Imagine a patient sitting before a physician complaining of symptoms like headache, vomiting, diarrhea, night sweats, bitterness in mouth and also appears icteric on examination. The physician after investigations diagnoses patient of malaria but leaves them to go without intervening with any medication and counselling, what do you think will happen in some few days to this patient?
In our church setting today we have so many souls being recorded after crusades and rallies as souls won or new converts or backsliders won back and often times we end at the recording. We don’t see any increase or growth in church number and strength and other religions keep increasing percentage wise as the day goes by. This shouldn’t be the case!
Evangelism is so expensive that we can’t end at records alone but we have to do better in FOLLOW-UP of our souls won. Follow-up is the care and attention given to new converts and backsliders won back from their time salvation to their consistency or commitment in Church. Yes! It deals with ensuring they get consistent with church activities and new convert class (NCC) or discipleship will continue afterwards.
If we don’t get this right we may rush people into NCC and they will soon leave and we won’t understand. It is good to pray for a new won soul but don’t leave their coming to church to the Holy Spirit. TAKE AN ACTION.
1. Follow-up begins the day the person gets saved. Thus, on the day of accepting Christ we consciously start to follow-up on them. Provided it is a rally or crusade be with them during the altar call and pray with them.
2. Collect every needed and available information which will make locating them easier including their name-if they have an alias take it as well, contact, residence-get any available landmark.
3. After praying for them in your closet, text them or call them within 6 hours of interaction if appropriate or early the next morning to thank them for their wonderful decision and encourage them in their walk with the Lord.
4. Have a day to meet them at least once a week if possible. If not possible due to location issues you can hand them over to the nearest church but still keep in touch with them via calls or text. Your first meeting with them shouldn’t be to preach to them but to get to know them and their backgrounds as well as why they decided to take this step now. When you build a comfortable environment around them getting them to church wouldn’t be an issue at all.
5. Pray with them and pray for them intentionally as well as studying the word with them.
6. Invite them to church after explaining to them the need for enjoying fellowship in Christ for the believer.
7. Attend to their needs if you have the resources and do your best to solicit for help for them if you are not in the capacity to do so. Maybe one dress or shoe you give them can do all the trick.
8. Be conscious of genders in follow-up in order not to throw any misleading signals for the new believer. Be strategic in your visits knowing what you’re going to do there any time you go there.
9. Sometimes go with a gift. It can be a biscuit or drink but they will mean a lot to the person.
10. Go with the passion for fruits. Know that all you’re doing is for Jesus (Col. 3:23).
11. It’s better we follow-up on as few souls as possible in order to be more effective and make maximum impact. About 5 at a time is fine. Maybe you won the soul but occupied with other souls in that moment, hand over to faithful workers to continue.
To conclude, Rom. 6:17-18 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness.” (ESV).
The true way the new believer though saved from the power of sin and death can really overcome sin is to be obedient to teachings they’re committed to in church which is attained through follow-up after we record souls won. It is work, actually a hard work but with intentionality and prayer we will change the statistics and the evangelism we do will really be fruitful. Amen.
Written by:
Dcn. Sylvester Arhin Offen
Evangelism Secretary, PENSA PU
