Visiting people you don't know

[Lonewolf]

How come Christian churches in general "do not" go knocking at people's door?

[Lonewolf]

Wow, nobody wants to throw some input on this question.

Alright., I guess that's why Christianity in my neighborhood is so cold and practically dead.

Everyone waits for a soul to walk into their church so that they can witness to him/her about baptism and salvation.

Good grief

I wonder how all the science of god in the world factors in on all of this Christian type of non-activity

[neo-x]

there are people still doing it, but may be not in your country.

[RickD]

Too many "No Soliciting" signs around here. Also, Jehovah's Witnesses have the door to door market cornered.

Did I tell you that I once had a friend who was on the Jehovah's Witness protection program? He went door to door pretending he was someone else.

[Furstentum Liechtenstein]

How come Christian churches in general "do not" go knocking at people's door?

There is no biblical mandate to do so, so why go and irritate your neighbors?

By all means, spread the gospel! use words if you have to.

FL

[RickD]

Speaking of visiting people you don't know, I like to reminisce with people I don't know.

[1over137]

Well, here for example, churches organize various activities through which they hope to reach people.
Sometimes I find announcements in our mailbox.

[B. W.]

Depends where you are in the USA. In my home town - several church groups went do to door and then send flyers in the mail. When such do this, they are mistaken for Mormons or JW's. There are some locations where Home Owners Associations (HOA) do not permit this due to sales people. June 24, my area was hit with ping pong ball size hail and damaged my home - sure enough the scam roofers came in trying to find easy money so the HOA here in my neighborhood does not have such restrictions. The HOA Board may apply such later which would curtail religious door to door knocking too.

Hope this helps answer your question...

In rural areas, it is not feasible to go door to door as some farms are miles apart!

PS - the Father draws people into the Kingdom...
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[SeekingSanctuary]

Depends where you are in the USA. In my home town - several church groups went do to door and then send flyers in the mail. When such do this, they are mistaken for Mormons or JW's. There are some locations where Home Owners Associations (HOA) do not permit this due to sales people. June 24, my area was hit with ping pong ball size hail and damaged my home - sure enough the scam roofers came in trying to find easy money so the HOA here in my neighborhood does not have such restrictions. The HOA Board may apply such later which would curtail religious door to door knocking too.

Hope this helps answer your question...

In rural areas, it is not feasible to go door to door as some farms are miles apart!

PS - the Father draws people into the Kingdom...
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Agreed about the mistaken identity 100%. Also, annoying people tends to be counter productive.

The rural area thing isn't a good excuse. We have cars now.

I've actually done this before back at my old church once before a VBS (or maybe it was twice). The thing is, it doesn't work. Not one bit. People don't like it when strangers show up at their home to have a conversation about God. Some will be nice and tactful, but typically they already have a church. 21st century isn't much for this kind of thing.

I know a Gideon who's had some success walking up to people on the street or at beaches and stuff, but I don't know how often and I don't know what country they were in at the time. It might be better to do it somewhere they expect a conversation anyway.

[Lonewolf]

What are some examples from the NT which shed light as to how the gospel was spread to all the nations? How was it done, speaking about the missionary journeys and such?

[Lonewolf]

This is the way I see things around me., here in the United States, people are always locked up in their houses., people don't really know who their neighbors are., people don't like to be bothered., it is a very secluded life for the most part., sure, people have their social activities, but for the most part, unless you're a young person, you're already set with your circle of friends and relations., not much more than that.

The only people that come visiting people's doors -in terms of religious interests- are the Jehova Witnesses., sad to say, that since a lot of people are in need of belonging, they are quick to open their doors and hearts to such teaching.

There was a time when my congregation would be very active in the community, and many would come to visit because of the heartfelt interest that they felt from the church., many came for the donations, many came for the activities, and many stayed to learn and worship., those days are gone now., I feel that the community churches have grown cold and very isolated., I feel they have grown accustomed to simply attending service, attending bible classes, maybe participating in an event or two, and relying on someone else to do the witnessing and field work., most members are for supporting missionaries in far off places, but few are for continuing a much needed field work in their neighborhood, or in their immediate locality.

