Inviting Your Friends
Most people who visit a church event do so not because they woke up some morning and decided, "I need to get back to God!" but because someone in their life, often a spouse, many times a close friend or relative, invited them to be a part of something.
That's been our experience, too.
At Mercy Hill's first preview service, several people visited our community for the first time. As far as I can tell, all of them did so because they were personally invited by someone who has already identified with our church family.
Some were invited and were not able to come. I wonder if they will be invited again?
Our next preview service is on April 11. We are meeting every Sunday night between now and then--this week, in Mullica Hill. Please remember that our mission is to reach people--people along all points of the spectrum of spiritual maturity and openness--with authentic lives.
As a community, as a family, our goal is to be reaching out to others who don't go to church, who have dropped out of church, or who are exploring their faith.
Reaching out can take a lot of different forms; they all involved either inviting people into your life, or finding ways to be invited into theirs.
As you do, remember that Jesus has done the same for you.
Phil Henry
Speaking of "inviting your friends," a fellow church planter and friend, Josh Reich, planting Revolution Church in Tucson, has ten good ideas on how to use "invite cards."
Polly or I will try to bring some invite cards to our Crowded House on Sunday evening. Check out Josh's ideas--and see if his inspire you to think of some of your own.
In particular, I agree with his statistic: most people who visit us do so by way of invitation.