IS IT OKAY TO INVITE UNSAVED TO CHURCH?

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog talking about the purpose of church. He asked whether we should invite unsaved people to church. Here’s a link to that blog:
http://thebrinkonline.com/blog/read/a-thought-on-the-purpose-of-church-services
His basic thought was that he had been taught all his life to make the service appealing to unbelievers so we could reach them. But he was afraid this was not Biblical and would hinder Christians from witnessing outside the church.

Here is my comment:
I'm glad you brought this up for a couple of reasons. This is very important and we need to be talking about it. And I'm glad you are willing to separate tradition from the Bible. Tradition is not always wrong, but let's be willing to ask why we do something. However, I don't see most churches really changing their services to reach the unsaved. I know some churches do things like leave out a cross or some songs for fear of offending people. But I've never been to any of those. I'm afraid that most churches aren't really thinking about the unsaved at all. Or at least not very much. I've got so many thoughts on this that I'll probably write a blog about it myself. I'll send you a link. This is an important issue for the home missionaries that I work with. Personally, I want to get more unsaved people in church and want to see us all to a better job welcoming every newcomer. I think we can do this without compromising. Thanks again for your good thoughts.

That’s the end of the comment that I posted. I have other thoughts on the purpose of church. But I want to say a few things specifically about having unbelievers in our services.

I do believe it is Biblical to invite the unsaved to church as a way of evangelizing them. Psalm 40:3 says “And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Seeing our praise of God can be a testimony to unbelievers. In I Corinthians 14 we see that the unsaved can come to God through preaching: “24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.” When Jesus tells His followers to love one another, it is a testimony to all. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Hopefully, the people we invite to church can see this in our church.

I can see a couple of dangers associated with this. One is pragmatism. The dictionary defines pragmatism as
a philosophical movement or system having various forms, but generally stressing practical consequences as constituting the essential criterion in determining meaning, truth, or value.

Pragmatism = whatever works.
That philosophy could lead to appeals to the flesh that gather a crowd, but don’t build a church. We could be tempted to change our message for fear of offending someone. (I believe that many people want to hear the truth preached. Mainline, liberal denominations are hemorrhaging members. Who wants to waste time being a part of something that isn’t real and doesn’t matter? I think a lot of people in America are tired of cotton candy and want some meat.)
But you can make people feel welcome without compromise. When my wife and I have someone visit our home, we don’t compromise what we believe. For the last two years, we have hosted a Christmas dinner for students at the local International English Institute. 25-30 students show up along with the teachers and a few people from our church. Several of these students are Muslim. We sang Christmas carols, prayed before we ate (in Jesus’ name), read the Christmas story, and gave them a Christian tract along with some goodies. We hope that we sowed good seed into their lives.

Another danger of relying on inviting people to church as a means of evangelism is that Christians won’t obey the command to preach the gospel. My friend fears that we’ll just let the preacher evangelize. I don’t believe it should be either “Come or See” or “Go and Tell”, but both. All Christians should be involved in outreach. Preachers should be teaching people ideas on how to sow the seeds of the gospel in people’s lives. When people do speak to their friends and family, it will usually progress naturally to an invitation to church.

I don’t see churches changing their services that much for the unsaved. What I see more is churches not reaching sinners at all. Many churches haven’t baptized anyone in a year or two or three. Why not? Why don’t Christians in many churches invite their friends and family members to church? That is the subject of my next blog.