The Benefits of Giving an Invitation Every Sunday

I had been hearing that churches are finding a greater level of effectiveness by providing an invitation to follow Christ as a part of every Sunday gathering. So, there I was at one of our churches in the district and I decided to take a deep breath and give it a shot at the end of the sermon. It took a little bit of faith and courage.

To my surprise and delight two hands popped up during the invitation.

After the service, I had a short conversation with each of them. The first person was visiting from out of province with friends in the church, so there was already a built-in follow-up relationship in place. The other person had been attending but wasn’t clear on whether she had yet crossed the line of faith, and I was able to call over a young leader in the church to pray with her and get her relevant resources.

What would it look like if we “went fishing” more often (as my wife likes to say) by giving regular opportunities for people to follow Christ? What if people are more spiritually hungry and ready than we may have imagined?

Pastors that are doing this effectively are simply taking three minutes at the end of each sermon (before or after their application to believers) to find a way to connect the sermon to unbelievers, to give a brief invitation, and to provide a way for them to indicate that they are ready. That simple.

But it does take courage because there will be many Sundays when perhaps no hands pop up. In that case we need to endure, and we need to get very secure in Jesus!

If you are considering making this change to your approach (even if for a few months as an experiment) here are a few benefits to consider:

1. It positions you to see more salvations.

2. It teaches your people how to share the gospel succinctly and creatively.

3. It teaches your people that your church is a place to invite seekers.

4. It helps to make good use of all of the ‘sowing’ and ‘watering’ that your church is doing in outreach so that you can see a ‘harvest’.

5. It helps you to not miss people who may be visiting on a regular Sunday where a gospel message is not normally planned (i.e., Easter).

6. It stretches your faith.

7. It leads to joy as you welcome people into the mercy of God.

Happy fishing!