Let's Make It Personal

I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago about church leadership.  One of the best things I got out of it did not come from one of the speakers.  One of the best things I got out of it came from a discussion at our table.  

We were talking about trying to reach more people, which is something pretty much every church wants to do.  What was said was that, when we talk about church growth, we tend to talk about programs and events that are designed to draw people to church.  The discussion went on to say that there’s nothing wrong with programs and events, but if we really want our churches to grow, there’s nothing that beats a good, old-fashioned one-to-one personal invitation.  

That’s really the primary way to draw people to church:  give them a personal invitation.  The events and the programs can help with that.  They can be a hook:  “Hey, we’d love to have you in church this week.  And by the way, this is going on right after the service.  You’d really enjoy it.”  But the most important thing is not the event or the program.  The most important thing is the one-to-one personal invitation.

Why don’t we give more of those personal invitations?  Well, we’re afraid.  But what are we afraid of?  Mostly, I think, it’s two things.  One is that we’re afraid of being rejected.  And the other is that we’re afraid that someone will be offended.

On the first point, I understand.  No one likes to be rejected.  But I remember a friend I had in Wessington Springs, a man who went to a different church than I do.  He said his church believed that, most of the time, it will take twenty invitations before someone actually starts coming to church.  So, if he asked someone and they didn’t come, he was not bothered.  He figured maybe that was the fourth invitation, or the seventh, or the thirteenth.  So, he had not failed.  Instead, he had succeed!  He had moved that person that much closer to the time when they were going to say yes.

On the second point, I think we make more of that than we should.  Is anyone really going to be offended that we invited them to church?  Sure, if we do it so often that we make a nuisance of ourselves, I suppose possibly someone could be offended.  But to just ask them once in a while?  What could be offensive about that?  I mean, is someone really going to get all upset and tell everyone, “Do you know what those church people did?  They invited me to one of their services!  How dare they!”

It doesn’t seem very likely.  And besides, what’s the risk?  They’re not coming now.  If someone gets offended, what are they going to do?  Really, really not come?

This is something everyone can do.  We all know people who are not going to church anywhere.  They may be our friends.  They may be our neighbors.  They may be our co-workers.  They may be people who don’t see a lot, but have gotten to know through social media.  They may even be people in our own family.

This is something anyone can do.  You can do it even if you’re a shut-in.  You may not physically be able to take someone to church with you, but you can still personally invite someone to church.  Do you have children who are not going to church?  How about grandchildren?  How about great-grandchildren?  Do you ever talk to them?  Well, then invite them to come to church.  Do you have people who come in and help with your care?  Invite them to come to church.  If you need a hook to invite them, invite them when there’s something special going on at the church.  If you don’t know what’s going on at the church, give me a call.  I’ll be happy to let you know.

This is something we all can do.  It’s something we all need to do. Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations.  The only way we can go and make disciples is to talk to people.  The only way we can reach more people is to personally invite them in.  So let’s do that.  

Remember, this is not something we do for ourselves.  It’s something we do for others.  Think about how much being part of a church helps you.  Do you think other people would be helped in that same way?  I do.  When we think of it that way, inviting people to come to church, inviting them to hear God’s word and to feel God’s love, is the nicest, most loving thing we can do for anyone.

Think of some people you know who are not going to church anywhere and give them a personal invitation to come.  Don’t be afraid, and don’t give up.  If we all do this, God will bless our efforts.  And we will be making disciples of Jesus Christ.