The Middle Baptist Association hosts a quarterly Round
Table meeting for our pastors to touch on topics related to church
revitalization. Stacy Dyer, state
missionary with the Georgia Baptist Convention meets with us and facilitates
the discussion as well as adding insight from his ministry experience. The following is a summary of our discussion
from April 6, 2015 on the subject of “using the public invitation.” It is published with permission from the
participants with the assurance that no personal information will be disclosed.
Summary:
·
Many pastors struggle to find comfort in giving
the invitation and find it difficult.
Some said it was the weakest part of their preaching.
·
Give clear direction to the listeners. E.g., “If you need to make a decision, now is
the time.”
·
Share the responsibility with trained altar
counselors.
·
Unpack different decisions that could be made
based on the message.
·
Always present the Gospel as part of the message
no matter the topic.
·
Invite listeners to follow up outside of the
service and be sensitive to opportunities to connect.
·
Engage in conversations away from the church
with listeners.
·
The sermon should always lead to a call to
repentance and faith.
·
Some pastors are skeptical of emotionalism and
manipulation. Be careful to follow up on
spontaneous decisions that catch the pastor off guard. Often in small churches, previous
conversations have happened that make the pastor aware that a person will be
responding.
·
Remember the parable of the soils in follow
up. Some initial decisions will prove
false under testing.
·
Most pastors had a high value for some sort of
membership orientation. A few had new
member training in place.
·
Is it right to stimulate people’s movement
during the invitation time by asking prayer counselors to move to the altar?
·
Some people have issues in their lives that make
them poor candidates for church membership:
o They
have unresolved issues with their former church.
o They
are unregenerate.
o They
are living in open sin that would cause them to be immediate candidates for
church discipline.
·
Different churches and communities seem to have
varied levels of comfort with moving forward to a prayer altar during a time of
commitment. Some pastors find it helpful
to change the culture in their churches to make space for openness to respond.
·
Reluctance to respond might reflect pride and
arrogance in some listeners. They may
not be able see themselves as needy sinners.
·
A pastor might make the response two-fold: (1)
personally directed, or (2) come and pray for others.
·
Some churches practice covenant membership. They ask members to sign the church covenant
as way to form a more serious contract.
They are attempting to raise the expectations for being part of the
local church.
·
Deliberately think about the invitation during sermon
prep. Spend an adequate amount of time
thinking about how to voice the call to commitment. Restate the points of the invitation. Draw the
net.
·
Train a prayer ministry team. Have them help with the invitation.
·
Learn from others who have developed good
practices for receiving the invitation.
·
There is a connection to a vibrant ministry and
the use of the prayer altar during the invitation.
·
Dr. Tom Elliff begins announcing the prospect of
the invitation at the beginning of his messages.
·
How do we receive members at the invitation?
o Present
members in such a way that no commitment occurs without prior investigation of
the person’s fitness for membership.
o Some
churches allow baptism to be the affirmation of church membership.
o Others
would not automatically assume that a person coming for baptism is moving on to
church membership without separate actions.
o Membership
can be a process that gives churches the opportunity to explain salvation, baptism,
and engage people in crucial discipleship issues.
o Shepherding
and protecting the flock is an important issue when receiving transfer members.
o Sometimes
hard conversations ensue and precede membership.
o Use
good diplomacy.
o Beware
of “cold turkey joining.”
o Membership
should be a multi-level process that includes: new member orientation, an
interview, personal testimony, spiritual gifts inventory and congregational
affirmation.
o Congregational
affirmation should be handled in a way that is encouraging and
appropriate.
o Policies
regarding membership should be written.
o If
possible, get the membership training material recorded in some digital format
so that it is accessible.
Resources:
Roy Fish, Giving a Good Invitation. http://www.amazon.com/Giving-Good-Invitation-Roy-Fish/dp/0805421076
Tom Rainer, High Expectations, http://www.amazon.com/High-Expectations-Remarkable-Secret-Keeping/dp/0805412662/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428350481&sr=1-1&keywords=High+Expectations+Rainer
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