As mentioned in last Friday’s further study section, twelve months is a good length of time to plan ahead. Depending on what witnessing and evangelism program you are planning, specific time frames will vary with different goal strategies and priorities. However, there are some general points to consider.

1. Document what you aim to achieve throughout these next twelve months. Specify desires in terms of people and discipleship, not just the completion of programs.
2. Write out a procedural time line. This can be as detailed as you like, but make sure that it is not too brief. It should include major training times, program start and finish dates, and set evaluation times.
3. As you document major stages of the program, make sure that you also specify which individuals or teams are responsible at those times.
4. Document how your program strategies integrate with the overall witnessing and evangelism program of the church. Specify where and how other church strategies will support yours and where yours will strengthen those of the church. This will help you to remember both that you are a part of a larger team and the need to work together.
5. Seriously consider if your program will be ongoing or if it will be repeated the next church year. This will help you determine what ongoing training of recruitment will need to be undertaken. If your program is a developing ministry, each evaluation session will also need to have a forward-looking time.

Discussion Questions:

   The following statements reveal that God has expectations of every believer and that He has appointed a work for each one. What do you think God expects of His church regarding the equipment of and the organization of their involvement in witnessing and soul winning? What can a church do to help members understand the expectations of God? As you dwell on the quotes below, ask yourself, How do they apply to you, personally?

“God expects personal service from everyone to whom He has entrusted a knowledge of the truth for this time. Not all can go as missionaries to foreign lands, but all can be home missionaries in their families and neighborhoods.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 30.

“To everyone who becomes a partaker of His grace, the Lord appoints a work for others. Individually we are to stand in our lot, saying, ‘Here am I; send me.’”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 222.

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