Plans for Acts of Christian Goodwill allow spreading Christ’s Gospel in ways other methods fail to do as stated by its the group’s founder Jeff Van Beaver.
It was created by Jeff in 2002, and located in Green Bay, Wisconsin, PACK is the evangelistic approach provided in The Acts 1 Ministry. The concept is as straightforward and profound
You may surprise yourself by doing something nice to someone in the public space. You can pray for them. Give them something without obligations. If they inquire about why you’re doing this inform them that it’s due to Jesus.
Jeff was the chairman of the evangelism committee at his church in May 2002, when his pastor urged him to study Steve Sjogren’s Conspiracy of Kindness which is a well-known book that promotes servant-evangelism. He was interested in Jeff Van Beaver to investigate whether the church could apply the premise behind it by implementing it in any way. After Jeff was reading the book he states “it hit me that, yeah, the masses can do this.
The first outreach that his church conducted in this manner was to ask for prayers for those in a shopping parking lot at a mall.
The outreach of the congregation was a traditional door-to-door type.
“What we found is that (door-to-door) is not as effective,” Jeff states. “People feel emotionally battered by having doors slammed into their faces. It’s difficult to evangelize and it’s extremely difficult to convince people to declare, “I’m into this, however, it’s the standard method that most church organizations employ.
The person who is on the receiving side of the gesture is likely to ask what the reason behind the things he is doing.
Sharing
They’re skeptical, but they ask questions, Jeff van beaver says. “That is the first step to sharing. Sharing the things that Christ is to our lives, and sharing the Gospel. It’s also a door opener. People want to be assured that we’re there for them before opening their hearts. It’s among the crucial aspects of human relations Do we really care?”
Jeff didn’t plan to transform the evangelism strategy known as Planned Acts of Christian Kindness or PACK in full-time occupation.
I ran my own tool company, he declares. It was keeping me crazy busy in a good way.
On a day in July Jeff had a vivid vision in the night that told him that he had to donate his multimillion-dollar company which made substantial profits.
A week later, a lady called me and said, ‘Do you know of anybody trying to get rid of a company?'” Jeff states. I replied You and I should meet to discuss the matter. It seems like you’re the one whom the Lord thought of doing this initiative.
Jeff sold the business to a Christian female for the sum of $1. His partner, Tammy, trusted the Lord to provide for them as they began Acts 1:8.
Security blanket
I think it was hard on my wife, of course, when you go from that security blanket of lots of money to nothing, but we never had a doubt, Jeff declares. We made progress as well. God was able to provide. He continues to do so until this day, 13 years after.
The faith-based step resulted in the birth the Acts 1:8. The PACK strategy began to get an exercise. Acts 1:8 created equipping materials for both individuals and congregations to assist them in starting their own programs. It’s still free on contact on acts18.org and is funded through donations. In addition to the training materials Acts, 1:8 also provides assistance to staff via email, phone, and social media.
The guideline outlines how to engage people to raise funds, get involved, and increase awareness within the media and in the community.
Acts 1 is currently partnering with over 2000 churches across all fifty states as well as 43 nations in 43 countries.
We have had less interest from Europe, but it’s a target area, Jeff states. We’re starting to make some penetration into areas like China now, so we’re excited about that.
Free gift-wrapping during Christmas
Flowers are free for Valentine’s Day.
$2 bills given to motorists at the gas pump.
In one instance one congregation “bought down” gas one day, when it was close to $4 per gallon. They paid 50 cents or less per gallon, up to a certain price for customers.
There’s a clear distinction between countries that are wealthy and those that are poor in the way PACK is utilized.
Churches in third-world countries have a much more humbling approach, giving away the most basic things of life: food, water, shelter, and medical resources, Jeff states.
The manner in which the Gospel is spread through PACK is also distinct He says.
In the United States, we found it was ineffective to proclaim right away the Word of God,” Jeff declares. “We observed that it to be better when the people questioned for it on their own. The opposite is the case in the third-world, in which you announce it straight immediately since people tend to be more willing to hear it and also more efficient. People who don’t have a lot would like to hear. People who are rich do not want to hear anything unless they want to.
Acts 1:8 is a great source not just for large churches with outreach programs as well as smaller congregations that don’t have the resources to create their own outreach programs from beginning to finish.
We would be their support team to help them reach out, Jeff says.