Follow-Up in Open-Air Evangelism
Picture the scene: you are having a great gospel conversation with someone on the street. They hear the gospel and respond to the good news, but then they reveal they don’t live in your area; perhaps they live overseas. How can you follow up with that person to ensure they continue in their walk with Christ?
I’ve thought much about situations like this since I started in open-air evangelism twenty years ago. We meet so many people from numerous locations that it is impossible to follow up with every single person. In my current situation, I regularly evangelise in Southampton, which is a hub for cruise ships. Weekly, we have people from all around the world visit the city, and while here they encounter the good news. It is impossible for us to follow up with every single person. So, what can we do?
Before answering that question, it may help for me to define my terms; what do I mean by ‘follow-up’? This is a term that refers to the ongoing discipleship and care of a person who has heard the gospel or has professed faith in the Lord Jesus. For instance, if you attend a large evangelistic meeting, when the Evangelist calls for a response, people move forward, but as they do, a whole system of follow-up swings into gear. Workers take the names and contact details of those responding, then they will give each person a pack containing basic discipleship material. After the event, someone will contact the person who professed faith to connect them with a local church. The hope is that by doing this, the person who responded will join a local fellowship and grow in Christ.
I think the process of follow-up is vitally important, but how can we do this when it comes to open-air evangelism? The nature of open-air work is that it is in an uncontrolled environment, with people from all around the world. How can we follow up with the people we meet on the streets?
Over the years, these questions have been asked of me more times than I can count. Generally, the question comes from a well-meaning Christian who is concerned for those we meet on the street, although sometimes it can come from someone who is seeking to throw a bucket of cold water on open-air work. No matter the motive, the question is one we need to consider and answer.
Before telling you how I answer the question, let’s look at the Scripture to see if God’s Word gives us any guidance on what we should do. In Acts 8:26-40, we read the account of Philip the Evangelist being directed to go to a road that heads south from Jerusalem to Gaza, which was in the desert (v26). Before this, Philip has been engaged in a successful evangelistic mission in Samaria (Acts 8:4-13), but now the Lord redeploys him to a deserted place so that an Ethiopian man can hear the good news (v27). When Philip meets this man, he notices that the Ethiopian is reading from the Book of Isaiah (v30). Taking the opportunity, Philip uses this Scripture to proclaim Jesus (v35).
How does the Ethiopian respond? Acts 8:36-38 tells us he believed and was baptised. He has been converted. But how does Philip follow up with this man?
According to v39-40, Philip isn’t given a chance to follow up; he doesn’t have time to write down the name and contact details of the new convert, nor give him a ‘new Christian’ pack. He doesn’t even have the time to point him to a local church or promise to contact him through the week. Before Philip can do anything, the Spirit of the Lord took him away. God actively prevented Philip from engaging in what we would term, ‘follow-up.’
Evangelism took place, a man was converted, but then Philip is gone. Yet, this doesn’t mean the Ethiopian is left without any means to grow in his knowledge of Jesus. Follow-up is primarily about helping people grow in Christ; so, how can this Ethiopian grow in Jesus? The answer is found in Acts 8:28.
This new convert had all that was needed to grow in Christ as he had the Scripture. We are told in v28 that he was reading God’s Word when Philip approached him. He had what is needed to grow him and equip him (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The minimum level of follow-up that we should use is making sure the person we’ve witnessed to has access to the Word of God. After we have gone, the Holy Spirit will use the Scripture to grow the new believer.
When it comes to open-air evangelism, we learn much from Philip. Sometimes we can become so worried about follow-up that we are crippled in our evangelistic endeavours. Instead, we should seek to share the good news, then get the Word of God into the hands of the people we’ve spoken with.
Let me share how I ‘follow-up’ people on the street. If someone I’ve spoken with professes faith in Christ, or if they want to find out more, at a minimum, I will give them a copy of John’s Gospel. I want them to have the Scripture. Sometimes, I will give them a New Testament or a Full Bible (if I have any on me). The goal is always to get the Bible to those who are new in Jesus or want to find out more.
I’ll also try to give the person an in-depth gospel tract or a booklet designed for new believers. If I can, I will give them the contact details for a local church, and I will take the contact details of the person I’m speaking with, and then pass them on to a Pastor, asking him to contact the person I’ve spoken with.
But what if the person is in an area where there is no biblical church, what do I do then? In those cases, I will recommend they visit a website such as Grace to You so they can listen to the online Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I will also point them to the contact details on the back of the tracts from The Open-Air Mission so they can request Bible study material. With the technology we have today, there is no excuse for not getting good resources into the hands of the people we meet.
Follow-up doesn’t have to be an eight-week discipleship course (although these are good!); it can simply be leaving a person with God’s Word. Don’t let the issue of follow-up stop your witness; instead, look at Philip and see what he did.
To assist in follow-up, the following resources are helpful:
John’s Gospel
The Pocket Testament League (UK, USA, Australia)
Books for New Believers
Save Yourself Some Pain (UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand)
Online Bible Teaching
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