This morning I wish to address a question that many believers have, and that is “How do we get people to come to church?” First of all, it is important for us to realize something I once saw stated on a church sign. Where the pastor’s name is normally listed, someone had posted this: “Minister: Every Member.” It is of great significance for us to understand that Jesus has assigned each and every person in the body of Christ the task of carrying out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). When we come to understand this fact, then we will begin to ask, “What can I do?”
Maybe some of you are asking this question right now. Perhaps you feel a sense of responsibility to help people come to know Christ, and know the wonderful fellowship that exists among the believers in the local church. Perhaps when you ask, “What can I do?” thoughts of inadequacy enter your heart. I want to encourage you that getting people to come to church is not as difficult as we make it out to be. All it takes is for us to think of someone we know, and then to invite that person to church.
It has been stated that the number one reason people don’t go to church is because no one invited them. It is vital that we invite people to church, and it’s a simple task. Many of us will ask, “But who do I invite?” Well, it’s all about working within our daily network of relationships. We know more people than we think we do! I have entitled our message for this morning, “Inviting Who We Know.” This title conveys the simple truth that we all know people, and these are the individuals with whom we must focus our evangelism efforts.
Our Relatives and Friends (Acts 10:24, 44-48)
24 And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends . . . 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, 47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.
We see here that Cornelius invited his “relatives” and “close friends” (v. 24) to hear Peter speak (v. 44). We also read that what they heard Peter speak was “the word” (v. 44). If we look back to verse 36 we can see that Peter spoke about Jesus. In verse 39 Peter said they killed Jesus by hanging Him on a tree, which was the cross, and in verse 40 Peter declared, “Him God raised up on the third day . . .” The facts that Peter shared with Cornelius, according to 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, comprise what is called the gospel message – “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
Cornelius’ “relatives” and “friends” heard the gospel message preached, and we see here in verses 44-48 that it resulted in people being filled with the Holy Spirit. This takes place when we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We also see that they were baptized in the name of Jesus (vv. 47-48).
When researchers asked new converts, “What was the major influence in leading you to Christ and the Church?”, they responded like this: Church advertising two percent; the Pastor six percent; organized evangelism programs six percent; and friends and relatives eighty-six percent.(1) Our family members and friends are groups of people on whom we have an influence and can invite to church to hear the gospel preached; and when they hear the gospel message it will change their lives!
Let’s take a brief look at our relatives. Our family is one of the most difficult groups of people we can witness to; however, these are the ones we see most frequently in our lives. The thing is, we don’t necessarily have to witness to these people by ourselves. All we have to do is persuade them to come to church with us.
Allow me to share another example from the Bible of what can happen when our family gathers to hear the gospel. Concerning Paul and Silas preaching to the family of the Philippian jailer, Acts 16:31-33 tells us this: “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.” If we can get family members to come to church, and sit down and hear the preaching of the gospel, then they might just get saved and baptized!
Inviting people to church and even sharing the gospel begins in the home and with our family members. Everett Gavel says, “The Christian home is . . . by far the most powerful evangelizing agency in the world . . . By their gracious influence; Christian homes win more converts than all the preachers put together. Give us enough of them, and the world would soon be a Christian world.”(2) Begin thinking about all the individuals you know in your own family who don’t attend church anywhere, and ask them to come with you on High Attendance Sunday.
Now let’s focus on our friends. In Mark 5:18-19 we read, “And when He [Jesus] got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you’.” After this man was cleansed and made whole, to whom did Jesus send him? He was told to go to his friends!
For more than fifty years Billy Graham “has been helping believers share their faith through friendships . . . More than eighty percent who come to Christ at [the Billy Graham crusades] attend because a friend who knows Christ brought them.”(3) The plan utilized is called Operation Andrew, and it is based on John 1:40-42, which tells us, “One of the two men who followed Jesus after they heard John speak about him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and say to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ . . . Then Andrew took Simon to Jesus . . .” (NCV). In this passage we see that Andrew invited a family member, his brother; however over in John 6:8 it was Andrew that invited a young boy to meet Jesus, whose five loaves and two small fish Jesus used to feed five thousand.
Clayton Pepper states, “Friendship evangelism is the most effective and the simplest way for every Christian to bring people to the Lord. If we were to take a survey in most congregations, seventy-five to ninety percent would say a friend or relative led them to Christ.”(4) I encourage you to begin thinking about the friends you know who don’t attend church anywhere, and ask them to come with you on High Attendance Sunday.
Our Friends and Neighbors (Luke 15:8-9)
8 Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!”
This parable compares the salvation and redemption of a lost soul, to a woman finding a valuable lost coin. After this woman found her coin, she was so glad that she called together her “friends and neighbors” (v. 9) to celebrate with her; which tells us that we too should be so excited about winning people to Christ that we should tell our friends and neighbors when someone we know receives Jesus. We should also be inviting our friends and neighbors to know Jesus for themselves.
Since we have already discussed inviting friends to church, I want to focus on inviting neighbors.
One recent statistic says that “seventy-two percent of Americans don’t know their next-door neighbors.”(5) “The typical person knows on average less than three people on his own street or in his residence complex well enough to have a meaningful conversation about personal hopes, fears, or needs . . . America is a society that has largely lost the meaning of neighborhood. ‘Cocooning’ in our homes has become the prevalent lifestyle . . . This trend away from in-neighborhood relationships is not appreciably different for church-going Christians than for Americans in general.”(6)
I want to point out that our neighbors are not just the people who live in the homes situated next to us. In Luke 10:29, we read about a lawyer: “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” Jesus then shared the story of the Good Samaritan, in which the lawyer learned that a neighbor can be anyone around us whom we meet (Luke 10:30-37).
