“How Do You Invite?”

Monday, April 23, 2018

The Lord Jesus Christ offered this invitation. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). He simply invited people to “come.”

When two disciples began to follow Christ, they asked Him where He was staying. His answer was uncomplicated, “Come and see” (John 1:38-39). He invited them to “come.”

When Philip heard the Lord and went to tell Nathanael that he had found the Messiah, Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And Philip said to him, “Come and see” (John 1:46). Philip asked Nathanael to “come.”

The Samaritan woman became convinced through her personal discussion of spiritual matters with Jesus that He was truly the Christ and she went back to her friends and acquaintances and told them, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). She just invited those closest to her to “come.”

The New Testament ends with a similar offer. “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

All too often, we want to take what is very simple and make it much more complex. We read books like “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” We study the latest sales techniques to figure out more clever ways to package the gospel. We bring in the latest “Personal Evangelism” specialist in the brotherhood for a weekend gospel meeting. And, all of that is fine. There can be some value to those approaches.

But, the bottom line is really that we just have to invite them. We have to learn how to overcome our reservations and fears and just open our mouths around our friends, neighbors, co-workers, family members, fellow students, and ask them to “come.” This is one of those areas of life where, when all is said and done, too often much more is said than done.

The most successful efforts we will make along these lines are with those we know well. “Cold call” selling is not very productive in the business world, although this does work occasionally. Knocking on doors in a given neighborhood may produce a few meager results (hence, the unflagging zeal of our Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness friends). But, by far, the people we know and have already developed a relationship with are going to be our best “prospects” for reaching with the gospel.

But, at some point, we just have to swallow hard and say, “Come and see.”

There are some practical suggestions we can make to help you develop this courage.

• Be yourself. Don’t try to come up with some fancy, slick sounding sales presentation. A simple, “I’d love to have you  to come to our services this Sunday” is really all you need. When you are friends with someone, it will be harder for them to turn you down than to throw away a flyer from the church that they get in the mail.

• Use special services, like gospel meetings or Vacation Bible School, to invite. Let them know the theme of the week or the specific topic on particular nights. Tell them, “We are going to have a sermon this Tuesday evening that I think will help you as a parent to train your children in the right way. I know I need that and I’d like for you to hear it also.”

• If they don’t come to that service, follow up by handing them a CD of the sermon and say, “I know you couldn’t make it the other night, so I made you a copy of the lesson. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.” And then, be sure to follow up on that. Let them know regularly when a class or sermon would be useful for them. Don’t be pushy, but do be persistent.

• Mention the church’s website and point out some of the things on it that might help them spiritually.

• Be excited about the local church where you are a member. Mention exciting things that happen from time to time. If you can show them the difference that being a member of Christ’s church has made in your life, maybe they will realize that there is something good for them there also.

We need to just focus on those we know and love. They will appreciate our sincerity, they have seen our lives up close for years, and they will not think we are inviting them out of some impure motive.

Three words might be all it takes to set someone on a path that will lead them to heaven. Three words can change an eternal destiny. Three words can save more souls than we can ever imagine. “Come and see.”

--Roger Hillis

Biblical Insights

January 2009   

Share