Easy Outreach Ideas for Valentine's Day

[Ann Dunagan]

 

Valentine's Day is a GREAT time of the year to share the love of Jesus, and it's a great time for those of us who are mission-minded believers to motivate and help others to begin reaching out. A simple "planned" outreach can help other Christians (including those who have never done any type of evangelism or outreach) to break-out of their comfort zones and to begin sharing their faith.

 

It doesn't have to be difficult. With a little effort, we can provide a simple and easy "touch-point" to encourage others to begin to reach non-believers with God's love. And Valentine's Day is a great time to start!!!

 

Just today, a group from our home church (including kids, youth, and adults -- led by our newlywed son and our new daughter) gathered together in our church parking lot. After prayer, donuts, and a brief encouragement, we divided into three teams. Two groups went door-to-door with brooms, garbage sacks, Valentine's Day cards and church invitations, simply knocking on doors and saying something like:

 

"Hi! We're here in your neighborhood with a group of friends from our church, doing random acts of kindness. Today, we're sweeping and picking up garbage, and we just wanted to let you know that JESUS LOVES YOU . . . " concluding with a quick invitation to church. 

 

Over the past few weeks, our group (ranging in size each week from 5 to 18 people) has been able to reach hundreds of homes and many individuals. We've prayed for people, shared the Gospel, and invited many people to church.

 

Today, a third group of us went to several grocery store parking lots, a laundry mat, and onto the streets in our downtown area, with Hershey kisses, Valentine's notes, and church invitations . . . and specifically went up to LADIES to tell them:

 

"Happy Valentine's Day. We just wanted you to know that YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL & God loves you so much!!!"

 

Reaching out for Jesus doesn't need to be hard. It should be a regular part of our daily life, but most Christians NEVER share their faith. As missional believers, we can help that to change. We need to take leadership and to take our faith OUTSIDE of our churches -- with the Gospel, sprinkled with kindness and thoughtfulness -- and begin making forward and outward movement for God's Kingdom.

 

Here is a simple YouTube video (by Steve Sjogren) about very doable ideas for your church or your family -- for sharing the love of Jesus on Valentine's Day.

 

[Darin Hamm]

Thanks for sharing. Great ideas.

[James Nored]

Ann, it may be that the young adult that you prayed for may come to faith one day, and your act of kindness may be #7 in a line of 20 that touches her heart.

[Ann Dunagan]

Amen!!! -- We had some good one-on-one times of sharing with people today. Most were very thankful and felt blessed. One young adult girl was so hard and mad. She didn't want anything to do with God, or with us . . . but we still told her that God has real and that He loved her, and after she drove away, we prayed for her. We'll never know all that will happen as we plant or water seeds for God; the end results are up to Him.

[James Nored]

Thanks, Ann, for the outreach idea! We should take advantage of every opportunity that we have to reach out to others with the love of Christ. I love Steve Sjogren!