Don’t Knock It
Growing up we did alot of door knocking in the churches that I attended. During Bible College and High School, I enjoyed door knocking to some extent but I did not see that we got many results from it. After I got on the mission field, I began to get a bad attitude about door knocking, because it takes alot of work to get any results. I began to think there must be an easier way.
I am all for working smart rather than working hard, but no matter how smart you are there are some things that just take lots of work – like: deputation, church-planting, relationships, and just about anything else that you want to succeed at.
I began to notice that many growing churches were knocking doors, despite all the criticism of those who are against door knocking. In July, my friend Austin Gardner challenged me to try to knock on 25 doors/day. Since that time, Jonathon, Teri, myself, and others from the church have knocked on 3822 doors, an average of only about 39/day. We have passed leaflets through approximately 1836 letterboxs.
You say, “Has it worked?” Let me give you three examples of how it worked. 1) We had a man visit with us two Sundays ago who we met while passing out literature in front of the shopping centre. He is not saved and was back this past Sunday. His wife is thinking about coming to the church as well. 2) We had another lady visit the church yesterday who is saved but searching for a good church to go to. She got our literature through the door a while ago and thought it looked “interesting” so she came. 3) About a month ago, Jonathon and I were knocking doors and met a couple who just moved over from England. They were looking for a Baptist church and were thinking of visiting with us because they saw our literature in the local Christian bookshop. After our visit, they came to the church that next Sunday morning and were back this past Sunday morning.
I will let you decide whether you think we should keep knocking doors or knock it in the head. It may not be the most effective way to help a church grow, and it is surely not the only way. But it is one way, and we are going to continue to do it.
I am so glad you made wrote this entry today. So many people say that the “hard work” you describe doesn’t amount to anything. “Door knocking just doesn’t work in today’s culture!”, they say. I guess you would disagree. Thank you for doing so.
Chris