As usual, the current issue of Modern Reformation has good stuff inside. Of note, Michael Horton's interview of Rico Tice: "Using the Gospel to Share the Gospel." He is the associate minister at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London, and has developed the Christianity Explored evangelistic study.
Here's a good excerpt. They talk about using this particular evangelistic study, but even more they talk about where to use it. Folks in my tradition could use some of these ideas.
Horton: ...how do we—practically speaking—reach the lost? How does the Christianity Explored course try to do what perhaps we have not done as effectively in our own churches and in our own personal practice?
Tice: Well, two things. The ultimate aim of this course is that you help lead the course with your pastor in charge of evangelism. You become a helper to answer people’s questions and to befriend them. And as you do the course and teach Mark’s Gospel, and teach the identity, the mission, the call of Jesus, you become equipped to open Mark’s Gospel yourself. So that’s the first way in which it reaches people.The second way it reaches people is that you just ask your non-Christian friend to come along. And the key thing you say is, “You know what? We’re not taking anything for granted on this course. You can just come and ask any question you want.” So they feel that they can come into an environment….By the way, don’t necessarily run this in a church. Run it in a home, run it in a hotel, run it in a place where you know your friend will feel secure because it’s on his or her territory.
Horton: We’ve talked about pubs. Inviting people to …
Tice: Absolutely. I have a friend back in England who ran Beer and Bible. And as they arrived in the door he gave them a bottle of beer! It was a men’s evening, and they’d come and they’d just look at the gospel together.
Horton: That’s great. And instead of trying to turn the church service into something that is neither feeding the sheep nor reaching the lost, this allows you to do on the Lord’s Day what should be done on the Lord’s Day with the people of God, and yet reach out on other occasions to bring people to an earshot of the gospel on their turf.