At Annual Conference last week, our Conference Statistician George Speake encouraged us to focus on evangelism and stewardship to grow our churches. The Media Center offers small-group studies, short books, and other resources to help you train your members in evangelism and create a robust culture of generosity in stewardship.
Evangelism
Small-Group Studies

Get Their Name: Growing Your Church by Building New Relationships by Bob Farr, Doug Anderson, and Kay Kotan
The authors show in practical terms how to change the habits of leaders and entire congregations, so that invitation is natural, constant, systemic, genuine, and easy. Get Their Name clearly demonstrates how to equip your people to share their faith in a way that is effective, biblical, and transformational. Includes the book, a Participant’s Workbook, a Coordinator’s Guide, and a DVD with sermon videos and graphics.

Ask: Faith Questions in a Skeptical Age by Scott J. Jones and Arthur D. Jones
Hold a thoughtful conversation with skeptics about the big questions of faith. The video features four young clergy in discussion including NC Conference’s own Lisa Yebuah. They discuss topics such as religious pluralism, suffering, science, the resurrection, and more. Includes a DVD, Leader Guide, and the book.

Taking Church to Community: Reach New Disciples by Dr. F. Douglas Powe, Jr., Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Kim Kitchel, and Dr. Ann A. Michel
Taking Church to the Community explores strategies your congregation can use to reach beyond its walls with worship, community events, ministries, and service — meeting community members where they are and moving them toward discipleship. Includes a DVD and CD-ROM with supplementary materials.

Connections: Reimagining Evangelism : A Video & Study Guide Resource Created by Evangelism Connections by Adele Halliday and Heather Lear
This study guide will invite participants to ask and explore questions, stretch their understandings of evangelism, confront their fears and skepticism, and consider what might be an authentic expression of evangelism for them. Co-authored by NC Conference’s own Heather Lear, this study is a PDF that can be downloaded for free.
Books

Connect! Creating a Culture of Relationships That Matter by Phil Maynard
Faith sharing is putting ourselves in the right places for person to person building of relationships, for heart to heart making of new friends, and for soul to soul sharing of our faith journeys. Maynard provides the scriptures, the questions, the tools for an individual, a church team or a whole congregation to self-discover their own pathway to “connect” with those who do not yet know Christ. A version of this book for individuals and small groups is also available.

Meet the Goodpeople: Wesley’s Seven Ways to Share Faith by Roger Ross
Ross demonstrates how we can retool Wesley’s practices and reshape individuals, groups, and churches to lead pre-Christian people into a transforming relationship with Jesus and his church. Discussion guides in each chapter facilitate interaction for leadership teams and small groups, and offer practice for successful implementation.

Portable Faith: How to Take Your Church to the Community by Sarah Cunningham
Cunningham will lead you to critically evaluate your own perceptions about evangelism and outreach. She then offers a rich collection of practical, engaging, inexpensive exercises for small groups, individuals, or an entire congregation. Work through the exercises, and you’ll be equipped to go out, to transform the strange new world beyond your church’s doorstep.
Stewardship
Small-Group Studies and Churchwide Campaigns
Most of these resources can be adapted for use either in a small group or as a churchwide stewardship initiative.

Defying Gravity: Break Free from the Culture of More by Tom Berlin
Berlin explores what is required to sustain a vibrant life, what we need versus what we want, and what we can do to avoid being pulled into the orbit of materialism. The Leader Kit includes the book, leader guide, DVD, program tools flash drive, The Generous Church pastor’s guide, plus one family card pack.

Earn. Save. Give. Wesley’s Simple Rules for Money by James A. Harnish
Harnish presents Wesley’s concepts and beliefs in plain, useful language, suitable for individuals to grapple with and groups to discuss and act upon. The four chapters of this book form the basis for a four-week churchwide stewardship program, along with the DVD, Devotional Readings for Home, Leader Guide, Youth Study Book, Children’s Leader Guide, and the Program Guide on flash drive.

Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity by Adam Hamilton
Enough is an invitation to rediscover the Bible’s wisdom on prudent financial practices. Find the keys to experiencing contentment, overcoming fear, and discovering joy through simplicity and generosity. This revised edition includes a DVD, Leader Guide, Stewardship Program Guide with Flash Drive, and the book.

Treasure: A Four-Week Study on Faith and Money by Jacob Armstrong
Armstrong uses Matthew 6 to reexamine how we look at our finances and possessions, through the counter-cultural teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Designed for use in a small group study or during an all-church stewardship program, Armstrong helps participants examine their lives, their ways of giving, their finances, and their faith, then discuss and reflect on how generosity can affect our relationships with people and with God. Includes the DVD, a Daily Readings book, and a Program Guide and Flash Drive.
Books

The Gratitude Path: Leading Your Church to Generosity by Kent Millard
In contrast to outdated, budget-centric stewardship models, The Gratitude Path offers you a fresh alternative: the Gratitude Campaign—a Christ-centered approach that promotes spiritual health for both donors and the church. This biblically based, no-nonsense resource will enable you to help people count their blessings and give to God out of gratitude. The five-session study includes discussion questions, samples, and a step-by-step outline for conducting a Gratitude Campaign in a church of any size.

Generosity Rising: Lead a Stewardship Revolution in Your Church by Scott McKenzie
For a congregation to grow in generosity, pastors, financial chairs, and stewardship chairs must live and give witness to the importance of stewardship in their personal lives and then intentionally recruit and train others to join the revolution. This book provides practical guidelines for training a dedicated team of “generosity revolutionaries” who embrace, live, and lead others on a journey of gratitude, prayer, and faith.

Funding Ministry with Five Loaves and Two Fishes by Rosario Picardo
Although surrounded by a deteriorating building, Rosario Picardo revitalized a dying congregation. Through trials and failures, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, Picardo learned new ways for reaching the least and lost and for growing disciples. He shares the lessons he’s learned with the confidence that other leaders can do the same.
See All the People

Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church has launched the See All the People campaign that offers a wealth of resources on evangelism, stewardship, outreach, and more.
The most essential step for making disciples of Jesus Christ is to immerse ourselves in the lives of the people who are right outside our doors, acknowledging that God calls us to have meaningful relationships in authentic, organic and consistent ways.
See All The People means having a discipleship system that begins with being in relationship with those around our churches.
https://www.seeallthepeople.org/about/
The See All the People website offers free and downloadable videos, books, and studies to launch this discipleship campaign in your church or even just in your small group. Several of these resources are linked from our online catalog, and we have two printed books available for borrowing.
See All the People offers free resources, including some in Spanish and Korean, on:
- Developing an intentional discipleship system for all ages
- Engaging your community
- Spiritual gifts
- Small groups
- Generosity
- Outreach
- And more.
Additional Resources
For more resources that you can borrow from the NC Conference Media Center, view the following pathfinders:
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed for free by anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference. We will mail them to your home! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.