So I wonder, whatever happened to the church being the light of the world? The lamp that is not to be placed under the table? Is the church afraid of being rejected and having the door shut on them?

[B. W.]

...So I wonder, whatever happened to the church being the light of the world? The lamp that is not to be placed under the table? Is the church afraid of being rejected and having the door shut on them?

That is a question with a complex answers and reasons. So here is some food for thought:

-Some Church groups do have outreaches and other do not.

-The face of urbanization has replaced the small town/village/rural fellowship model and tainted the gospel message to be self oriented...

-Fear of man, government infringement upon religious liberties, law suits, ridicule from media and from Christianphobic's.

-Bad teachings in Church, confusion, Christian duty replaced by self justified laziness

-The great falling away maybe occurring and a host more I cannot list all of

Not sure you can place an easy one size fits all answer to the question other than may be fear and not knowing what and how to keep the lamp fired up...
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[Lonewolf]

...So I wonder, whatever happened to the church being the light of the world? The lamp that is not to be placed under the table? Is the church afraid of being rejected and having the door shut on them?

That is a question with a complex answers and reasons. So here is some food for thought:

-Some Church groups do have outreaches and other do not.

-The face of urbanization has replaced the small town/village/rural fellowship model and tainted the gospel message to be self oriented...

-Fear of man, government infringement upon religious liberties, law suits, ridicule from media and from Christianphobic's.

-Bad teachings in Church, confusion, Christian duty replaced by self justified laziness

-The great falling away maybe occurring and a host more I cannot list all of

Not sure you can place an easy one size fits all answer to the question other than may be fear and not knowing what and how to keep the lamp fired up...
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My dear brother in Christ, surely, you speak truthfully.

How sad to think that the church has grown warm, for it is neither hot nor cold, like Laodicea.

Could it be as you pondered ~> a sign of the times ~> the great falling away?

[Philip]

Our church does kindness outreach. We do car washes at very public intersections (say, at a Walgreen's or CVS pharmacy). And we rake lawns.

At our car washes we have roadside signs up: "$1 Car Wash" - and people can't believe we are doing this for just one dollar. And then we really blow their mind my giving THEM a dollar after we finish with their car. While waiting on their car to be washed, we have a shaded, overhead sunshade and offer them cold bottled water, soft drinks and snacks. One or two people will engage them in conversation while they are waiting, telling them briefly about our community church and inviting them to come check us out. We give them a business card that has a map of our church location and worship times. We've had a good many come to our church through this. Sometimes, engaging people at the carwash, people have asked us to pray for them.

We rake yards in the fall that are in proximity to the church - NO charge. These outreaches give us an opportunity to show the love of Christ in a practical manner to those we engage.

Sometimes we'll target restaurants and bring goody bags with practical and useful items for the waiters and waitresses. Some have small gift cards in them. We always include a card about the church. And we always talk to a manager before we do these things.

People are really impressed that a church is not just out trying to raise money, but are showing people a kindness, that we are focused on them and not us. It gives us an opportunity to BE the church. If someone happens to share a burden with us, we ask them if we can discretely pray for them while they are there.

[Lonewolf]

well, we used to go about it a little bit different., since we were all from a neighborhood, and we all had friends in the neighborhood, we would all had invites., sports always have been big with people young and old, so, we had sports., basketball. futbol, volleyball, baseball, softball, running, you name it, we played it., that always attracted young people., and the camps, the summer camps., kids camps, teen camps, young adult camps, grown up camps., going out there in the woods and spending time under the stars., yeah, that always felt good... and then of course we had the visiting of family of friends who visited us, as well as the families of church members... helping out someone with special needs, yeah, we were there., from roofing to clothing, we were there!