks, I’ll think about it. I just might come.”
Mike smiled as well. “Great! Hope to see you there!” With a small wave, he left the store and returned to his car. As he drove off he grinned and made a quick mental note. “That’s nine so far this week! Way better than last week!” He felt good about himself as he turned the corner toward his house.
Mike was a member of his local church’s Constant Contact Consciousness (CCC) team. They also called themselves the ‘New Life Soul Patrol.’ This was a group of saints that were committed to witnessing and inviting people to church each week. His pastor had launched the ministry several months before after preaching a powerful message on the importance of being a witness. The sermon had really convicted Mike. He had been in church all his life. He loved God and loved living for God. But witnessing was not really his ‘thing.’ Yet he knew he needed to be a witness. But he often went months without even inviting someone to church, much less witnessing. So being on the CCC team looked like a good way to develop a better ‘witnessing habit.’ Since joining the team he was doing much better. He had started out slow – one, maybe two invites a week. But lately he started to get better. He was a lot more ‘consciousness’ of the need to witness. He was beginning to get over his fear and shyness. In truth, he was really enjoying it even though he didn’t think he was all that good at it.
Constant Contact Consciousness
Constant Contact Consciousness means exactly what the name implies: being constantly conscience of the need to contact people for the Lord. It is a simple, yet highly effective method to encourage saints to invite people to church and share their personal testimony if the opportunity presents itself. Personal witnessing is by far the most powerful method of outreach around. It will give a church more home Bible studies, visitors, and prospects than any other ministry.
Giving his personal testimony was the main evangelism tool of the Apostle Paul. Over and over we read of Paul telling of his Damascus road experience. We too must accept the Lord’s commandment to, “witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.”(Acts 22:15) This idea of “life-style evangelism” will only come as we become more conscious of the need to witness and of the opportunities available.
What Are The Benefits?
The Constant Contact Consciousness ministry is an excellent outreach for churches to consider for a whole host of reasons. It is a ministry that any size church – from the very smallest to the very largest – can utilize. It’s a ministry that any person, regardless of their skills or abilities, can be involved in, because all are called to be witnesses. It is a ministry that has no staff limitations. Unlike Sunday School – which only needs so much personnel – the entire church can participate in CCC. It does not require a set night of the week. Your people can witness anywhere, anytime, to anyone. CCC is a much needed reminder to your people each week of their personal evangelism efforts. We all need that! It also provides the church with an incentive to witness, for they like to keep the weekly CCC number high. They can also have a weekly goal to reach for. CCC provides the pastor with a chance to give recognition to those who are witnessing on a consistent basis. Without this type of ministry, the pastor never knows. CCC provides the pastor with a unique “thermometer” of the church’s spiritual condition. When people are on fire for God, they witness. As the fire dies, so does their zeal to tell others. CCC also provides the church with many visitors and home Bible studies, for witnessing is the first step to getting both of these. And finally, involvement in CCC builds strong, overcoming Christians. A long-time alcoholic, who had been totally changed by his experience with Jesus Christ, was once asked, “How do you do it, Carl? How do you stay off the bottle and faithful to God?” To which he replied, “I just keep giving my testimony for Jesus. I can’t backslide while I’m giving testimony for Jesus.” And they overcame by . . . the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11).
How the Ministry Works
The ministry of Constant Contact Consciousness is really quite simple. Start the ministry by having your CCC slips printed (see sample provided) and handing one out to all church members on a major service night. Quickly explain the benefits of CCCC and how the ministry works. Key points to make are:
• Involvement in C.C.C. does not mean you are committing to witness to a certain number each week, but you are simply committing to fill out a CCC slip each week – whether you have witnessed to anyone or not.
• No one will ever say anything to you if you failed to witness that week. This is entirely between you and God. Only you can say if you had the opportunity to witness or not.
• A contact can be as simple as inviting someone to church and handing them a church card. However, whenever the opportunity presents itself we should endeavor to share more. This might be: how you came to the Lord, how you received the Holy Ghost, past healings, how you were delivered from drugs or alcohol, the joy and peace of serving God, or anything the Lord has done for you or shown you in His Word.
• It does not need to be a long, drawn-out time of study or discussion. A contact can take less than one minute.
• You can witness to the same people week after week, and still count them each time. This is an important point. You will probably witness 3 or 4 times to someone before you get them to come to church with you. Perhaps twice those many before you get a home Bible study. Each time you talk to them, a little more seed is planted.
• The CCC coordinator will give each person involved a slip each Sunday morning. You will fill it out and hand it right back or drop it in the offering plate or in another designated location.
• No record is kept of how many contacts a person has made – only whether they turned in their slip. It is important that you are faithful. The total contacts for the church will then be posted each week.
• CCC is simply a weekly reminder for you of your personal witnessing. We all need that! We cannot afford to allow week after week to pass without talking to someone about the Lord!
• Realize that more doors will now open and more opportunities to witness will become available. Now that the Lord knows you are serious about being a soul winner, He will be continually sending people into your path to talk to.
After CCC. has been explained and the burden presented (this is best done during an anointed message on the need to reach the lost), you should ask those who wish to be involved to stand or come forward. These names are recorded.
Each Sunday morning, the CCC coordinator will personally hand a slip to each person committed to involvement. It is important that the slips are passed out by hand. Those involved should fill it out and hand it right back or drop it in the offering plate – even if they witnessed to no one. (Suggestion: we have found that recruiting a 10 to 12-year old young person works great! Offer them a small weekly reward – like mini-candy bar – when they finish. They will be faithful to a fault!)
The pastor should take note of the total each week (or month) and comment on it regularly. Something like: “If you are a part of our CCC team, stand up! Folks, give these people a good round of applause. They make 414 contacts this past month! Great job! I’m proud of you!”
As often as possible ask people to testify that have a good witnessing story to share. Afterwards, stress the importance of being a witness and how we all need to be reminded regularly. Then ask if anyone wants to join the CCC team by a raised hand. Add those names to the CCC team list.
In Conclusion
To have a “constant contact consciousness” should be the goal of every Child of God. Unfortunately, most of us let weeks or even months go by without talking to a single soul about the Lord or inviting someone to church. It is time that we face up to the fact that millions will continue to die in their sins unless we wake up to those that we meet every day. Evangelism should be planned and spontaneous both – planned by the various outreach ministries of the church and spontaneous by the personal evangelism of every believer. The average person meets at least thirty different people every day. Someone must tell them the Good News and inform them of Christ’s soon coming. Who if not us? When if not now? Where if not here? What ministry if not this ministry of personal evangelism: Constant Contact Consciousness!
