It’s been about 18 months since we started Outward OPC, which leads us 
to reflect on a couple of things we’ve learned over the first year and a half of this project.
1. There are many remarkable and wonderful things happening in the OPC regarding evangelism.
From the simple and quiet development of gospel-directed relationship with a friend or co-worker to the more visible efforts of churches and pastors to reach people, we have heard numerous great stories. And we’ve been able to share them with the Outward OPC audience. One of the goals of Outward OPC is to broaden the conversation about evangelism in the OPC, and that includes the stories and successes. Some of these stories are gathered in our “Stories From the Field” section here:
Outward OPC: Stories From the Field
2. OPC people and churches are hungry to become more effective at evangelism and are asking great questions and searching for help.
We’ve experienced this through lots of face-to-face interaction at the Church Planter Conference and the Annual Home Missions meeting in Orlando and through emails and conversations with Outward OPC readers. (Thanks for communicating with us!) There are great discussions happening and more people are involved as we can share the fruit of these discussions with our readers.
Our most popular category on the website is on “Building A Culture of Evangelism” found here: “Building A Culture of Evangelism”
And the most popular post on the site is from that series: “Unwelcoming Welcome”
3. There is a lot of room to continue to grow in our evangelistic understanding and efforts.
We’ve seen two trends. First, an increased focus on developing relationships with people we know and encounter in daily life. Second, a renewed concern for how we welcome visitors to our churches and show intentional hospitality to those that walk through our doors on a Sunday. There are two very popular series on Outward OPC that seem to have hit the right note for our growth in these areas:
1) OPC Pastor Eric Watkins in St. Augustine sat down for an extended video interview that has benefitted many Outward OPC readers:
On The Frontlines: Eric Watkins
2) 10 examples from churches outside our typical circles that do a good job of reaching AND welcoming people.
Thank you for your reading/watching/listening and for your feedback. It really helps us in creating our weekly content. Keep letting us know what you are thinking and doing in the area of evangelism.
