Inviting someone to Church

Salty....While seeking a lost person to attend a church service usually should involve more than merely asking that person to come to a certain church service, IMHO that by itself might rule out certain Christian individuals from actually attending a church service themselves. EXAMPLE: A shut-in who cannot physically attend ANY corporate church her-/himself. What exactly do you propose such an individual as this? And then what about a person who is in the armed forces who is deployed for an extended time period. How can you expect that person to accompany his next door foxhole GI buddy to accompany him to a service at his local church (Which is located thousands of miles away!)? While I do see your point in wanting to reach out to someone who is lost, IMHO it'd be a whole lot better (& easier) to have one's own personal testimony be the thing that would attract a lost person to want to know Who made the difference(s) in one's own personal life.....wouldn't you?

 

Yes, Salty, today we do have modern media that's a big help....BUT, just like you, many people either don't have or can't afford it. Recent Covid-19-related surveys have found that there's a vast number of people that even the more modern media still can't reach. IMHO, although in general I don't like to see our tax $$'s used for individuals, this WOULD be a good way for Uncle Sugar to use this so-called "Covid-19 Relief Funds." As to the deployed GI, there NOW certainly are English-speaking churches in many parts of the world. OTOH, that deployed serviceman will more than likely would find himself deployed to an area where, even if there are English-speaking churches in his deployed area, the local government(s) probably would severely restrict him from attending any of those church's services (& with our government heads we now have, those officials most likely wouldn't allow him to visit those churches anyway!). Thank the Lord for tracts!! I use them as often as I can. In my local area, I still recall handing them out to the children who came to my door on Halloween. Other national holidays can provide another good outreach vehicle for using tracts to good use. This past Sunday (June 7, 2021) was the 77th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in France. My local church provided several opportunities not only for some of our own church's people, but also for others who happened to visit with us. Please continue to pray that our Lord will continue to bless our church's many outreaches here in middle TN. This coming Sunday, our "Men of Valor" outreach ("MofV" focuses on both men & women who've been incarcerated & then released to start a "New Life.") & later on this month (June 21-25) we again will hold our VBS, which not only attracts many children in our church's local area, but also their parents, many of whom are lost. God IS GOOD ALL THE TIME & AND ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!!

 

Sounds like the old lifestyle evangelism model.

 

Could you explain to me in detail what "Old Lifestyle evangelism" is? I do know that there have critics of what they call "Just Live One's Life as a Good, Moral person, but don't ever use the Bible!" type of "Christianity(?)." IMHO, that really isn't what I'd call witnessing. OTOH, the so-called "Button-Hole& Apply Tons Pressure" so that one can gloat about 'How God is using ME'." is, to me at least, just as repulsive a tactic too.

 

There was a program in the SBC in the 80s called "lifestyle evangelism."

 

Yeah, but I saw a truck load of teenagers get killed day after. Drunk in a truck wreck.

A lot of my friends got saved (really saved) at a Bailey Smith crusade. If you a good Southern Baptist, You know what sermon it was.

 

And, just think...Either that truck was driven by an Arminian driver who couldn't figure out God's "Road Map" (a/k/a "The Romans Road!") was telling him ,or maybe he was predestined in "Eternity Past" to run out of gas right before his truck "automatically" stopped running! .... Yah Think??!!??

 

I praise God for those old-time evangelistic crusades. Sure, some of them were pretty high-pressured ones & I remember reading of one of them actually had some of their own workers come forward just to merely count them as "Brand-New Converts." About the worst high-pressure tactic I actually witnessed was back in the late 1960s where the evangelist DID preach a fairly good "Soul-Winning" sermon. OTOH, his invitation hymn, "Just As I Am." would only be played 3 times. Why just 3 times? He merely stated that Peter denied Christ 3 times, so....if after 3 verses, all of us will PUBLICLY see who's a "Christ-Denier" in our audience. Guess which category I put myself in there!

 

Salty, What's even worse than that is when you hear this "Meek-and-Mild"(?) Evangelist proclaim: "Now see here people!! I know we've sung "Just as I Am" 95 times! But we're a gonna sing it 96 times until some lost person comes forward to this here 'Mourner's Bench'!!"

 

A separate room for counseling normally is fine, but what if the church is having "Dinner on the GROUNDS"?

 

First of all I agree with what Squire says... Make a friend first!... When talking to someone don't barge in with what you believe, affirm with the person you are talking to on common ground and reason with them from their common ground not yours... They have had life challenges just like you have, don't assume they haven't (we all know what the word assume means) and don't think they are not as intelligent as you are, just because you are scriptural smart, they maybe more street smart than you are... Its possible that you have been blessed more than they have... And when the opportunity arises that you can affirm, a scriptural truth, use the simplest one and don't try to impress the one you are talking to with your biblical expertise (save that for the BB and other mature Christians you interact with)... Regarding our faith and by all means remember, you are there to win the person not the argument!... The Lord is the soul winner, not YOU or ME!... Brother Glen

Btw... I don't approach a person thinking they are hell bound as some do but I approach a person who I feel would benefit from knowing a Heavenly Saviour and Guide, that has showed me more miracles in life than I could ever imagine... I can share that also, then I invite a person to church, to learn more about my Jesus!

 

Amen