Inviting the Lost to Church 3
Oct 5th, 2007 | By art rogers | Category: Church, General Christian, MissionalFinishing up from the previous discussions, Inviting the Lost to Church 1, and Inviting the Lost to Church 2…
I probably tipped my hand to some degree in the second post. I am not opposed to inviting the lost to church, given that you do it at the right time. Most of the people who are adamantly in favor of inviting the lost to church – “I know that they’ll hear the Gospel preached…” – betray a worldview that is rooted firmly in the churched culture of years gone by.
I grew up – and so have they, it would seem – in a time when church was a part of American culture, particularly in the south. When church is something everyone does, then inviting the lost to church is not unfamiliar ground for them and they are apt to possibly accept your invitation.
I never will forget our DOM in Kentucky inviting a guy to a tent revival our association was having. First of all, the fact that we were having a tent revival was celebrated wildly by the old country churches of the association. They were reveling in the past as if by re-enacting it would bring the results they once also enjoyed. The plan was to get all of the lost of the county to come to the revival so they could hear the message, but they weren’t interested. The churches were a bit perplexed, but they enjoyed themselves immensely, so they considered it a success.
The young man was a new manager at Wal-Mart and had just moved in to town. We had hooked up with him on the golf course. The DOM said, “Hey you ought to come out to the tent revival we’re having. You’ll hear some good singin’ and good preachin’.” The guy looked at us like we were aliens and sighed deeply. That’s not the end of the story, but I’ll move on at this point.
The reality is that, as Thom Rainer has pointed out (quoting Reggie McNeal) less than 10% of bridgers/millineals have ANY connection to church. It makes no sense to invite people to a place that is completely foreign to them in order that they should hear the Gospel.
Are we going to require them to adapt to our church culture before they can become Christians? That is what it is to ask them to attend church to hear the Gospel. I want to move on, but that is just what Paul was arguing against when he argued against the Judiazers. You don’t have to come to culture – even church culture – to come to Jesus. Even those who argue for inviting them to church aren’t sold on the idea. They say they wouldn’t invite them to business meeting. Why? Because it is not interesting or relevant. Well, that is the way the lost perceive all of church in a culture that is no longer church based.
Why is it that we can’t have a conversation with them about God right there? Why must they come to church to hear the Gospel. Why can’t the church come to them? When you have a conversation shaped toward God, you are being the church instead of doing church. In that light I would say, sure, invite the lost to church – have a conversation with them about God and they’ve been to church.
Barring that, though, it doesn’t make sense to expect that the lost of our society would have any reason to be in church. Since it is foreign to almost all of the upcoming generation, they are not likely to be interested, they don’t need to be there to hear the Gospel since you can share it with them, but, finally, the lost are incapable of worshiping God or enjoying the fellowship that the body has with itself, since they aren’t part of the body.
When a person accepts Jesus as their Lord, they are going to be drawn to the body. They will want to be with the body and they will seek it out already formed or they will attempt to form a version on their own. It is only natural for a Christian to seek out other Christians for fellowship, inspiration and nurture.
In other words, we are putting the cart before the horse – especially now that church is not something that is a part of their personal past.
Rephrasing what I said before, I am not against getting the lost into church, but asking them to the institution rather than taking to them the organic body (that’s you) is not likely to be successful. Moreover, as Bart said in the comments of the first post, it is most likely to kill the conversation. According to statistics, I think you will find that to be the case in increasing fashion as the years go by from this point on.
[edit: late addition]
I wanted to add that churches that are having small group meetings in homes throughout the week are much more likely to actually get someone who is lost to that meeting of the structured church. House churches are a distinct alternative, but not necessarily more likely to be successful in drawing lost people into their organized worship time without tricking them – and anyone that thinks that falsehood is going to win over the lost is out of their mind, as well as being out of the direct command of God for the way we should live.
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Good thoughts, Art.
I was a transplant to the Bible belt and one of those millennials who had no idea why I should go to church. People looked at me like I was Satan when I told them that I didn’t go to church on Easter. Why go to church when I don’t go all year long? It seemed silly. I remember distinctly my English teacher lecturing me on the importance of going to church (yes, my public school teacher), but not once in the whole conversation did Jesus come up. You’d think if she had enough guts to tell me to go to church in a public school, she’d have enough guts to say, “Hey, you need Jesus.” It was another two years before the Lord rescued me.
