An acronym that will help you remember what this looks like is BASIC

Book in Hand

• Placing the book and magazine into the hands of the person you meet at the door is essential. This will convey ownership of the book to them.
• Step back a couple of feet once the book is in the hand of the person at the door. Maintaining the space as you interact is important.

Accelerate

• Walking fast communicates that you are on a mission. Walking fast helps you get to more houses. It also helps release endorphins, which make you happy.

Smiling

• Smiling is universally known as an expression of happiness, which is recognized by almost all cultures.
• Smiling communicates that you are friendly and that you enjoy what you’re doing. Smiling can brighten up someone’s day.

Intercessory Prayer

• This is the engine of the outreach.
• Pray before outreach, before each house, with each person, and after distribution. More prayer, more power.

Confidence

• Assume the delivery. As you hand that book to the person at the door, do so as if they were expecting a delivery.
• Never doubt that you’re supposed to be at the door.
• Your body language should be the language of a soldier for Christ walking closely with your guardian angel.
• Know your canvass and say it with confidence and conviction.

Different things you can say:

• This book covers the past and the present, and shows how history proves the Bible to be true.
• The Great Controversy covers the last 2,000 years and shows you how Bible prophecies have been fulfilled. It comes down to the present, showing how America and current world events fit in. 
• This book explains to you the battle between good and evil, Christ and Satan, from the fall of Lucifer all the way down to the end of time. 
• It begins with the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and traces the path of freedom from the Dark Ages until today.

Additional information you can mention: 

• The book contains QR codes so you can either watch, listen, or do Bible studies for each chapter.
• Chapter 29 helps answer the question, “Why would a God of love allow so much sin and suffering?”
• Chapter 33 shows you the first lie ever told and how it has affected billions of people today and perhaps even yourself.
• The last 8 chapters shed light on current events and the near future through Bible prophecy.

Different things you can say:

• THRIVE magazine shows practical and natural ways to prevent depression and how to thrive mentally in the midst of a crisis. 
• Gives tips and discusses ways to have better mental health.

Additional information you can mention:

• This magazine will give you practical health tips so you have more energy to be able to spend more quality time with your loved ones.
• By applying the health advice in this magazine you will experience greater chances of preventing and overcoming sickness.
• This magazine will help you to know how to prevent or overcome depression for yourself or any of your loved ones.
• Scan the QR Code for tons of resources on health, mental health, recipes, and more!

1. This will be after handing them a book and saying the canvas. 
2. You can say: ”Just before we leave, we are offering free community services.” 
3. Pull out the survey and tell them the list of services.
4. Check off the ones they like.
5. Ask them for their contact information (name, email, address, phone number).
6. That’s it!  For a sample of a survey click here

1. This would be the last thing you do before walking away unless they request prayer earlier in the conversation.
2. If you have made some sort of connection with the contact, just simply say: “I love praying with people, what would you like me to pray for”?
3. If there is an awkward space, or you see they don’t know what to say, you can say something general, “How about your health, family, or even this country?”
4. When you pray, make sure that your prayer is concise and brief.

1. Before leaving, say, “We also offer free Bible studies; we do them online, in-person, or through the mail; which works best for you?”
2. Once they tell you which option they prefer, take down their name, contact information, and address.
3. If they tell you they want Bible studies in person, ask them, “What is a good day and time for you to start your first lesson?”
4. If they don’t know, you can suggest a day and a time. For instance, the day and time you are at, at that moment.
5. Turn this information in to the local church as soon as possible.

There are many ways the church can plan to follow up with the community. How your church does this will depend largely on the needs of your community and the resources your church has.

There are two ways to approach follow-up:

1. Gather information from the community to know their needs through a survey. Then offer it to them afterwards.
2. Offer services/events/programs in each flyer, and distribute them with each The Great Controversy package as you distribute.

Ideas for follow-up and resources:

1. Bible Studies

• Personal (in-person or via Zoom) 
• Online or correspondence studies 
• Discover https://www.voiceofprophecy.com/bible-studies
• Amazing Facts https://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/free-online-bible-school 
• It Is Written https://itiswritten.study/lessons-information
• Kids’ Studies https://www.kidsglow.org/

2. Health Evangelism

• Natural Remedies Classes
• Cooking Classes
• Health Expos
• Diabetes Undone https://diabetesundone.com/groups/
• Depression Recovery Program https://www.nedleyhealth.com/community-program/training-the-trainer

3. Prophecy Seminars or Other Evangelistic Series

4. Family Seminars and Workshops

• Marriage Seminars
• Men’s Group
• VBS

5. Community Service

• Lawn Care
• Food Bank
• Diaper Drive
• Back to School Drive
• Holiday Food Baskets

Follow up guidelines

1. Assign people in the church to take over specific areas of follow up.
2. Follow up with Bible study interests as soon as they come in, the longer you wait, the colder the response becomes.
3. Follow through and be consistent in your efforts.
4. Create your follow up activities according to a yearly plan, instead of just randomly timed events.

The Great Controversy project is not meant to just be an event, but a commitment to hand-deliver The Great Controversy into every home of your surrounding community.

With that being said, here are some different models you can consider for continuing the project after the initial outreach!

1. The A,B,C,D model –  In this model, you will have four dedicated teams committed to doing outreach on a specific Sabbath each week of the month. As a result, you have a group of people distributing every Sabbath, whilst each group only goes out once a month, so no one gets burned out! This is the most successful model we have seen and the one we recommend the most.
2. Twice-a-month model – This model has groups of people going out to distribute two Sabbaths a month.
3. Once-a-month model- This model has all groups of people going out to distribute once a month.
4. Once every quarter – This model organizes large distributions to take place once a quarter throughout the year.

Choose that which works best for you; just remember the goal of this outreach! It’s not just an event but part of your entire evangelism cycle of witnessing, gaining community interests, building relationships with your communities, and baptisms!

It’s normal for people to lose the “fire” or zeal for a particular project overtime. The question is, how can we keep the fire alive in our local churches?

Here are some recommendations:

1. Keep your outreach efforts consistent.

This is the number one recommendation that we have. The more consistent you are, the more results you will see. Testimonies, divine appointments, and powerful community contacts keep the fire burning!

2. Organize united prayer sessions.

“A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer. When churches are revived, it is because some individual seeks earnestly for the blessing of God. He hungers and thirsts after God, and asks in faith, and receives accordingly. He goes to work in earnest, feeling his great dependence upon the Lord, and souls are aroused to seek for a like blessing, and a season of refreshing falls upon the hearts of men.” 

HM November 1, 1890, par. 28

“There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. Our Heavenly Father is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. But it is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer.” HB 172.2

Here is a 2-hour prayer activity outline that you can use to kickstart your united prayer sessions. Click here

3. Keep them inspired.

Sometimes all it takes is for our members to get re-inspired, here are some strategies:

• Preach on the importance of literature evangelism and its role in finishing the work.
• Teach on the history of The Great Controversy and have church members search the Spirit of Prophecy on this subject.
• Start reading The Great Controversy as a church during your mid-week meetings.
• Start a WhatsApp group for all of those interested in The Great Controversy outreach and allow it to be a place where quotes and testimonies can be shared.
• Have testimonies shared during divine service to inspire others.

4. Change it up.

Sometimes people need a little change in order to keep them engaged. Here is an idea:

• Organize The Great Controversy package packing rallies for holidays. Wrap them nicely and appropriately to give out on different holidays such as Father’s/Mother’s day, Valentine’s day, Independence day, Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, etc.