People don’t like change yet we design our events and resources as if they do. A stark ‘yes or no’, one-o presentation of the gospel – a now or never – fails to take into account the inbuilt human resistance to change and, when it fails to be successful, can leave us feeling people aren’t interested in Christianity.

If we adopt a more realistic pattern for people coming to faith, we will see more visitors taking steps towards God. We shouldn’t shy away from giving people the opportunity to say the BIG YES to God – in fact we should do it more often – but we should also encourage, value and celebrate the smaller steps people take.

In his session, Big Yes, Little Yes, Healthy Maybe, Mark Greenwood urges us to keep the journey sharp by reviewing the way we put together our outreach programmes: from the events we organise, to the literature we use and the way we do appeals. We really can be more effective in actively encouraging journey towards God, and this is something that’s easy to put in place!