There are five steps in the outreach process. After we have introduced the topic of outreach in our first lesson, by answering several questions about it, we will go on in the following lessons to discuss each of the five steps in turn.

Introducing Outreach

In this lesson we consider some questions about "Outreach" and introduce the first step in the outreach process,  the "Opening".

1 What is Outreach?

2 When Should Outreach Begin?

The only right time for a church to begin outreach, is when that church comes into being (in the above case, Sunday 3rd August 1980). There has never been any excuse to delay outreach. A church should, from the outset, have been "redeeming the time" (Eph 5:16). In so far as we may have neglected this, we have neglected to "walk in wisdom towards those who are outsiders, redeeming the time" (Col 4:5).

The Bible says, "Behold, now is the day of salvation" (2Co 6:2). Jesus reminds us to work for "the night is coming in which no man can work" (Jhn 9:4).

Of course, even if the church you belong to isn't beginning outreach when it should, that doesn't mean you personally have to wait. As these lessons on "Outreach" will show, it is essentially a personal responsibility and activity.

3 What is the Best Method of Outreach?

Some of the things listed have a place in our outreach program, and we may use them in special efforts from time to time. But the really effective and day-to-day method of outreach —the one most available to us, and the essential method— is personal evangelism. If we don't do that, we won't do outreach.

4 "Go ye" Means "Go me"

Each person needs to feel that Jesus meant him or her personally when he said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel..." (Mrk 16:15-16). All the answers above are right, but the last answer is where our focus should be.

As Ivan Stewart, director of Campaigns for Christ, stated it in Melbourne, "Go ye means go me!" Brother Stewart's campaigns were of the mass impact variety. Yet he emphasised the need for every Christian to be individually and personally committed to his or her own outreach responsibility.

5 How Do I Start?

All the things in the above list might be helpful, but only two are needful.

• One is an awareness of the opportunities and openings that come our way to say a word for Jesus. Jesus said, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white unto harvest" (Jhn 4:35).
• The other is the desire to share with others what Jesus has given you, and such a strong desire that you are always inviting people to share the blessing of salvation through the word. Paul said, "I am under a compulsion. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel" (1Co 9:16).