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Winning People Long Term - Articles | Preachit.org

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Winning People Long Term

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Most pastors would sacrifice everything they have to know a sure way of winning people long term. The truth is, most of us have personally won very few people that are still with us to this day. I have looked around my church recently, and I could find only two men in our church that I have been personally involved in winning to the Lord.

Winning these men actually began about four years ago. When I say long term, I am talking about a period of time of at least two years, preferably more. During that time I have been a witness to many more people than these two. I have baptized many more than that. I have taught bible studies to dozens of people. Many have received the Holy Ghost. Yet there are only two that have stayed in the church long term. Why only two? Why not more? Is there something wrong with me and my approach? How can I improve in this area? They say that hindsight is 20/20. During this article I want to go back in time to see what it was that worked, and what it was that didn’t work.

The first thing that I can say without a doubt is that you must have a passion and a love for people. If you don’t, they are going to sense that within a very short amount of time, and they will be gone. We must understand that it can be a very lonely time when somebody comes into the church. They are often leaving behind most of everything that they know and love. The Bible says…

Luke 14:26

26 “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters — yes, even one’s own self! — can’t be my disciple.

Luke 14:33

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

If the love and the companionship of these relationships are not replaced when they come to Christ, they will probably not make it on their own. The second greatest of all commandments is “to love your neighbor as yourself.” People need to know that they are loved. People need to have friends. You will only win people long term if you become their friend long term. You can be friendly to a lot of people, but you can only be true friends with a few. Understand that you are not going to be able to personally win hundreds of people long term. You may witness to hundreds, you may baptize hundreds, and pray hundreds through to the Holy Ghost. Yet to win them long term though, will take one on one time with them, teaching, mentoring, leading, and sharing over a period of a few years. There is no way you can do that with large groups of people. That is why it is so important to get your whole church involved in the discipleship process.

It is an awesome thing to see somebody experience the Gospel in their lives for the very first time. There is an undeniable joy of the Lord that immediately comes over them. I have personally witnessed many have this experience only to see them disappear from the pews within a few weeks or months. What happened? I can almost guarantee you that nobody connected with them in friendship. Nobody pulled them into their circle of friends. Nobody was there to replace that love of friends and family. Are we really winning people to God if we can’t get them to continue in the faith longer than a few weeks or months?

John 8:31

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

If we can’t then they are not His disciples. We must find a way to get them to continue on. The only way that I have found to get people to continue is to become their friend! Love them. Care for them. Be there for them. Spend time together. Have dinner together. You must be able to speak into their lives by becoming a living testimony in front of them. To accomplish this successfully you must have a connection with them. To have a connection, you must have common interests. You have to learn to become interested in their interests. Find out what they are interested in and make that your interest. If that is not working then connect them with somebody in your church who has similar interests. That is why group meetings have done so well. People of similar interests begin to establish friendships with one another in small groups settings.

Friendship is what worked for me. That is also what worked for Jesus. True friendship is what I am talking about. That means you show them trust and love and respect. Show them that you believe in them. Show them that you genuinely care for them. The people that I befriended are the ones that are still here. It is going to take up some of your time to have true friendship. I have found that if you can sacrifice one night or one afternoon a week to spend time with a new convert and/or their family, chances are you will win that person long term. They will become a disciple of Christ! You will have to sacrifice some of the things that are close to you to win people to the Lord. You may have to give up some of your fishing time, some of your golfing time, or some of your shopping time. If you can’t do that then at the very least invite them to go along with you. Are you willing? They are waiting.