Practical Ways to Fish for Souls Let’s Go Fishing Practical Ways to Fish for Souls

Outline Why Fish? Where is Your Fishing Spot? Fishing for Souls w/Bible Studies Cleaning Caught Fish (Discipleship) Fishing Tools for You to Use Joys of Fishing

Why Fish? “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” –Matt.4:19 “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.’ So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.”—Luke 5:10-11

Why Fish? “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age .”—Matt 28:18-20 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” –Mark 16:15 “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” –Luke 24:47

Why Fish? “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” –Luke 15:10 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” –Proverbs 11:30 “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” –Corinthians 5:14-15

But Can I Fish…?

Where Is Your Fishing Spot?

Fishing Spots for All Praying for the lost 5 day clubs in neighborhood After school programs in public school Bible studies with friends/younger kids in neighborhood Baby-sit kids in neighborhood Faith-based mentoring programs for lost underprivileged kids Invite others to youth group Make your house the ‘hanging’ place for those in your neighborhood

Fishing Spots for All Keep track of the widows in your neighborhood Neighborhood cookouts Visit nursing homes and hospitals Reach out to those on sports teams Have lost people over for ice cream at any point. Grab some Starbucks with a lost person to check up on them.

Fishing Spots for Christian School Students All of the previous Don’t assume that your classmates are all really saved. Lots go to ‘church’ and youth group but don’t really understand the gospel. Have Bible studies at your house on the weekends along with food and chill time. Find the lost and lonely at school, become their friends, and care for their hearts. Lost neighbors, teammates. Lunchtime Bible studies with guest speakers or student led studies

Fishing Spots for Public School Students Most likely you are one of the very few believers…sweetness. Reach out to foreign exchange students in your school Find the loner in every class and become their friend. Find the hurt in each person you interact with and minister to them Host the best non-alcoholic parties/bible studies at your house for lost students Invite the people that no one cares for at your school to an outreach bible study in your home

Fishing for Souls with Bible Studies Why Bible studies? How do we get a study started? What do we study? Helpful Tips Leading Bible studies is NOT a GIFT!!! Must: 1. Love the Lord 2. Love people Si se puede!!!

Why Bible Studies? Characteristics of Our Generation Jaded to ‘religion’ because of what they’ve heard/seen from TV, movies, minimal exposure, etc. Result: Skeptical of the Bible People are not as “churched” as before. Result: Not open to being in a church setting, not comfortable with church conversation, are more curious about what the Bible actually says, enjoy Bible studies more because they are not in a pressure situation like “church”.

Why Bible Studies? So many hurts have caused them to become very jaded with life at a younger age than previous generations. Result: Naturally wondering, “Is there more than this?” at a younger age Don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. They’re in need of consistent loving relationships because they have none. Result: Need someone to listen to them and stick with them through thick and thin.

How Do You Get a Bible Study Started? Pray that the Lord would help you identify those that you should go to. Spend time finding out their hurts, asking questions, listening to them, loving them unconditionally, and showing them that you really do care through your actions. Point them to the Savior in the little things. Start with fun social events. Invite them to a weekly Bible study that includes food, games, conversation, and laughter.

How Do You Get a Bible Study Started? Pray that the Lord would help you identify those that you should go to. Kids without mothers or fathers Single moms Troubled kids Foster children Lonely college students Homeless Children of prisoners Widows Sick Outcasts

How Do You Get a Bible Study Started? Spend time finding out their hurts, asking questions, listening to them, loving them unconditionally, and showing them that you really do care through your actions. THIS IS A LONG PROCESS!!! Examples: ASK QUESTIONS: get to know EVERYTHING about them Love them and let them know that you love them even when they seem completely unlovable. Check up on them all of the time and find ways to show them that you love them, give them your time and your heart Don’t get disgusted with their actions…your heart is the same.

How Do You Get a Bible Study Started? Point them to the Savior in the little things. Examples: Let them know that you’re praying for them. Listen to their hurts Always remind them that although you can’t fully understand their hurt, that God understands their hurt and aches for them. Tell them about how Jesus had a heart for people like them. Tell them about how God will judge those that have hurt them.