I want to share a story that will hopefully inspire us to become acquainted with our neighbors: “Catherine Booth was the ‘mother’ of the Salvation Army . . . One night, [Campbell] Morgan shared in a meeting with Mrs. Booth . . . After the meeting, Morgan and Mrs. Booth went to be entertained at a fine home; and the lady of the manor said, ‘My dear Mrs. Booth, that meeting was dreadful!’ ‘What do you mean, dearie?’ asked Mrs. Booth. ‘Oh, when you were speaking, I was looking at those people opposite to me. Their faces were so terrible, many of them. I don’t think I shall sleep tonight!’ ‘Why, dearie, don’t you know them?’ Mrs. Booth asked; and the hostess replied, ‘Certainly not!’ ‘Well, that is interesting,’ Mrs. Booth said. ‘I did not bring them with me from London; they are your neighbors’.”(7) Hopefully if we were to see one of our neighbors sitting in church beside us we wouldn’t be caught off guard because we didn’t know them!
Paul said in Galatians 5:14, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” James said, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well” (James 2:8). How well do you do? I wish to encourage you to begin thinking about the neighbors you already know who don’t attend church anywhere. Perhaps you need to consider the neighbors you don’t know, and begin building a relationship with them, so you can invite them to church on High Attendance Sunday.
Our Fellow Coworkers (Acts 18:1-3, 18a, 24-26)
1 After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. 3 So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers . . . 18 So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him . . .
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
I think it is easy to see the sequence of events listed in these verses. Paul began working with two individuals named Aquila and Priscilla who were “of the same trade” (v. 3) as himself, which was tent making (v. 3). During this time Paul had the opportunity to share his faith with them. Later, when Paul departed they both followed him (v. 18); therefore, he had even more time to teach them about Christ. Whenever we look at verses 24-26 we can see evidence of their newfound faith in Jesus and spiritual understanding as they counseled a new believer in the ways of God. Paul had a great influence on these two people, and the way he did it was by working the same occupation, or job, with them.
The Scripture shows us how we should be witnessing to our coworkers as well as friends, family, and neighbors. Os Hillman says, “Consider that of Jesus’ one hundred thirty-two public appearances in the New Testament, one hundred twenty-two were in the workplace. Of the fifty-two parables Jesus told, forty-five had a workplace context. Furthermore, Jesus spent His adult life working as a carpenter before He went into a preaching ministry. This is one of the more interesting observations about the life of Jesus. He did not begin His public preaching ministry until he spent His adult life serving mankind as a simple carpenter in His earthly father’s small business. If Jesus spent those ten to fifteen years in a workplace job, and only three years in public ministry, what does that say about the importance of work? God uses work to accomplish many things in the lives of His followers.”(8)
How many of us have contact with people on the job? Some people are retired, and others are self-employed; but how many of us work a public job in which we speak with coworkers each and every day? On the job is often where we meet the most people on a daily basis. I want you to begin thinking about the coworkers you know who don’t attend church anywhere, and ask them to come with you to church on High Attendance Sunday.
Time of Reflection
As we have seen this morning, getting people in church is as simple as inviting the people we know. If each one of us was to invite only one person to church, and they actually came, how many would that be? Suppose you had one hundred twenty-five people in attendance today. If each of us could actually get one individual to come with us then we would have two hundred fifty people in attendance. It is exponential, and this is how a church grows!
This is simple, so why don’t believers invite people to church? Perhaps you really don’t know many people, or you don’t get out because you are sick. Maybe you are shy and have some reservations about asking people to come to church. There is another possible reason I read about. Richard Reising says, “If your church has to beg, push, cajole, offer incentives, or even just remind people to invite others, it is a telltale sign that, for whatever reason, they do not believe the ministry that takes place [in their church] will make a successful connection with the people they would invite.”(9) If we don’t invite people to church because we feel it is not going to reach them, then perhaps each of us needs to work together to make our church more relevant; but we need to get people in church to hear the gospel message, so that they will have a chance to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.
If you are here this morning and would like to hear the gospel message, allow me to share it with you. Remember the gospel message is this: “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). (Explain, and then share Romans 10:9-10 about believing and confessing the gospel message).
NOTES
(1) Philip M. Bickel, “Friendship Evangelism Resources,” taken from the Internet in January of 2008 at http://www.rollercoasterpress.com/friendev.html; adapted from “Evangelism: The Why and How” by Elmer Towns, in Church Growth State of the Art, edited by C. Peter Wagner (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1988), p. 53.
(2) Everett Gavel, “Faith-talk Ideas for Family Evangelism,” taken from the Internet in January of 2008 at http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/faith-talk/2003-October/003242.html.
(3) Gary Cobb, “What Does It Take to Bring People to Jesus?” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, taken from the Internet in January of 2008 at http://www.billygraham.org/ DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=654.
(4) Clayton Pepper, “Friendship Evangelism: The Kind Everybody Can Practice,” Church Growth Magazine, October-December, 1994, pp. 9-12.
(5) Bill McKibben, “The Age of Missing Information,” Signs of the Times, February, 1994.
(6) “Increase Meaningful Relationships Tenfold in One Year,” from Neighborhood Connections, taken from the Internet in January of 2008 at http://www.neighborhoodconnections .org/.
(7) Taken from the Internet in January of 2008 at http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/n/neighbor.htm.
(8) Os Hillman, “Is Workplace Evangelism A Fruit or a Goal?” taken from the Internet in January of 2008 at http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=12279 &columnid=743.
(9) Richard Reising, “How to Get Your Church Members to Invite Their Friends,” taken from the Internet in January 2008 at http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?id=257&artid=9408 &expand=1.
