Saturday, September 28, 2013

Extending an Invitation

It’s like a middle school dance. Everybody wants to dance, but nobody wants to ask.
Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'” (John 1:46) 

  Tomorrow, I will be concluding my three part sermon series on evangelism. This Sunday is Evangelism Sunday in the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) Though this will not end my efforts to engage the congregation more into outreach and evangelism, I hope I will spark your interest in learning more. Evangelism is a vital part of the life of the church and not just something we think about a once a year and say we have covered it. Evangelism is very important to the daily mission of the church. I will be posting on my blog in the next few weeks more thoughts and ideas about how the church can improve its work in evangelism.
 Tomorrow, I will be using a scripture reading from the Gospel of John in the first chapter where Jesus calls his disciples. He asks them to follow him and the simple phrase, “Come and See” is used. One of the simplest forms of outreach and evangelism in the church is the simple act of extending an invitation to our family, friends and neighbors to worship, to bible study, a picnic, or special event or other activities within the life of the church. Though a simple invitation is one of the simplest approaches to an overall church effort in evangelism. It is also one least used approaches by church members.
  The following video is called “I Invited” and it simply illustrates the power of extending an invitation to others and how far reaching a simple invitation can lead to others.




  It sounds obvious, but few people are doing it. In his book The Unchurched Next Door, Thom Rainer says that only 2% of church people ever invite someone to church. The answer most often given for why not, is we are afraid. And it’s not clear what we’re afraid of: 82% of the unchurched individuals are somewhat likely to attend worship if someone would just ask them.   So if you’re a person in the pew not inviting anyone to church, it’s time to ask why not. Maybe you’re scared they’ll say no, maybe you’re embarrassed of your church, maybe you just don’t think about it. Or maybe like a lot of us in Christian circles, you don’t think you have many unchurched friends you can invite.   If you’re just scared, find ways to make it less scary. First, select a few people you think you could invite and prayer for them and ask God to give you the opportunity to invite them without fear. Invite a friend to a special event instead of Sunday morning or find a mutual friend and tag team the invitation. In the scripture above, when Nathanael expresses his doubts about anything good coming out of Nazareth, namely Jesus, Philip does not engage Nathanael in a debate or discussion on the merits of people coming from Nazareth. Philip simply extends the invitation to Nathanael to “come and see” for himself about who Jesus is.

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