In today’s post-Christian culture, many individuals become cynical when they hear the terms “outreach” and “evangelism.” This skepticism exists both inside and outside the church. While Jesus’s mandate to make disciples remains timeless, refreshing our language and approach is essential as cultural contexts shift. Authentic outreach is never about making a sale; it is about extending a genuine blessing that resonates with everyone.
Within the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), we utilize the simple acronym BLESS to illustrate the heart of outreach. Originally introduced to us by Dave Ferguson, pastor of Community Christian Church, we are grateful for his encouragement to use this framework to advance the cause of Christ. We believe that adopting a blessing as lifestyle approach is a vital component of modern ministry.
We encourage believers to engage in outreach through five missional practices that focus on sharing the gospel story. By prioritizing these rhythms, we move beyond traditional methods to foster organic, life-changing connections within our communities.
B—Begin with Prayer. Acknowledge that God’s power is needed to successfully extend God’s blessing.
L—Listen with Care. Evangelism is typically associated with talking at people rather than hearing from people, engaging authentically and listening to their stories. When we listen, people feel loved—and they are also much more willing to listen to us in return.
E—Eat Together. Many of Jesus’ most significant interactions involved some kind of food or drink. There is something about breaking bread together that creates meaningful and lasting connection.
S—Serve with Love. Once we understand people’s needs, we more effectively imitate our Savior “who did not come to be served but to serve” (Matt. 20:28).
S—Share the Story. We take the risk to share the story of how Jesus is transforming our lives and the world.
Of course, one of the reasons we believe that BLESS is particularly effective is that it may be the most ancient way of approaching outreach, taking us all the way back to God’s declaration to Abraham in Genesis 12:2: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” We are, and have always been, blessed to be a blessing.
Within the ECC, we have developed a series of free downloadable BLESS resources, which can be found at CovChurch.org/BLESS. These include bulletin inserts for each letter of BLESS, giving practical ideas and exercises to equip pastors to engage their churches in a BLESS Sunday or in a five-week BLESS sermon series. We also have developed sample sermons, small group curriculum, BLESS for Youth, BLESS for Kids, a BLESS Spanish version and more.
We encourage you to take a look and to make BLESS your own, just as many of our own congregations have done with creativity and flair. And consider how BLESS can move beyond a program to a way of life. In the ECC, we are committed to developing new BLESS resources for years to come in order to deepen a culture of blessing in our movement.
For so many, doing “evangelism” sounds scary—but being a blessing sounds like a privilege. By God’s grace, as we equip others to bless their loved ones in these tangible ways, they too will receive the exponential blessing of eternal life in Christ.