The Power of an Invitation

By Fred Hall

On Monday a friend met me on the street. “l noticed you were absent from our civic club last meeting,” he said. “Will you be there next Wednesday?”

“No,” I replied. “l can’t make it. Don’t look for me.”

Two men asked me on Tuesday if I could come. I said to the first, “l wish I could, but I can’t this week.’ The next one I answered, “My schedule looks impossible, but I’ll try to find the time to come.”

Wednesday in the post office a fourth man asked if I would be at the meeting that day. “I’ll try to come,” I replied, “but I may not make it.” Before I got to my car, a fifth man stopped me, and I promised I would be there for sure.

I don’t know whose official duty it was to contact me, but I couldn’t resist the invitation from five different men. We all like to go where we are wanted.

If you want the unsaved, the indifferent, the absentees to attend your church, you must let them know. They know that if you really want them to come, you will find the opportunity to invite them. This is a task for every member of the church.

Article excerpt adapted from Contact magazine, October 1989.