Invest & Invite
One of the church leaders and pastors that I pay attention to is Andy Stanley from North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA, and one thing he and his church are really clear about is their strategy for reaching people that are far away from God. It’s not complicated. In fact, it’s very simple and it’s summed up in three words: INVEST AND INVITE. The big idea here is that the church should be serving as a partner with regular attenders to reach the unchurched in their community. Willow Magazine once summarized it this way:
“Stanley describes how North Point’s invest-and-invite strategy has made it safe for hundreds of seasoned, but scared believers to get back into the game. Instead of training North Point’s members in the art of personal evangelism, Stanley instructs them to invest in the lives of unbelievers with the express purpose of inviting them to an event where they will be exposed to the gospel in a clear, creative and compelling manner [North Point Community Church]. Stanley believes there is still a need for evangelistic training, but North Point’s evangelistic strategy is not dependent upon that training. It is dependent upon purposeful relationships. What North Point has discovered is far more personal evangelism takes place if believers feel the freedom to invite their unbelieving friends to church. It is easier to invite people to an event than it is to confront them about their personal belief system. It is easier to include them in on something you are excited about than to convince them that their entire world-view is incorrect. While North Point does not do “seeker services,” they do design their weekend services with the “investee” in mind.”
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately.
We know from our experience, the stories we hear and the feedback we get that at Evergreen, while we’re always a work in progress, we have made some in-roads at creating an environment where un-churched people will be exposed to the gospel in a clear, creative and compelling manner and often times respond in a positive way. We aren’t perfect at it and we’re constantly learning how to do this better. But we have seen some amazing things happen when people who are far away from God experience the worship, the messages and the community life at Evergreen. We’ve INVESTED in making those environments a reality and we’re constantly tweaking them to make them better.
But our investment needs to go beyond a church service or a menu of programs that people can pick through. We need to be investing in relationships with PEOPLE, specifically people who need the love of God in their life and who God has placed in our path to reach out to. If reaching the people in your family and your world for Christ is dependent upon the purposeful relationships you have (and it is!), then how “on purpose” are you INVESTING in them? How are you doing at this whole “invest and invite” thing? Are you investing in relationships and inviting others to church where they will hear the gospel presented in a clear, creative and compelling way? Or do we sometimes get a little lazy and think that the church will somehow do this for us by magic and happenstance? How personally do we take Jesus’ command to go into all the world and make disciples? Are you praying for anybody that’s far away from God these days? Are you reaching out to the people around you? Or are you only half-invested in the cause of Jesus in the world and you’re waiting for someone else to do the job?
For me, investing and inviting means that I have to get even more intentional about the ways I invite people to church. I love the people around me too much to not tell them about this amazing gift that we’ve been given in Jesus. So this week, I’m making the commitment: No more laziness. No more thinking its someone else’s job. No half-hearted commitment when it comes to Jesus, because Jesus doesn’t have a half-hearted commitment to me. I’m going to invest and invite. How about you? Who are you going to invest in and invite this week?
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