Whilst tomorrow will be a time of rejoicing for those Christians who have had their invitations accepted, there will be a good number of Christians who have been turned down, perhaps not just once, but a number of times. It is hard not to take a turn down as personal rejection. But the path of invitation is very much like the Parable of the Sower. We must not take rejection personally but use it as a way of strengthening our faith in our God who calls us onward to a closer relationship with Him.

An article recently published in Christian Today

Church

Are we just too afraid to ask people to church?

Michael Harvey says Christians shouldn’t be afraid of asking their friends to church - even if their friends says no.

by ASSIST News ServicePosted: Saturday, September 25, 2010, 9:53 (BST)

Are we just too afraid to ask people to church?
Michael Harvey is hoping to take his message to the US.
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As more than 600,000 people across the United Kingdom are being invited to special church services for Back to Church Sunday this weekend, one of the founders of this movement is on a mission to mobilise long-term church growth.

Michael Harvey, who first helped to launch Back to Church Sunday back in 2004 in Manchester, England, has spent the last year travelling across the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, preparing churches to invite their friends back to church by running seminars called “The 12 Steps to Becoming an Inviting Church”.

Harvey explains how he came up with this teaching series.

“I noticed the national church statistics on Back to Church Sunday were that 80% of congregations don’t invite their friends to church,” he told the ASSIST News Service.

“This was right across the board of all the churches that participated. So I was really seeking out why 8 out of ten of us actually find it difficult to invite a friend to church. So the seminar came out of that problem.”

Michael, who’s also a business consultant with MJH Associates, which helps business unlock their growth, has run his seminars in almost 100 locations constantly travelling on planes, trains and automobiles and even a hovercraft. Despite spending so much time on the road he sees this as a “calling” to make an impact around the world.

Michael Harvey says that wherever he travels he comes across churches all facing the same challenges.

“Everywhere I go, church leaders are grappling with exactly the same problems; that people are afraid of their friends saying no. In every seminar this comes up. I answer this in the seminars by saying, ‘Who do we know in the Christian faith who was rejected?’ That generally hits home to the church that actually it’s okay for us to ask a friend and for them to say no. It’s absolutely fine.

“But we don’t ask our friends because we’re afraid they’ll say no to us. So the highlight for me is if we can get to grips with what is stopping us growing and it seems to be the same right across the Western church. Once we overcome this then we can see thousands of people added to the church.”

Harvey says that he wants churches not to be put off if things don’t always go to plan. “The 12 steps of becoming an inviting church in my view is a learning tool,” he explained. “I want the whole exercise to be a learning experience so that when thing don’t go as well as we want them to, we can actually reflect on what we’ve done.

“Then we can see what God might want to say to use through what’s gone on in the process. So my hope is it’s a learning experience for church leaders. And as a result of that in years to come many people will be added to the church.”

As Back to Church Sunday is continually being launched into other countries around the world, including the United States, Michael is always hearing from different pastors tell him their inspiring stories.

“I speak one-on-one to leaders around the world and one pastor in Canberra in Australia had just done his Back to Church Sunday and he told me that sixteen people had come to his church and early signs indicated that some of these people are going to be added.

“There was also one lovely story of a family with the mum and dad bringing along their son’s girlfriend to church and then the following week the girlfriend brought their son. It shows that once you get invitation going it’s like a ball rolling down a hill. It gathers pace because those who are invited find it much easier to invite than those of us who have been in church for a long time.”

Straight after this weekend Michael starts on his journey again to prepare for next year’s Back to Church Sunday and will be launching his second seminar which includes “The Ten Keys to Keeping”.

The final crucial steps on introducing our friend to our friends at church and then making sure to invite them again.

The 12 steps are a learning goal, not a performance goal. The difference between the two is that we get disappointed if we don’t reach a particular standard if you view the steps as a performance goal. When you view the steps as a learning goal one recognises that setbacks are inevitable on the road to improvement and that they could even be guideposts for the journey ahead.

On my journey to see 1 million Christians invite 1 million friends I have visited 8 capital cities between March and the end of June (Belfast, Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Amsterdam, Canberra, and Wellington) I have travelled thousands of miles and seen lots of films on flights! I wanted a practical example of the theoretical Seminar and so please find the release of films 5 and 6, the power of story and who has God been preparing in my life

Now Brazil is one place that I have not been, but a representative of the Anglican church in Brazil Luis Coehlo contacted me earlier in the year to see if they could take part in Back to Church Sunday. Well they have made good progress and 40 churches across the country will be taking part on September 26th 2010. They will be the last country to participate that day.

