You're Not Invited to My Church

Upon arriving in Alabama I was told that everyone would ask me which team I chose and they would then invite me to their church.
"Which team"? "What are my options"? I asked.
Being the good Yankee that I am, I still have not chosen a team after eight years of residency in good old Alabama. As a matter of fact, I haven't even watched a football game.

The invite

"If you haven't found a church home, I'd like to invite you to ours"

"Hmm, that's funny, you haven't even asked me if I am a believer"? "Why would I want to come to your church"?

I got invited to dozens of churches the first year I was here. After the pleasant, "You ain't from around here", I always received the gracious invite.
Strangely, I rarely ever get asked where I am from anymore, and I never get invited to church.

I'm not sure why I don't get asked where I'm from anymore, but while I was writing this blog, we went on a flight here at work. I met some nice southern ladies at an event we went to. One of the ladies asked me, with a big ol' smile on her face, "Where are you from"?
I said, "Why do you ask"?
Her friend smiled and said, "Because one of us has an accent"! Haaaahaaa That was the best one I have ever heard!

Back in Yankeeville

I grew up in Massachusetts. Yes, I said it, it's true. I don't just throw that around loosely in Alabama. After all, it could start a war! :)

Seriously though, you don't invite people to church in Massachusetts. I moved to Montana in the '90s. You don't invite people to church in Montana.
Massachusetts is loaded with secular humanists and Montana is loaded with outdoorsy, environmentalist New Agers, and secular humanists.
So, you don't invite people to church. It's just not in their vocabulary. Secular humanists do not listen to religious jargon.

What exactly is church?

What is church anyway and why are people inviting others to come? The church, according to Jesus, is His people. But further, what is the local church? This thing we invite people to?
The church, as deduced from the bible, is the "called out ones" or the "assembly of called out ones".
The church is the people of God, gathering together for a meeting. At said meeting, the people of God will do various things from, praising, to baptizing, to learning, to praying, to giving, and many other things.
The bible puts it this way:
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near".
So, the question is, why would you invite people who aren't believers to come to your holy huddle? Your Jesus party? Your praise-a-thon?
Serious question.
I'm not going to speculate about how you might answer that question, because you are not invited to my church unless you are a believer.
You tell me. Why do you invite people?

Jesus said

What did Jesus say?

I wrote a booklet on it--get it--it's free!

"And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you".

Did you catch it? Jesus said, "Go". Jesus didn't say, "Go invite people to come to your meetings".
He said to go. Which implies that you will go to them. Where they are. Go and tell them the good news.

My story

When I was first introduced to Jesus I was at work in Montana. An acquaintance and I began talking about spiritual things. I rambled on about some New Age mumbo jumbo and my new friend told me about Jesus.
I was slick, so I told him I believe what Jesus taught and thought it was good---LIE!
He was slicker, so he asked me how I know what Jesus taught and if I had ever read the bible--CAUGHT IN LIE!
He nailed me. Not only had I never read the bible, but I had no idea what Jesus had ever said.
In a pinch, I told him I had seen the movie, "The Greatest Story ever Told".
He said, "That's not what Jesus taught", and he handed me a bible.

The epiphany

I read the bible--was amazed--and a few weeks later I asked him, "Are you going to invite me to church"?!
He said with a bewildered look, "You want to come to church"?
"Yes", I exclaimed.

When the church got it backwards

"Go and tell" has become "come and see". This is a mistake. Notice my friend's order of evangelism. First he told me about Jesus, then he gave me a bible, THEN when I believed, he invited me to church. Or better yet, I invited myself to church, because this is what believers do! They WANT to gather with other believers.
Unfortunately we have gotten it backward. We ask people to "come and see" when He told us to "go and tell".

Since I'm still a whole lot a northern and only a little bit of y'all, I think we should shift our thinking from "come and see" to "go and tell". I'm pretty sure Jesus never invited anyone into the synagogues.

There are a whole lot a people here in the south who will never come and see, but they need to hear the good news--for real. They might think they know it, because they are southerners, but they probably don't know what Jesus really said.

And have you considered praying for your neighbor? Ask God to prepare your neighbor to hear His word. Then, all you have to do is go and deliver the mail.


Song:
You Still Call Me Away