I sent out an e-mail earlier today about the upcoming sermon series we are doing (Conversations that Matter). Over the lunch hour I received an e-mail back. I think it’s worth sharing with everyone.
Here’s what it said:
“Thanks JP. I actually have a co-worker coming to church with me on Sunday, maybe 2. One of them is a lady I just met last Tuesday. We had a staff development session and she led it. I had seen her name before but had never met her. Her break the ice beginning was to go up to a white board and put a dot on where you were born, where you live and where you would like to go. She started with she was born in Decatur, she lives in Monticello and she would like to go on a missions trip to Kentucky. I was next and I said that I was born in WV, I live in Monticello and I would like to go to heaven. At lunch she and I talked and since she wanted to go on a missions trip I asked her what church she was attending. She said none. I asked her why and she said that she had never been invited. I invited her to go with me and she jumped at the invitation.” (emphasis mine)
A few years ago I read a study that concluded (based upon their research) 1 out of every 4 non-Christian and non-church attending Americans would attend church if they were invited by a friend or coworker. So, as I read the e-mail I had received and remembered the study I had come across I began to ask myself, “How many others in our community are just like this? How many of our friends aren’t seeking Christ in part because they’ve never even been invited to church? Is there anyone in our community that wakes up on a Sunday morning wishing they had a church they could attend with a friend?”
I don’t know if the answer to any of those questions is “yes,” but I do know that we’ll never find out if we don’t ask.
