WINTER HAVEN — "Ten percent of people who go to church consider themselves evangelists," said Donna Foster, a member of the International Bible Society and leader of the "Becoming a Contagious Christian" workshop Aug. 28 at Trinity United Methodist Church here.

Despite that statistic Foster said she believes every Christian can be evangelical if they learn a style of evangelism that suits them.

That is what more than 80 laity and clergy from seven Lakeland District churches who attended the six-hour workshop set out to do, according to the Rev. Glen Gutek, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church here and local coordinator for the seminar.

The workshop was held to train people for personal evangelism and begin a process of ongoing evangelism training throughout the district.

"You have the average person at the average church who doesn’t have the tools to do evangelism," Foster said. "I think it’s important for the lay people to be given the insight into their own evangelistic style. Then, they are so excited and feel so able to do evangelism in a way that is almost hand-sculpted for them."

"Becoming a Contagious Christian" workshops are presented by the International Bible Society using a curriculum produced by the Willow Creek Association, according to Gutek.

"I believe many of the lay people in our churches have a clear understanding evangelism is something they’re supposed to do, but they find all sorts of inhibiting factors," he said. "We wanted to provide high-quality training to give them the tools and resources to authentically share their faith with people who don’t know God."

The training was divided into eight sections, five of which were completed during the workshop. The last three are to be completed approximately three weeks after the seminar when participants attend a follow-up session at their local church, according to Foster.

Participants first identified their individual evangelism style, either confrontational, intellectual, testimonial, interpersonal, invitational or serving. Those with the same style met in small groups and discussed their style’s traits, attitudes and behaviors, and suggestions for using and developing their style.

Attendees were also introduced to relational evangelism, or reaching out to people they know. The training focused on ways to build relationships and start spiritual conversations with friends and acquaintances.

A study of Paul’s self-defense before King Agrippa in Acts 26 showed participants how to organize and write the story of their own Christian walk, including a comparison of their lives before and after conversion.

Sandy Hornsby, a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, said she appreciated the simplicity of relational evangelism. "Sometimes Christians get held up in the details of their witness," she said. "I realized that when I give my testimony, I pack too many details into it. This simplified stuff."