Garry Poole is a pastor, best-selling author, and church planter. As one of the foremost outreach strategists in the world, Garry is skilled in teaching people how to share their faith effectively. His ministry, OneLife Advisors, helps churches shift their culture, be more proactive about evangelism, and impact their communities for Christ.
Key Questions
-Why are churches in North America struggling so much with evangelism?
-Why is it important to be intentional with evangelism, instead of expecting those conversations to flow naturally?
-Do you sense that people in churches today are more interested or less interested in sharing their faith?
-How can pastors learn how to implement your strategies in their churches?
Key Quotes
“I think our culture is changing, which is making evangelism difficult…people are shrinking back because it’s not politically correct. I think people are afraid of being asked questions that they may not be able to answer. They’re not even sure…how to engage in spiritual conversation.”
“Churches need to develop a very specific evangelism strategy and a very specific evangelism training program and even a coaching program.”
“There are ways to make evangelism such a positive experience for both Christians and non Christians that they are looking forward to having spiritual conversations.”
“We emphasize an approach that’s organic and natural, but at the same time is intentional.”
“One of our mantras is, we’re not willing to ask the congregation to do something we’re not willing to do ourselves first.”
“Who in your sphere of influence is God putting on your heart that you might be able to pray for and maybe begin to develop a friendship [with] and then maybe engage in spiritual conversations?”
“Most Christians don’t have non Christian friendships.”
“One of our quotes is, ‘Seek first to understand before seeking to be understood.’”