Our First Responsibility

In my last post, I showed you some numbers about why unchurched people come to church and why they end up staying. It caused me to think about a concept we've been tossing around the office for months. As Christ followers, we basically have 2 responsibilities to our friends who don't yet have a relationship with Jesus. The first set of numbers highlights our first responsibility. Notice that among some of the top reasons people choose to attend a church depends on issues like preaching, the church's doctrine or beliefs, the friendliness of the people, the atmosphere of the church, etc. Now, how will an unconnected person ever have a chance to make a decision based on those factors? They've got to find their way into a service. How will that happen? Someone's got to do the work of inviting. At CCC, we've discovered that most people attend for the first time because someone they know asked them to. Once they give church a shot, then we have the opportunity to introduce them to all of the factors that will help them make a decision about whether they will come back.

So our first responsibility to unconnected people is simple: Whenever you and I aren't within the walls of the church, we should be constantly seeking out people and opportunities where we can make invitations.

What's our second responsibility? We'll deal with that one tomorrow.