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            Gospel Meetings are still a wonderful encouragement to a congregation of the Lord’s church and an opportunity to reach out to the gospel with the message of Christ, but Gospel Meetings do not just happen. The speaker for a specific Gospel Meeting is often arranged a year or two, and sometimes three or four years in advance. Time passes from that initial invitation of the speaker, but the Gospel Meeting is not forgotten. Some months before the arrival of the Gospel Meeting plans are decided regarding the theme and Bible lessons to be preached. The brother that will be coming to preach begins to think about, plan, and develop his lessons, and the congregation hosting the Gospel Meeting begins to think about the theme. As the date of the Gospel Meeting approaches the brother is concentrating more and more on what he will preach and the congregation is focusing on the preparations of hosting the brother, planning the meals and times of fellowship within the congregation, and inviting people to attend the Gospel Meeting. Prayers are offered on behalf of the Gospel Meeting in general, the brother that will preach, and those that are receiving invitations personally or through some other means by mail, door hangings, door-knocking, and flyers. Months of preparations and in a few days the Gospel Meeting is complete. The question then becomes, what about after the Gospel Meeting? Is there anything to do?

            One of the things that each one of us can do is to thank God for the preaching of the gospel in our community and for the power of the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation…” (Romans 1:16). After thanking God then maybe an encouraging message, text, email, or thank you card could be directed to the brother that preached God’s Word.

           After giving thanks each one individually can reflect upon the messages preached and apply to our lives what need to be applied. “All Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete thoroughly furnished for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  What good had it done to attend and listen, but then not apply what has come from God’s Word?

            Another practical thing that can be done is to reflect upon who was met at the Gospel Meeting? Did you meet a visitor from another congregation? Did you meet a visitor from the community that is not a Christian? Do you remember the name of the one that you met? Were you able to exchange contact information with that visitor? If so, then you can message them to encourage them to return the following Lord’s Day or even offer them a tract about a certain subject that they might be interested in, or even offer to study God’s Word with them. If you do not feel qualified to do that then arrange for one of the elders, preachers, or Bible teachers in the congregation to meet with them to study God’s Word on a personal level.

            The preparations for a Gospel Meeting may require months and then in four or five days it is complete, but what about after the Gospel Meeting? There may be days, weeks, and months of work to do after the Gospel Meeting. As Jesus said, “The fields are white unto harvest” (John 4:25).