They have created a short video and website in Spanish which show that
Promotional Video Back to Church Sunday Brazil
Back to Church Sunday Brazil Website

Claire Onslow who is leading Back to Church Sunday in New Zealand has worked fantastically hard in creating a wonderful resource for churches and people in New Zealand

New Zealand is normally the first of the Back to Church Sunday family to experience the day not only starting their day earlier than anywhere else, but actually having Back to Church Sunday on Sunday September 12th. This year Australian capital city of Canberra are going early on Sunday August 29th and become officially the first. In New Zealand a 100% increase in the number of invitation cards ordered means that we hope and pray for a significant harvest in this wonderful country. For those wondering why New Zealand is made up of two separate islands, my theory is that God loved the first one so much, he decided to make another. It is a fabulous place, with great people and sensational places to visit.

Back to Church Sunday New Zealand Website

From Nova Scotia to Vancouver
From Brisbane to Tasmania
From Dunedin to Auckland
From Carlisle to Plymouth
From County Cork to Lisburn
From Bangor to Haverfordwest
From Aberdeen to Galloway

The journey to see 1 million Christians invite 1 million friends is nearly over in 2010. Thousands of church leaders have participated in the nearly 2 hour Unlocking the growth Seminar.

On my journey I recorded twelve 5 minute films one for each of the 12 steps of becoming an inviting church. I wanted to elicit more wisdom from church leaders who have participated previously. So please find the release of the first four films Vision, Modelling Cascading and the gift of friendship. United Christian Broadcasting will be showing the films in the UK on a rolling basis on UCB TV, and it is hoped other Christian TV stations around the world will follow suit.

As I complete nearly 100 two hour Seminars across 3 continents to thousands of church leaders across many denominations and churches I have found great hope and great frustration in equal measure and many lonely leaders who need on the ground mentoring. The training received by church leadership is very often mostly theological which at its best is not enough to equip church leadership for the task of unlocking growth amongst the people they are asked to shepherd

As a result I have been on the hunt for people with whom to share the task of coming alongside church leaders to coach, mentor and accompany for part of the church leaders journey. I have selected people who God is already using in this area or who have been highly recommended by colleagues.

In October (1st and 2nd) in Daventry I am hoping that we will be trained to speak the language of Natural Church Development to understand God-given principles of unlocking the growth in His church, and begin some practical training with churches.

The vision is to see more of His people released into their God-given potential and to see His church grow numerically through His Mentor Coaches.

Post training the coaches will either mentor/coach church leaders within their own stream or receive churches to coach through MJH Associates Seminar programmes.

I recently attended a seminar given by Michael Harvey, a founding member of Back To Church Sunday. With my own church having participated in the scheme in the past two years I was interested to hear about others’ experiences and to glean some top tips for making the most of this potential opportunity for church growth!

It was encouraging to be reminded that God is in the business of growing his kingdom. As we are promised in the Bible there will be many in our villages and towns in whose lives God is actively working and drawing to himself - people who might be reticent to come to church on their own, but who would be pleased to receive a personal invitation. So why are we often so restrained in inviting others along, even to special ‘guest services’ like Back to Church Sunday?

Research after last year’s event indicated that in the Exeter Diocese, of those churches which participated, only 20% of church members had invited people. Is it possible that we as churches are inhibiting our own growth which God is ready to so graciously give?

Why don’t we invite people to church?

It is no longer a plausible reason for not inviting people to church, that ‘if they wanted to come they would come’. This might have been the case three generations ago, when most ‘good people’ used to go to church - you didn’t have to invite them. Two generations ago ‘good people’ would send their children to church. Today, the truth of the matter is that very few will attend church without a personal invitation.

Another reason cited was that although our friends might possibly appreciate the imaginative, upbeat, special service on Back Church Sunday, we suspect that when things

are back to normal they will find us out. They will discover that our regular church services are rather old fashioned, and to be honest, a little uninspiring and out of touch with real life in the C21st, and so not continue attending. So we decide to save them the trouble and not invite them.

Whether or not this rings true for us, all our churches would do well to keep under review how we ‘do church’ so as to make it relevant and accessible to others who are not yet part of our church families. That said, we were urged not to make decisions on behalf of our friends (‘they won’t like it, so I won’t bother asking’), because God, in his grace, doesn’t wait until he finds the perfect church before he uses his people in the extension of his kingdom. God works in mysterious ways, which is just as well.

