As we get ready to celebrate Easter around the world, it brings an opportunity for people close and far from God to step into church. The sad reality is, your friends will most likely never come to church due to one specific reason: you don’t invite them.
Research done by various institutions on the topic of church engagement concludes that a personal invitation is the number one most effective way to get someone you know to come to church. Here are some statistics for you as you consider inviting someone to church this year.
- 63% of Americans say a personal invitation from a friend or neighbor would be effective in getting them to visit a church
- 8 out of 10 people will say “yes” to a personal invite to church
- 7 out of 10 unchurched people have never been invited
- Only 2% of church members invite an unchurched person to church
Can we just stop for a second and talk about these statistics? Over HALF of Americans say that a personal invitation would be effective for them to visit a church. This is just from a survey prompt, it increases to 80% when a Christian actually asks them. Those are some pretty good odds when you think about taking a step of faith and sharing an invitation.
It’s crazy to think that 70% of unchurched people have never been invited to church. That means, of the people in your life that you know don’t go to church, most of them will never even be invited to attend church. We may assume they don’t want anything to do with God, and they never will if we don’t prompt the thought in their mind first by inviting them.
Finally, the saddest part in all of this is that only 2% of Christians ever invite an unchurched person to join them at their church. Next time you see a few hundred people in a church service, do the math. Perhaps a handful of people in the entire auditorium will invite someone to church this year. Considering the mandate Jesus gave us, this is pretty sobering.
Jesus left this earth and imparted his disciples with the Great Commission. Found in Matthew, Mark and Acts, Jesus tells us our purpose as his followers. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus tells his disciples to go to all nations and make disciples. They were, as we now are, instructed to teach them and train them to obey God’s commands. How can anyone know unless they are told?
Sharing our faith with others and inviting them into the family of God is not an optional thing. We are called, as Jesus’ followers, to do what he says. Since he has told us through his word the call that he has placed on those who call themselves his disciples, we need to follow through.
“Well you don’t know me, my personality is not very outgoing.” “I don’t think that person is ready.” “I’m more of an intercessor, I pray for them but I don’t talk to them about it.” These are all great excuses. Unfortunately, that’s all they are, excuses. Are there other parts of our Christian faith that we excuse because of our personality, upbringing, circumstance or personal beliefs? We cannot live as fully devoted followers of Jesus and neglect what he tells us to do! Sharing our faith and using our words to invite people to be a part of the church is not something we can neglect.
Times have changed where church attendance and inviting the people we knew to church was normal and accepted. People are more antagonistic toward Christian invitations than they were before. Imagine the disciples, preaching against a pagan culture that didn’t have the context of Jesus, the Bible and any established church. They took Jesus at his word and they let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
Who are you going to invite to church this year? Write their name down, tell a trusted friend or pastor, pray for them and when the moment is right, actually invite them to church. Tell them you’ll meet them at the door, sit with them and maybe even grab lunch or coffee to discuss what they thought about it. You never know what God can do through the power of a simple invitation, but you can rest assured that they most likely will never come unless you ask them.
