Do you want to come to see the new Star Wars movie with me?
Do you want to come to my house for dinner?
Do you want to come to the park with me and the kids?
Do you want to come to the dog park with me?
Do you want to come to the gym with me?
Every day we make personal invitations to others and as we do we invite them into our lives. Into things that matter to us. Into things that interest us. Into things that may interest them too.
Just this week a member of staff said to me, “Do you want to come and see the new Sushi place on Queen St with me?” I felt excited by the opportunity and off we trotted together to check it out and as it turned out, we bought lunch and it was good! We talked, we ate, we did a little bit of life together.
The personal invite mattered and it was powerful.
If he had sent me a text message saying, “Dear staff, I’m heading to the new sushi place. Wanna come?” I would have weighed up how busy I was, what I packed from home and then decided whether to go or not. But the personal made the invite powerful. Do you want to come with me?
If he had posted a message on FB, “Hey staff, heading to sushi. Want to come?” I probably would have missed the invite. But the personal made the invite powerful. Do you want to come with me?
If he had written a note, coloured it in, and left it on my desk for me to find, frankly I would think he had gone bananas. But the personal made the invite powerful. Do you want to come with me?
Christmas provides you with the easiest opportunity in the year to invite your friends to hear about Jesus. Everyone loves Christmas.
You could invite them by text, but it is so easy to say no via text.
You could share a FB event but they may miss it or ignore it.
You could just drop a coloured flyer in their letterbox but if they know you go to church they may think it weird you didn’t at least knock on the door.
Or, you could ring them and invite them.
Would you like to come to church with me on Christmas Eve/Day?
The personal invite is very powerful. It says, this matters to me and I want it to matter to you. it is also proven to be significantly more effective than any other invitational method.
So here is my Christmas week challenge. Make a personal invite. Choose a friend or neighbour, muster up the courage and then call or knock on their door and say: Would you like to come to church with me on Christmas Eve/Day?
They might just come. They might just hear about Jesus. They might just get saved.