How Do You Get a Bible Study Started? Start with fun by having them over to your house/Starbucks/bookstores/etc. to get them comfortable in the setting where you would have a Bible study. Invite lots of people! Expect much less. Some will want more individual time prior to a group setting and others won’t need that. Spend time eating food (pizza works great), playing games, ping-pong, chillin’, or just talking. This can be sporadic. Don’t do movies…the goal is conversation

How Do You Get a Bible Study Started? Invite them to a weekly Bible study that still includes food, games, conversation, and laughter. Tip: Snacks  Study  Meal  Games Drum it up BIG with flyers, reminders, and invite everybody and their dog! Personally invite them…beg if you have to. Reassure them that they don’t need to have ANY knowledge of the Bible at all and that they will not be preached at.

What Do We Study? Assume they know NOTHING. Start with the very basics and build. The BAD News 1st Many admit to being sinners but they don’t understand what that means for their souls Many say “Jesus died on the cross for my sins” but they don’t understand why He had to die on the cross for their sins. 20 Lessons: 12 bad news + 8 good news They can’t get saved until you get them lost. Example Materials

Helpful Tips Scheduling Be consistent Be persistent Have it every week at the same time no matter what. Be persistent Remind people the day before and the day of. Provide rides to and from the study Friday & Saturday nights usually work well Schedule 6:00-6:15 Snack, music in background, talk 6:15-7:00 Study (30-45 min max) 7:00-9:00 Eat food, play games, chill, etc. On the first study, eat first to relax them.

Helpful Tips Leading the Study Prepare for the study in advance. Be yourself, make fun of yourself, be real, be genuine, be humble, be gentle. You’re a question asker and question clarifier NOT a teacher. Ask questions and let them dig into the passage and tell you the answers. Don’t answer questions for them—allow time for them to answer. Rephrase questions if the silence is too long.  Encourage them when they respond correctly from the passage.

Helpful Tips Leading the Study Reassure them that there are NO stupid questions. Remember that your goal is to get them to be able to read and understand the Bible on their own. Don’t use Christianese Allow people to bring their own Bible, but have all of them use the same type of Bible and refer to verses by page #’s. Use an easy to read version of the Bible such as NLT. Don’t assume they know what all of the words mean, frequently ask what words mean.

Helpful Tips Staying Away from Disagreements Don’t talk religions or denominations. Don’t allow members to bring up tangents—bring it up again after study. Don’t correct people in front of the group—direct the group back to the passage. Only have 1-2 Christians max in an outreach study Try to keep one person from dominating the conversation

Helpful Tips Etc. Encourage inviting others each week Make newbies super welcome Pray before and after each study Pray for them in between studies Reassure them that they can trust you to keep what they tell you quiet. Repetition, repetition, repetition Don’t force a person to make a decision Don’t lead them to repeat a prayer Be patient DON’T get DISCOURAGED by LACK of RESULTS

Cleaning Caught Fish (Discipleship Studies) “If you’re gonna catch em, you gotta clean em’.” Begin with a gospel study. Finding good studies is key. Stress preparation, commitment, and personal quiet time. Point people back to the Word and stay free of petty arguments. Tips from outreach studies apply as well

Cleaning Caught Fish (Discipleship Studies) Don’t invite outreach or discipleship people to church related activities where you don’t know 100% of what will be said. Ex. Concerts, plays, etc. Don’t try to get them to come to ‘your church’. Emphasis should be on their relationship with the Lord.

Cleaning Caught Fish (Discipleship Studies) Pray together and share hurts with each other. ‘Babies are going to dirty their diapers’ New believers aren’t going to totally change overnight. Often the Lord works in peoples’ lives one area at a time. Find out what area they’re struggling with and encourage them. Mother them

Learn from My Mistakes Make sure you’re 100% prepared for study each week. Don’t think that you need to see results. Don’t call it quits because the study doesn’t seem to be going like you would like it too. Things take time. Failure isn’t failure…them reading the Bible is good enough reason to continue on. Numbers don’t mean a thing.

Fishing Tools for You to Use Lessons http://kelderman.wikispaces.com/outreach Fisherman Bible StudyGuides Why Jesus? By David Nasser

Joys of Fishing Farmer is the first to partake of the fruit. The more you share the gospel, the more amazing it becomes to you. Not like anyone they’ve ever known No understanding  understanding of Gospel No believers in family  impacting generations Cycle of sin and darkness  light