From that time forward, I have always bristled at the constant exhortation, “Bring your friends to church.” To me, that’s like asking someone who speaks Hindi to come to meeting of people who speak Russian. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop now. Great post!
Grace and peace,
Emily
Art,
I have found it depends greatly on the person you are trying to reach with the gospel.
If the person has some background I invite them to Bible study. (Sunday School) Of course, you have to have a real Bible study to invite them, not the jokes that pose as Bible study in so many churches today. You have to have a group in the Bible study that will intergrate the visitor into the group. I don’t worry so much about them “staying” for worship in the beginning. If the Bible study group does its job they will be in worship in due time.
If a person has no background whatsoever I try to develop a relationship wherein I can share the gospel as a friend rather than a “preacher” at the proper time. (Evangelism according to Charlie is to never fire at a target until it is in range. Firing to soon will only cause a miss and the target will “go back to the bush.” :-)
There is another group to which ministry is really tricky. That group is folks that have been active in some church and got “beat up” for one reason or another. I never invite those people to church. You don’t ask a guy to go back and feed the dog that bit him. The person that has been injured in his soul has to be developed with a real concern. As healing comes they may return to their former church. If so your ministry is not in vain. You have restored a brother. He may come to your church. If so I believe the intergration into a Bible study group is still best for this person. He will come into the larger fellowship of the worship service as his development progresses.
This method will not get the highest Baptism trophy from the association or state convention each year, but it does make a difference in the Kingdom. I guess we just have to choose from whom or WHOM we want to hear an “atta-boy.”
cb
Hi. I just discovered this series of articles from one of your comments at Timmy Brister’s blog. Great stuff!
I’m not sure it’s possible to invite lost people to church, since church is something we ARE rather than something we attend. And what we ARE is a completely different realm or category than the non-Christian (the natural man). Paul wrote, “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
I love your story about the tent revival. Yee-haw! I betcha they even created a “sawdust trail” for people to “come to Jesus!” How laughable, isn’t it? And I loved your assessment of the local churches when they found out no one wanted to come: “The churches were a bit perplexed, but they enjoyed themselves immensely, so they considered it a success.” Sad, really sad, but it points to the mindset that can be found throughout the evangelical world.
I hope you don’t mind if I link to this series from my blog.
Blessings,
Bill Lollar
The Thin Edge of the Wedge
Emily – High praise and a great example of what I was talking about.
CB – Great thoughts about when you can “shoot” your ammo. Also, I hadn’t thought of those burned by church, but in a formerly churched culture, there may be many who are lost AND formerly churched.
Bill – I agree with the application of 1 Cor. 2:14 completely. Also, and I would like to expand on this some more, the evangelism via the church model is a holdout of the old Finney revivalism – man centered, emotion driven, and, in my opinion, backwards. It’s my privilege to have you link to these articles. Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Art,
I just read your post and have to say it is on target with my understanding of what evangelism is all about. I call it “gossiping the gospel” and to do this we have to see ALL involved in sharing the gospel as we GO in our daily lives. This would, of course, involve the Church equipping people with ways and means whatever those are. But that sees the gathered Church as more of an equipping station [place] and a healing station [relationships] so we can be salt and light effectively as a scattered Church rather than an evangelism station.
I agree with Bill. We are failing the people when we identify the Church as an institution or an organization to which one comes. We are that Organism that produces His Unique Life through His Spirit wherever WE are on a daily basis. That was the observable reality I see in the pages of scripture especially the book of Acts.
What a great post and great comments! You might want to check out this site http://www.christianunityministries.org/bookstore.asp, which describes a new book written for people who have been hurt by a church. The book, Trusting God’s People Again, is written by my attorney son, Blake Coffee, and Debbie Williams of Hill Country Ministries in Texas. Blake has a ministry of unity in the Body of Christ which is being used by the Lord internationally. I know this is a shameless plug, but the book truly is good. I am really blessed by reading what all of you are saying.