Connect Evangelist Training Programme (CETP) is now underway

Over 66 people are taking part in the six-module online course. Ignite spoke to two participants about their experiences so far.

Naomi Watts is a Children and Families Support worker based at Cannon Court Evangelical Church in Fetcham, Surrey. She started CETP in February this year and has now completed the course and is a Connect Evangelism Champion.

Counties evangelist, Gordon Curley, encouraged me to go on the course. I decided to do CETP because I felt Jesus has given me the desire to help people in my village to encounter Jesus. It would just be awesome if the whole village came to know Him. I see how broken people are through the job I do as a family support worker.

So many families need so much. I live in a fairly affluent area. On the surface, residents have beautiful homes, great jobs, and children in good schools, and yet they are really struggling. People don’t often want to talk about what’s going wrong, and it affects the children because things fester.

So, I hope that I can come into their lives and offer practical help but also provide Jesus. I want to present Him as somebody real, who cares, and who is relevant to their situation.

This is something that has really come out to me doing CETP – it’s making Jesus relevant to people. I love the way they have broken down each aspect of evangelism and helped me to apply it in my own context. It’s been really encouraging to hear trainers’ stories. It allows you to see things from a totally new perspective.

The course has shown me how straightforward it can be to tell people about Jesus if you’re saying: “Jesus is my friend and He’s done this for me.” People are much more receptive to talking about something they have been through themselves. CETP teaches students that we can all talk about Jesus as if He’s real, and not somebody you learn about on a Sunday. In one seminar, Mark Greenwood talks about the power of your testimony, and it’s so easily slipped into a conversation because it’s your story.

The course has given me so much more passion. It’s given me the skills to see people as Jesus sees them. I think it’s about seeing the town we live in as our mission field.

Project 125 Lead, Beverely Bedford says: “It is good to welcome Naomi Watts as a Connect Evangelism Champion. Counties’ vision is to help local churches recognise and raise champions like Naomi, who will serve and keep evangelism and discipleship right at the heart of church life.”

Dave Jordan became a Christian in June 2024 after studying the Bible and admitting: “I can’t deny this anymore.” He featured in Winter 2024’s Ignite after he had repeatedly said Christianity was “not for me,” even though his wife Nancy had been praying for him for over 35 years. He began CETP in February 2025.

Simon Ladd, the Counties Connector, was my pastor, and soon after I got saved, I asked how I could make up for lost time and what I could do to help in the church. So, he suggested I sign up for CETP. I watched the taster video and did just that.

It’s an easy-paced, online learning course for all church members. I have now completed the course, and I really enjoyed learning and growing my faith. Importantly, I have learned to share my faith and tell people I meet about the Good News of the Gospel.

When you sign up, you are asked to find a mentor. I asked my good friend, Victor Jack. He has now taken me to several outreach events, and I have spoken at some. I delivered my first sermon in October.

In July, I held my first evangelistic mission, a two-day golf event, with Victor and four other Christians and nine non-believer friends. We had a fantastic time, but more importantly, four of the non–believers are now exploring faith. The event was a great success, with more planned for the future.

I have come a long way in a very short time and learned a tremendous amount. My faith has grown stronger. I now feel that my Lord is guiding me and has a definite plan for me.

I think the Lord has given me the ability to talk about my faith, which is why I wanted to do the course. Even if you don’t want to become a ‘professional’ evangelist, I recommend it to anybody who wants to learn more about their faith, how to share their faith, and how to talk to people. It’s brilliant.

In terms of the details, there are six modules, and within each, there are six units. You are given a project to complete after watching the videos. One of the projects asks you: “If you were to do an evangelistic mission, how would you go about it?”

I went one better than that and held a mission, as it was an excellent opportunity for me. Many of the steps prompt you to reflect on your own life and your church life. Being a new Christian meant it was all new to me. Another project asks you to take a passage from the Old and New Testaments and blend them. So, I took the story of Isaac and put that with the crucifixion. I used this as a basis for a sermon.

The course has really got me thinking, and I often put a project together and show my wife, Nancy. She will never give me the answers, but she offers advice. One of the projects focused on the different generations and how we can effectively appeal to them with the Gospel. So, I put together a presentation about how we can focus on the generation gap. Nancy loved it, and she could also see how much I had enjoyed this course.

She said: “The way they approach it is like a Bible course because Counties is telling you about being an evangelist, the church, the Bible, and faith.”

I have now put together a presentation and offered to visit other churches to encourage others to take the course. I have done it in my church as my pastor, and I would love to get different ‘would-be’ evangelists onto the course.

To find out more about the Connect Evangelist Training Programme, visit our training page by clicking here.