Evangelism - From the Outside In and the Inside Out
Sep 30, 2025
By: Rev. J. Elise Brown, Ph.D. - Chief of Staff
If your congregation is anything like many others in the Metropolitan New York Synod, you have seen the neighborhood around your church change.You have watched the number of people coming to your worship services and activities dwindle.You might be thinking people aren’t interested in church anymore.You might believe there is nothing you can do to change the downward slide your congregation is experiencing.
You are not alone. A dramatic shift has been occurring in American culture for some time now. “Organized” religion and people’s interest in being part of religious institutions has changed and diminished.Religious institutions have let people down, causing them to walk away from the church.
These are realities of our times. But they don’t have to have the last word.
It is never too late to revisit what it means to be a community of witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.It is never too late to lay claim to the hope we have in Christ.It is never too late to believe your community of faith can grow (spiritually and numerically), becoming more outward-facing, hospitable and welcoming to newcomers.
As Bishop Foster begins her term with us, in many ways she has gone “back to the basics” of church life - Evangelism, Discipleship and Financial Stewardship.
While those might be old, familiar words to you, they are not old, dusty faith practices.These are living faith practices that are reflected in growing faith communities energized and invested in their neighborhoods who haven’t lost hope in being bold witnesses to Jesus.
Here are a few things for you and your congregation to consider:
Looking from the Outside-In:
- What does the exterior of your building and surrounding property communicate to the neighborhood about your church?Does it reflect life and energy?Or does it look old and neglected?
- Is it easy for a newcomer to locate the time of your worship services?The front door of your church?Do they have to walk around the building trying every door before they find one open that they can enter?
- What does your website communicate? Does it show faces of people engaged joyfully in ministry?Or is the homepage outdated and the calendar full of events that have long-since passed?
You may have become accustomed to how your church looks from the outside because you have been there for a long time. It’s time to look at it with new eyes.
What people see on the outside has an impact on what they believe is happening on the inside.
Looking from the Inside-Out:
- Once a newcomer has mustered the courage to come into an event at your church, what is their experience when they arrive?Are they met by a warm, authentic (not overly zealous), welcoming presence?Or do they encounter closed circles where conversations are happening between people who have known each other for a long time?
- When they are handed a service bulletin, will they be able to find something happening during the week that interests them? Will they feel compelled to come back?
- Does a newcomer feel invisible…or seen? Is there a warmth that draws them into an authentic feeling of “I belong here.”
- Do they hear a word of hope, about the transforming love of Jesus? Do they walk away with something they can hold onto, something that enlivens faith for them?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, ask someone who has never come to your church to pay a visit on a random Sunday. Ask them to share their experience of being a newcomer, a stranger, in your church. You might learn things you did not know before.
Sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics.
And remember, “with God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).