“And I always make sure I invite some people who I’m fairly sure will say no.” I heard this little off-the-cuff sentence from Melinda Dwight (former Director of Alpha Australia) two years ago, and it’s stayed with me ever since.
Inviting is an important part of being a sacred agent. We all have our different gifts, ministries and settings, but at the end of the day – in fact all day – we represent the One who is inviting people everywhere into his kingdom. The gospel is news – and it’s also an invitation.
As representatives of Jesus, we want to be as inviting as he is, whether that be inviting others to lunch, to youth group, home group, Alpha or a church service. Is our invitation as genuine, warm, strong, and gentle as his? And importantly, is it as wide?
When we think about inviting, or are encouraging others to invite, so often our thought process goes like this: Can I think of one person among my contacts, who may be likely to be interested? And our minds are drawn to those most Christ-adjacent.
But Jesus’ kingdom doesn’t work like that. Surely we know that he doesn’t only invite those already closest to him. Saul of Tarsus certainly wasn’t. The kingdom is full of unlikelies. And even those who do indeed say no, No, or NO need to know that they are invited. The invitation itself plants a seed.
Imagine how things would change if we shifted the norm from ‘thinking of one person to invite’ to ‘putting the word out to all our contacts’:
- We’d be almost certain to see a lot more people joining us
- A great many Australians would be receiving multiple invitations, and what would they make of that?
We know that a lot Australians are interested in Jesus. Where their blockage is a sense that they don’t qualify or wouldn’t be welcome, what’s needed is an invitation. It needn’t be high-pressure, it could be as simple as a text message like this:
Hello everyone I know within cooee: Our church at West Beach is starting a new series through John’s gospel this week. Also an Alpha Course starting Aug 21. Let me know if you’d like to come along – or surprise me there! Just know you’re definitely invited.
In Jesus’ teaching, the Sower spreads the seed very broadly, and the fisher casts a wide net, not just a single line. How wide is the net you’re casting?
*Andrew Turner is Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries.
Photo by Cassiano Psomas on Unsplash
