How do I go about planning a JD2D event?

  1. Identify who will be leading this event. You can either (1) select someone from the “JD2D Leaders” tab, or (2) lead the event yourself.

  2. In consultation with the Leader, pick a Saturday on the calendar and schedule the event (preferably 3+ months in advance).

  3. Ask the pastor of the congregation to prepare a 1-hour Bible Study to lead for all participants on that day.

  4. Secure pamphlets that you can leave at homes that tell people about your congregation. The pamphlet should have (1) A picture of the church, (2) its name, (3) its service time(s), (4) church location, (5) church phone number, (6) additional information about Sunday School or Bible Study or other ministries, (7) pastor’s name and contact info (this is optional).
    Tri-fold brochures and or post-cards seem to be most popular.

  5. Prepare maps of the areas you want to canvas. A single canvassing route should have 30–40 homes on it. A team of 2–3 people constitute a canvassing team.

  6. Plan to supply lunch for the participants.

What does a JD2D event look like?

A typical JD2D event has the following schedule:

  • 9:00am – People arrive at church, participants get to know each other.

  • 9:15am – Responsive Prayer/Matins/Sing Songs

  • 9:30am – Pastor (or lay-leader) of a host congregation leads a 1-hour Bible Study on the topic of their choosing.

  • 10:30am – Participants learn, practice, and role-play the witnessing methods.

  • 11:30am – Participants learn about the canvassing survey and how to fill out Survey Record forms correctly.

  • Noon – Eat lunch

  • 12:45pm – Go over “Do’s and Don’ts” of canvassing

  • 1:00pm – Pray & Go canvassing

  • 2:30pm – Return from canvassing and tabulate results onto Team Reports and then the Weekend Report.

  • 3:00pm – All participants gather together and share stories of canvassing experiences by teams.

  • 3:30pm – Pray & Go home.

What supplies do I need?

  • Pencils (two per team)

  • Clipboards (you’ll be recording canvassing data and need something to write on)

  • Church pamphlets (See #4 above under the heading ‘How do I go about planning a JD2D event?‘ for more information)

  • Gospel tracts (JD2D uses a Gospel tract titled “God Thinks You’re Worth Dying For”). Pastor Koch can email you a PDF of this tract and you can print them on your own. Or you can reach out to Pastor Koch who can send you some pre-printed ones.

  • JD2D Forms (Listed on the JD2D website under “forms”).

    • Survey Questions & Witnessing Methods (one per participant)

    • Survey Record Sheets (one per team)

    • Team Report (one per team)

    • Weekend Report (one per event)

    • Prospect Report (two per team)

    • Do’s and Don’t’s (one per event)

  • If canvassing teams need to be driven to their canvassing location, you will need need to supply transportation.

How big is a canvassing team?

  • A single team is 2–4 people. Three people per team is best.

  • If you have three people on a team, the division of duties is as follows:

    • 1 person does the talking.

    • 1 person does the recording.

    • 1 person holds the pamphlets/tracts.

  • If you have two people on a team, the division of duties is as follows:

    • 1 person does the talking and holds the pamphlets/tracts.

    • 1 person does the recording.

  • If you have four people on a team, the division of duties is as follows:

    • 1 person does the talking.

    • 1 person does the recording.

    • 1 person holds the pamphlets/tracts.

    • 1 person smiles

What should the canvassing team wear?

  • We seek to make Jesus Christ known, thus our clothes should honor that.

    • Try to avoid clothes with wording on it (it’s distracting).

    • Be modest.

    • Don’t dress up. We aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons.

Who can participate?

  • Anyone who is in 6th grade or older. (I have had people younger than this participate. Simply put, I don’t have time to play ‘babysitter.’ I’ve had great luck with 6th grade on up.)

Where do I get maps for our area?

  • Print outs of Google Maps with the canvassing route highlighted seems to work best.

What does it cost to host a JD2D event?

  • The only costs associated with hosting a JD2D event is the cost of food and the investment in pamphlets to leave at the homes. JD2D doesn’t charge a congregation a fee for their service to the gospel, because JD2D is not a formal organization. JD2D does not have a corporate ID, tax ID, or any other organizational ID. JD2D has no constitution or bylaws. My congregation simply has JD2D listed as a budget line under their evangelism budget. All gifts and monies go into that budget line, and the money is used to pay for transportation, food, printing of Gospel tracts, and website maintenance. If a congregation wants to financially support JD2D efforts, they can create their own budget line, or they can send their gift to Zion Lutheran Church, PO Box 343, Linn, KS 66953 with “JD2D” on the memo line.

What if I have additional questions?

  • Call or text Pastor Koch at (785) 747-7633.

Tell me more about the maps.

  • Well marked maps that show each team its canvassing route are very important. It is embarrassing, unprofessional, and rude when disorganized canvassing teams knock on the same door within the same hour.

  • If you’re bringing a JD2D team into your congregation, they don’t know your area. Telling them to “Go canvass 6th street” is not helpful.