This past Sunday I challenged everyone to bring at least 1 person with you to our Easter Service on April 5th. (If you missed that message, you can watch it here.) I truly believe that if we take this challenge seriously, Jesus is going to move in people’s lives like we’ve never seen!
However, before you can INVITE someone either to church or to step into a relationship with Jesus you must INVEST in a your relationship with them. People really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I thought I would help everyone with a few creative ideas on how to invest in your friends, family and neighbors to build a relationship with them. Remember, 99% of the time before someone steps into a relationship with Jesus they have a good relationship with a Jesus follower
Coffee and Donuts
Take your co-workers coffee and donuts one morning in the next week. When they ask why you’re doing that, just tell them you wanted to show them how much you appreciate what they do each day. Who knows, Jesus may present an opportunity to invite them to church.
Game Night
One of the best ways to get to know your neighbors or co-workers is to have some people over for a game night and invite them along! You guys will get to know each other better and they’ll get to know some other people. It’s an extra bonus if the other folks you invited come to Resonate. It’s a great way to introduce your unchurched friend to people they’d see if they came to church. It really helps to break the ice and who knows, someone else may invite them too! There is strength in numbers!
Gym Class
Take a class at the gym to meet new people. If you make it a habit to go to the same class regularly you’ll notice other people who also do that! Pretty soon you can begin striking up conversations with them and find out more about them. Remember, being INTERESTED is much more important than being INTERESTING. Ashley Barrett did this with a class at LA Fitness. She met a couple that attended the same class, and they’ve struck up a pretty good friendship. She’s tried inviting them a couple times to church and I believe it’s just a matter of time before they say yes!
Do some yard work for a neighbor
Offer to mow the grass, rake the leaves, or clean out the gutters for a neighbor. Use that as a platform to give them an invite card and invite them to church!
Make Easter baskets for your neighbors
We did this a couple years ago and stuffed the Easter baskets with some goodies. We wrote each of our neighbors a card inviting them to church and included an invite card with all the service information. We actually had a couple who lives in our cul-de-sac attend our Easter service that year! That one interaction initiated a relationship that we still have today!
Offer lunch
Offer the folks your inviting to take them to lunch after church. Don’t worry, if you bring people and promise to take them to lunch, we’ll let you skip out on load-out that week! It’s a win that you convinced people to come to church! Now, some of you may be like, “Davey, that’s a lot to take them out to lunch.” My only question back to you is, “What’s it worth to you to see your friends/family come to know Jesus?”
These are just a few practical things that could help you as you invite people to our Easter Service, but they would work for ANY Sunday! I want our church to be a group of people that are constantly and consistently inviting people to an environment where they can meet Jesus! Every week since we moved to Northview Middle we’ve had someone receive Christ, and I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg for what Jesus has for us!
THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!
– Davey Blackburn
Davey Blackburn is the lead pastor of Resonate Church. You can find him on Twitter at @daveyblackburn.