The first advantage to labeling special services as primarily for evangelizing visitors is that it allows for special preparation. Prayer bands can be organized to support the ministry. Specific prayer for a specific event is always more desirable and effective than general prayers for a normal service. Hopefully, people will know non-Christians who will be invited. They can pray for people by name that the Holy Spirit will begin working in their lives and prepare them to receive the gospel. Special preparation can also go into planning the service itself. Assigning specific services allows one to plan an order of service that is specifically geared toward non-Christians. Perhaps an appealing film, music selection or speaker can be planned so as to entice more people to attend.

Secondly, guest services set up that kind of structure that church people can make a concerted effort to invite non-Christians. Often it is difficult to invite a non-Christian to church. The Christian asks himself what there is to appeal to an unbeliever. Many times the Christian knows that the non-Christian will not understand the "churchy" subculture. Guest services address both problems. The churchy subculture is abandoned to make the visitor welcome. Also the program is designed to be appealing. Members should be more inclined to invite friends.

The third advantage to guest services is that not only do they make inviting guests easier, but also the guests who come are more likely to feel welcome. The program is stripped of the usual "churchy" subcultural markings that would make them uncomfortable. Therefore, creeds are read rather than recited. If the congregation is asked to read along silently as scripture is read, page numbers of the pew Bibles are given to help people find the place. The congregation is clearly asked to stand or sit so there is no confusion.

Prayer is stripped of undefined theological terms like "justification" and "sanctification". All of this helps the visitor feel comfortable rather than accentuating how little they know about church-going. The visitor feels less like a foreigner. Making them comfortable is going to make the Gospel less foreign. Even if they do not respond to the Gospel on their first visit, a positive experience will make future contacts with the church more readily accepted.

The fourth advantage to guest services is related to the preaching. The preaching at such a service is a focussed presentation of the gospel. As John Stott says, "the preaching will ignore any Christians who may happen to be present," ("Our Guilty Silence", p.86). the preacher is able to concentrate on being an evangelist. In an ordinary service, the preacher cannot ignore the Christians. Often, when an evangelistic sermon is preached, the preacher tries to include something in the message for Christians. The result is like one buckshot firing that effects everyone a little or not at all. Guest services allows the preacher to take a marksman's aim at a single target.

Other churches compensate for the buckshot effect by preaching solely for non-Christians every week. The result is that they hit their target, but hit only one type of target. They may have soul wining services, but the Christians do not get adequate attention. This type of preaching communicates that all one needs to concern himself with is salvation. There is little encouraging of the saints on to maturity. Occasional guest services, on the other hand, overcome this as well. Preaching to Christians is a regular occurrence.

There are plenty of messages that encourage Christian nurture, yet on certain announced times the preaching will be solely evangelistic.

In most Evangelical church services there is a request for people to raise their hand or go forward. In a guest service, the response is clearly a decision for or against commitment to Jesus Christ. All Souls Church (in London) invites people to remain fifteen minutes to hear further what it means to be committed to Christ. Numerous other forms of invitation can be used, but the point is the same. Everyone (especially the non-Christian) knows that to respond at the end of the sermon indicates one is interested in committing himself to Christ.

The final advantage to guest services that will be discussed here is that they can be a help to Christians who have been witnessing to a certain person. Many times a Christian will have periodic witness to a person, but the person is not sure. The Christian can then invite the curious friend to a guest service to hear about Christianity from an "expert" - a preacher. Another example of how such a program helps a believer witness is the Christian who feels he is not competent to explain the gospel adequately. He tells his friend what he knows and invites the friend to a special service designed to tell him all he needs to know.

While it is easy to praise guest services as a "sanctuary evangelism" methodology, there are drawbacks as well. The biggest problem is that churches that emphasize "sanctuary evangelism" can easily identify evangelism as the preacher's job. Church members can begin to view their role in the evangelism process as solely inviting people to the guest services. Christians invite people to church rather than invite them to Christ. This is not an insurmountable problem. Being aware of this tendency, a church can take steps to overcome it. Obviously, more evangelists are needed in the guest service itself than in a single preacher. Lay people can be trained as counselors. This core of counselors should be encouraged to exercise their skills outside of the special services. Also, the church can actively teach what being a witness for Christ means. All kinds of methods can be used, but the point here is that the church needs to be frequently reminded that they are Christ's witnesses in the world. In regular services, the preacher from the guest service may point to himself as an example. Christians should be encouraged to acquire his skills of presenting the gospel clearly in non-theological language.

The other major weakness in guest services is that, as a form of mass evangelism, the gospel is shared in a non-personal medium. The preacher cannot address the specific needs and questions of all the visitors. However, the preacher can discern the needs and questions of the homogenous unit represented in the visitors. Thus, as said above, the preaching is focused.

Moreover, there are ways to begin personalizing the evangelism in the guest service itself. Individual counseling with those who respond to the message fills this need. Therefore, individual counseling after the service is to be preferred to the mass after-sessions held after a guest service at All Souls Church.

For those who do not immediately respond to the message, there are other methods of personalizing the evangelism. First of all, those who invited them can follow up by asking what they liked and disliked about the service. One may ask whether they responded to Christ and if not why. Then, as the personal needs surface they can be discussed. In addition to this, the church should have formal follow up procedures for those who visit. Perhaps they will be personally visited. When appropriate, these people can be encouraged to join groups where the gospel is discussed.