Jun
24
How to Invite Your Friends to Church, Pt.3
ByOnce you and I have prepared for the invite, now we are ready to engage in some practical ways to invite our friends to church:
Practical Ideas:
- Looks for needs and ways to meet those needs. The old adage “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is so true.
- Hand people a series INVITE CARD (we typically provide these at the weekend gathering for anyone who wants one). The best time to invite people to church is for the beginning of a new series, like this weekend at The Dialogue Church we launch HOW TO SURVIVE THE END OF THE WORLD.
- Ask people to check out the church website. If you want to get a quick view on the “look and love” of our church, then got to the website at www.theDC.tv. This can also help first time guests prepare for their first visit.
- Suggest to a friend that they listen online to one of the sermons from Sunday. You can always find that at www.theDC.tv/listen. Or download and burn a sermon to a CD and hand it to them, a lot of people are looking to use their “commute” time in a positive and life building kind of way. Find something that would speak to a need in their life. We keep an archive of all of our messages.
- Tell a friend about theDC Fan Page at www.theDC.tv/Facebook – ask them to become a fan or to LIKE THIS page. This is an easy way to show the personality of our faith community.
- Bring a friend to a fun event that the church is holding, such as the FIREWORKS & FRIENDS night on July 3rd at 8pm. For more info visit www.theDC.tv/facebook.
- Give your friend a book that you think will help them in their life or peak their curiosity about the spirituality of Jesus. Everybody loves free stuff, so why not give them something for free that will help them navigate the difficult terrain of divine truth.
- Take them out for coffee, buy them a drink and share your personal story of coming to faith in Jesus Christ, or share a way that God has blessed you or helped you overcome a big struggle in your life.
- Read the book, the Master’s Way of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman or another great book on personal evangelism is “Becoming a Contagious Christian” by Bill Hybels.
- Listen to Pastor Steve’s messages from the series COMFORTABLE (search at www.theDC.tv).
- Throw a block party, invite your neighbors, love on them, and give away free stuff that has an invite card attached to it.
- Do some servant evangelism (or acts of kindness) in downtown Manchester (or in your neighborhood/community) and pass out INVITE CARDS along with your “acts of kindness.”
What are some creative and practical ways you have invited your friends to meet Jesus through the local church?
One avenue to share the Gospel with people is to genuinely become interested in what they are interested. There can always be a point of connection between something one is into and the Gospel (you may have to do some examining and thinking, but there is always at least some vague connection you can make to the Gospel). Now, I want everyone to understand that they should AUTHENTICALLY seek to become interested in what the other person is interested. You don’t have to do this because you necessarily like what they like, but you can do it because you really do love that individual. (A great example is Paul in Acts 17, when he decides to quote philosophers and poets familiar to his Gentile audience rather than his typical custom of quoting the Old Testament when with his Jewish homies.) When you do this, I would advise that you should not have your motive invested in “getting the other person to think like you” or “getting the other person to ascribe to your religious ideology.” Be motivated by genuine love for God and neighbor. In this light, you will genuinely care about introducing Jesus to them and care about them as people (regardless if they wind up agreeing with you and following Jesus). I cannot say it enough: love, love, love…inspired by love, we can essentially do no wrong. “Love, and do as you will” said Augustine. No matter what our strategies may be, (though we should be wise and thoughtful in our approaches, as Pastor Steve points out brilliantly) if we are inspired by genuine love for God and people – the only thing that matters (Matthew 22:37-39; I Corinthians 13:1-3) – then we shall be successful in inviting our peeps to Jesus, even IF they wind up deciding against Him.
I love it Ian. You always have such a genuine approach to the spirituality of Jesus, His unchanging Word, and how we can go about speaking the truth of the gospel while administering the love of the gospel! You are a man who truly desires to lay down your life for Jesus & your friends! May we continue in that pursuit together!