Picture the scene: a classic student lounge, in a lads student house. True to form there are a variety of chairs from different decades, all claiming to be ‘comfy’. Diverse in design, but united in direction – the TV and playstation. Untrue to form, there’s a great smell coming from the kitchen; Serious quantities of bangers and mash are on the go. But then, these aren’t ordinary student lads, they’re engineers.

The evening is an evangelistic event, and the form for the evening is straightforward: Lots of chat -about engineering. Lots of great bangers and mash. A short talk from Luke’s gospel explaining that God’s heaven is not for people who think they’re good enough, but for people who know they’re not. Then time for questions and discussion, followed by dessert, more questions and a plug for the upcoming events week and follow up course.

What works well?

The evening with the engineers worked really well as an evangelistic event, for a few key reasons: 1) The guests all knew each other. 2) They knew where they were. 3) They knew why they were there, and 4) where the evening was going. A bonus, was most of them knew what it was going to be like because the student organising the event, had done the same thing a few of months before, inviting his course mates to his house, for good food, and a chance to hear an explanation of the Christian message.

How to go about it?

The simple aim with this kind of event, is to have non-Christians discussing the gospel. If the people invited know each other, then you know the group will work well socially, and people won’t hold back from question and discussion. Having them on ‘safe’ territory (a student house) helps with that too. It makes coming easy and not intimidating (getting them to a church or CU event might be a different matter). Inviting someone over to your house for food is pretty normal too. In this case, the invite had been really clear: an opportunity to hear something about Christianity, and ask any question. So when I was asked to speak after the food, no one looked startled, no-one was offended/enraged at being tricked, no-one upped and bolted for the door. When I said does anyone have any questions, there wasn’t awkward silence, with no one willing to kick things off, but genuine discussion centred on Jesus’ parable.

What does not work well?

Here are a few classic pitfalls to watch out for with this kind of event.

Groups of people that don’t work socially, will badly affect discussion, and if your aim is to get people chatting about the gospel, that’s a shame. I’ve spoken at similar events where the talk has been left until so late, that people either leave before, or have no time to stay and chat after. There have also been a few occasions when a really relaxed atmosphere with people chatting, has been interrupted by an awkward apology for what is about to happen. You then start the talk from 5 - nil down. You feel awkward and so does everyone else. The same can go for the end, in an attempt to keep face; it’s tempting for the host to move on as quickly as possible - to dessert, drinks or just anything, with no reference to the talk and therefore no chance for people to discuss the gospel.

So what do you need to consider?

To draw all that together, here are a few ‘musts’.

Do consider:

• Who you invite – Will the group work well?

• How you invite people – Do they know what they’re coming to?

• Where you host it – Will people feel comfortable coming?

• When you host it – Avoid the Champions league final if your mates are into the footy

• What type of talk will work – Will a testimony get people talking, would a short talk be better?

• Who you get to speak – Could you do it? Is there another Christian your friends have met before?

• How you introduce the speaker and talk – Plan this with the speaker

• When to put the talk? – Think about helping people feel comfortable, whilst leaving time to talk

• What are you going to suggest as the next step? Get publicity for a Church Cu event?

It takes a miracle for anyone to be saved, so sort out the music, food and candles etc, but don’t forget to PRAY!