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One Invitation at a Time
Your members hold the most effective outreach tool your church has, and it costs nothing but a personal invitation.
100 Strong reports that 70 to 80 percent of new attenders came because someone they trusted invited them, and nine of ten visitors who stayed came with a friend.
Conversion is where the invitation counts most. Church Answers puts the average U.S. church at one conversion for every 85 people in weekly attendance, against a healthy ratio of 20 to 1. These numbers leave room for your church to grow in care for its neighbors.
Invitation grows a church in more than attendance because members who invite also pray for their neighbors, practice hospitality, and talk about their faith. And consistent, long-term presence is so important here. Visitors typically attend about four outreach events over one to two years before they come to a service. Steady welcome builds a church.
Three steps this week:
Pray-walk your neighborhood. Before your next outreach event, walk the blocks around your church with a few members and pray for the people who live there.
Teach a 60-second testimony. Help your people articulate their three-part story: life before, receiving Christ, life after. Practice it aloud at your next group meeting.
Describe evangelism as “bringing and including.” Use this phrase when you talk about what members do for friends. Language shapes culture.
Lifeway Research found that 56 percent of Americans who do not usually attend at Christmas would likely come if someone they know invited them. Christmas is about ten weeks away. Have your people consider who they can ask this year.
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Ministry Intel
Sam Romine writes that expositional preaching and preaching for conversion fit together. He points to the prophets and to Paul, who expected unbelievers in the gathering (1 Cor. 14:23-25). His advice: leave a truth or question that stays with hearers, distinguish between believers and unbelievers, and pray and plead for their faith in Christ.
This week: Add one direct word to someone who does not yet follow Jesus in Sunday’s sermon.
What the New Wave of Pastors Will Look Like | Church Answers
Sam Rainer describes the leaders who revitalize churches: optimistic, outwardly focused, prayerful, accountable, and willing to stay. He writes that a church rarely becomes evangelistic unless its pastor leads the effort. The future of revitalization, he says, depends on better-prepared leaders as well as better methods.
This week: Invite one person to church and tell your congregation how it went.
Growth Toolkit
Online giving, recurring tithes, and event RSVPs with no platform or processing fees. Use event tickets to collect guest details at outreach events. Free.
A course where guests watch talks and discuss life and faith together. Alpha Youth serves students. Hosting is free, and training videos come with a MyAlpha account.
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