It is commonly believed that as people age their hearts are less open to the gospel. Even though most conversions occur during youth, adult men and women can also make decisions after their teen years. Every soul saved is a miracle and in no way should we ever diminish the importance of a childhood conversion but we should not avoid seeking the conversion of adults.
Sometimes adults can be reached through their children. Conducting activities geared toward young people is an important aspect of starting a church. Adults are needed to support the church and to serve in leadership roles. It is crucial to reach adults in the early part of a new church. Though a difficult task, it is possible to reach them. One of the difficulties of reaching adults is during the week they are at work all day and when they return home from work they are busy preparing and eating dinner. If they have children they may be helping them with homework or spending time with them. That leaves Saturday as a better day to go soul-winning in order to find more people home. Even then it is difficult to find people and reaching adults is a difficult task.
One way to find people during the work-week is to visit them at work. Business owners will usually give you a tour of their business and some businesses will allow you to visit their laborers during the work-day. By going to your town hall or county seat you can find excuses to meet people and get to know key people. The president of the bank and the chief loan officer will be happy to meet with you and becoming acquainted with these people can pay great dividends in the future.
In addition, in some parts of the county people work second shift jobs and if you can find out their hours you may find them at home during the day. Doctors, nurses, firemen, police officers and EMT’s likewise work odd hours and often they are available in the mornings or afternoons. Another suggestion is to talk to people who are shopping, walking or working out. Also, there are some individuals that are off on Monday rather than Saturday which give you an opportunity to visit them during the day. And of course, individuals who are retired are flexible most of the time to entertain a visit.
Staring a church is similar to starting a bus route. Visiting new people weekly and developing a relationship with them will pay great dividends. You may be able to develop a Bible study during the day with some of these people and develop an even closer relationship with them. It is difficult to reach adults if you simply go out for two hours per week while they are at work, just getting home from work or busying themselves during the week-end to get things caught up.
It is not easy to win adults to the Lord, get them baptized and teach them basic discipleship. Don’t underestimate the power to reach adults if you make it a point of emphasis. You tend to get what you go after and if you don’t go after adults you won’t get them.
Gear your ministry to reaching adults. If you have adults you will have leaders and givers to support the church. If you only have children with no parents it will take many years to solidify the church. Reaching adults directly or through their children is necessary if the church is to become strong.