The importance of welcoming

Good welcoming, as with inviting, it was suggested is another vital building block of a growing church. We all have a part to play - we need to be hosts rather than guests in our own churches, but let’s give those folk with a special gift of welcoming particular responsibility in this area.

Kicking the habit of being an uninviting church:

The top tips I had been waiting for!

There were 12 of them, but I have highlighted just a few.

Have vision! Increase your ambition for growth. Every vicar apparently knows how many in his congregation he had last Sunday, and how many he is expecting next Sunday. We set our expectations for growth and God answers them.

Communicate the vision. This needs to be clergy led. How about encouraging your congregation to double in size – that’ s only one new person each!

Pray expectantly. Ask that God would show you who he would like you to invite.

Model yourself the change you wish to see in others.

Make the invitation. “…Would you like to come to church with me this Sunday?”. It’s really not that difficult.

Make it as easy as possible for your friend to come – perhaps meet them at their home and travel together.

Assume your friend will want to come again the following week. Encourage them.

Let’s be unlocking the growth.

Kate Hamilton Whimple Benefice

Mission to Australia and New Zealand The seed I received I will sow

A round trip of 23,000 miles, thirteen flights and including stops in Sydney, Tasmania, Bendigo in Melbourne, Canberra, Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland, Christchurch and Brisbane in which I conducted 10 seminars and a further 6 meetings as part of trying to encourage 1 million Christians to invite 1 million friends this coming Back to Church Sunday in September.
It was autumn in Sydney when I arrived with a temperature of 27 centigrade! Despite being called a secular country 63.9% of Australians called themselves Christians at the last census in 2006, and for the Australian church there was surprise at the result of the last Back to Church Sunday 2009 with 12,000 Christians having invitations accepted by their friends to come to church.

One Australian minister described it as the best day of his ministry thus far! One of my jobs is to encourage church leaders to believe that people are waiting to be invited and then to help them mobilise their congregations to invite. The Seminars I delivered in Tasmania, Melbourne and Canberra were well attended and full of hope. In Canberra I spoke at the church of the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd. Canberra is a government city established in 1908 as the capital of Australia as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne. It actually lies right between them. Sydney a beautiful city does provoke animosity amongst Australians, one former Prime Minister Paul Keating said “If you’re not living in Sydney you’re camping out!” In one sense that spirit of jealousy or arrogance still lives on. There is a different spirit in each place I travelled from the can do attitude of Sydney, to a lethargy in Tasmania, from a pioneer spirit in Bendigo a former gold town to the lawmaking and hot air of Canberra! I met wonderful people including Bishops and I have great hope that the good news of the gospel will reach even more people in 2010.

I entered perhaps my favourite country of New Zealand through Wellington the capital. After speaking to the diocese of Wellington, my evening was taken up by a Seminar with New Zealand Bishops and key ministry educators at a retreat house over looking Wellington. The best thing to do with Bishops I find, is to make them laugh and then challenge their thinking.
It was good to see the Archbishop of New Zealand chuckling away at the presentation, before I asked him to lead the church into doubling its congregations! New Zealand is so good God made it twice. The North Island and the South Island, are wonderful, a Britain of the 1950s! Think Darling Buds of May and you wouldn’t go far wrong. After Wellington I went to the South Island to the Scottish part of the south island visiting Dunedin.
They had been really encouraged by people accepting invitations in a diocese that had been really struggling. It was wonderful to hear the confidence in their voices and the hope that God had not forgotten them.
Archbishop of York Sentamu had been to New Zealand the previous week to me and had consecrated a new Cathedral in New Plymouth. He had received front news coverage in the national newspaper for three consecutive days. It would be of course unknown for that to happen here in the UK, but this has also encouraged the church, that the media is prepared to take seriously the leaders of the church. After Dunedin I visited Auckland and Hamilton where I spoke to both Anglican and Baptist church leaders. I spoke at Hamilton Cathedral where the Dean a Dutchman called Jan Joustra greeted me like an old friend. Jan has really suffered for the gospel since his move from his native Netherlands by serving the LORD in Hong Kong, Nice and now New Zealand. It is tough being an Anglican clergyman nowadays! One of the truly humbling aspects of the work of Back to Church Sunday is helping the Christians in a nation like Fiji. Fiji had a coup a few years ago and many of the people left the country for New Zealand. As part of Back to Church Sunday this time we will be seeking to work specifically with the Fijian Diaspora in Auckland.

My trip ended in Brisbane with temperatures of 34c whilst I was speaking, a real preparation for spring in England! I challenged the Brisbane diocese to encourage their 11,000 worshipping Anglicans to invite 11,000 friends.