I'm feeling a little bit conflicted. As the temperature started to dip below freezing and the weather man uses the “S” word, I have to admit that I am less than thrilled. I've really never been a fan of cold weather. But I love this time of year! In some ways it is the wonderful time of the year. (Admit it, you just started singing to yourself!)
If you right click to save this image, you can share it on social media.
One of the reasons I love this time of year is because it is a great time to share our faith by extending an invitation. This past Sunday we held our veterans service. I was thrilled to see how many of you invited guests to join us for that special service where we could honor our veterans and pray for our active duty military. In a couple of weeks we will hold our community Thanksgiving dinner. Another wonderful opportunity for invitation and outreach.
Then of course comes the Christmas season. Christmas is far and away one of our greatest opportunities to invite unchurched friends and neighbors to come and experience the love of Christian community and the hope of Jesus. Of course, there is never a bad time to invite people. But the Christmas season is a time when people are even often more open, more receptive, to that invitation. In fact, I read a study recently from LifeWay research that reported the 60% of Americans will attend church during the Christmas season. But more importantly, among those do not normally attend, 57% said they would be likely to attend if someone they knew invited them. Those sound like pretty good odds to me!
So I would like to ask you to do three things.
Think. Who do I know that does not have a church home? Who among my family and friends would be blessed to connect to our church family and begin a walk with Christ?
Pray. Begin to pray that God would open a door of opportunity for you to share that invitation. And pray that God would already be moving in the hearts of those people, that they would be receptive to an invitation.
Invite. Be bold! Take a step. Invite them to be your guest for Christmas Eve, or for one of the Sundays leading up to Christmas.
As a church, we are going to do all we can to support you. We are going to provide resources for invitation (digital and print.) We are going to prepare great services so your guest will have the best possible experience. And we will provide great hospitality so they will experience a warm Rock welcome that will make them feel right at home. But the one thing that only you can do is extend that personal invitation. After all, these are your friends, your family, your neighbors and co-workers.
Think. Pray. Invite. If you will follow those simple steps you could be a part of a life-changing experience for someone you love. Let's make the most of this most wonderful time of the year.
God bless,
Pastor Steve