Invitation helps the Christian develop one of the fruits of the spirit, peace. One of the most frequently written about concepts in Scripture is fear and the advice to not be afraid. Some people say there is at least one do not be afraid for every day of the year.
Doesn’t that seem like overkill to you? Surely we can’t be afraid in the third millenium. I have found speaking to thousands of church leaders and lay people that the very item stopping invitation is a fear of rejection. Invitation does not create it, it merely reveals that which is already there. Feeling or fearing rejection strikes at the heart of our self-identity. We are in conflict as to who we are. Are we uniquely and fatally flawed or are we sons and daughters of the living God? Someone said “Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict” So in the Seminars we overcome fear of rejection by doing the thing we fear. It is amazing how fear soon is defeated to be replaced by faith.

It was Nelson Mandela who said “We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be?? You are a child of God.  Your playing small does NOT serve the world.  We were born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us, ALL of us.  And as we let our Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others and creates more peace. Why not try invitation it can lead to peace

Invitation helps the Christian develop one of the fruits of the spirit, love. As I have travelled around the world I have discovered that many churches focus on worship. I mockingly call them *can’t we just worship churches?” They are demonstrating to the best of their awareness the first commandment to love the lord our God with all our being.  But the second commandment  of course is linked and that is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. These are the two greatest commandments.
Jesus invites us to love ourselves, and love our neighbour and then you will not be far away from the kingdom. Jesus was asked once “Master what leads to greatness?” and Jesus replied “find a way to serve the many”.  Now one way of serving the many, is inviting our neighbours to love the lord our God with all our being through a simple invitation to something you love.
John F Kennedy found another way to say what it means to serve, “Don’t ask what the country or people can do for you, ask what you can do for your country/people”
Through invitation some of us will directly and indirectly impact the lives of dozens of people, Some of us will directly and indirectly impact the lives of hundreds of people. And some of you if you wish will directly and indirectly impact the lives of thousands of people
If Jesus linked loving the Lord our God and loving our neighbour, perhaps invitation is the simpliest way of developing our love for ourselves, our neighbour and our God.

Invitation helps the Christian develop one of the fruits of the spirit, patience. When I started to develop Back to Church Sunday I was utterly stunned when church leaders turned down the opportunity of coming to a seminar to think about a Welcome Sunday. I just couldn’t get my ahead around it. But over eight years I have discovered something called the law of averages. That law says If you do something often enough a ratio appears. I discovered in the early days If you communicate with 10 church leaders to think about mobilising invitation one church leader might say yes to me. Now once the ratio started it tended to continue.
I invited ten church leaders and one church leader says yes. When I was new I made up in numbers what I lacked in skill so I would Invite 300 to get 30.
I found however that the law of averages can be increased by getting better. Communicate with ten get one, then I got better I communicated with ten and got two. Now I Invited 300 and got 60.
The Law of averages applies to football If you don’t score in in six matches out of ten matches in the English Premier League as a striker you get paid £10 million (Wayne Rooney). If you don’t score in eight matches out of ten in Premier League you get paid £2.5 million (Peter Crouch). You don’t have to score in every match. In the same way the law of averages applies to invitation in that not every invite has to be accepted in order to see fruit. Like Wayne Rooney who might go through a bad patch, you have to develop patience and keep on

It drives me around the bend. But it is a reasonable, rational question. What I am going on about?
I conducted over 200 Seminars in 2011, but before I was invited, the question of cost would be raised.
How do you answer such a question? In a straighforward manner with commercial rates, in a weak way
that says that you are just happy to serve, or some middle ground?

Wouldn’t a better question be what is the value of what you are offering rather than what is the cost?
Will it deliver more value than us keeping the money in the church bank account?

Or I could turn it around and say What is the cost of not doing this? How many people in your area won’t be invited
and subsequently miss out on a relationship with God as a result?

When we make money the determining factor as to whether we do anything are we not really saying
that we do not trust God to provide more? Is it not an indication that we lack faith in the provision of the one
who knows our every move

So is there a cost?