Strangers in God's House

Yes, we invite the lost to come to church. In fact; we have a Bus Ministry. We not only invite them; we go out and find them, pick them up, and BRING them to church!

We believers' get fed spiritually every Sunday, but there is always a time right before the end of the service to explain the plan of salvation. We have seen whole families saved this way and become productive members in the family of Christ.

This brings to mind the parable of the marriage feast in Matthew:22, "Go out into the highways...."


Sue

 

Amen Sue,
And Gina I understand where you are coming from and I agree but I also think that when done properly and led by the Spirit that Sunday Worship can accomplish both. The lost and the saved can be ministered to.
Murph

 

Hi Gina:

I do witness to people outside of church. I witness whenever I get the chance, grocery stores, elevators, Wal-Mart, my neighbors, you name it; and I have yet to force anyone to come to church; but I always invite them, offer to give them a ride and sit with them. I have even bought them clothes because their only excuse for not coming to church was, "I don't have anything to wear."

The people working in our Bus Ministry go out visiting their bus route each Saturday and witness to the parents in the homes they visit.

The only time some of the children hear about Jesus is when the bus brings them to church on Sunday. Sadly, that is the only time some of them get any TLC too.

It is not uncommon, in our church, for parents to come to church to see their "bus children" get baptized and end up getting saved themselves.

My husband and I used to have a bus route that was 80 miles round trip. That meant 80 miles on Saturday for visitation, 80 miles Sunday morning and 80 miles after church. That was 240 miles a week.

A young man, on his way to Bible College to become a preacher, got up in church one day and after praising God, he thanked us for our bus ministry. He had been a "bus kid" and he lived 35 miles from the church. We extended our bus route to pick him and his three sisters up every Sunday. They are all saved now, along with his parents. He is the Pastor of a church now and his three sisters---all married to Pastors.

"...and a little child shall lead them..."


Sue

 

Gina, I understand what you are saying. I think we should do both. Witness out of church and in church.

Our pastor's sermons always are designed for the Christian and for the lost. He always includes the plan of salvation in the morning service and most of the time in the evening service.

The Christians in our church are being spiritually fed, but we are encouraged to invite the lost to church. This practice seems to work very well for our church.

Another point is that as Christians, we received a lot of our training in Sunday School and Bible classes.

 

I see what you are saying, Gina. Sounds logical, too. But, what if there is a person that is searching for a church? Many have been saved in that service. And what about those that profess, but don't possess? I have been to many services (maybe all?) where the balance between a message for the saved and a message for the lost was combined. Even in salvation messages, I have been blessed by something the Pastor has preached. And so many children are bussed in that would never hear the Gospel, except it were for Sunday School, or the morning service.

Maybe what you are saying is right, but church has been used this way for so long that it is the norm. What becomes the hindrance is when people use this as their means of witnessing. Don't you think it is easier to invite someone to church than to give them the Gospel on their ground?

 

Believe it or not, a person's inherant shyness is not "a pathetic testimony as to their spirtual state", It is a testimony as to the creators design in making human beings different. Critisizing people who are shy by nature by saying that their "spiritual state" is "pathetic", seems very judgemental and juxtapose to many passages in the Bible about how to regard your neighbor.

Telling people about Jesus Christ at their door, doesn't always bare the fruit of salvation, sometimes it is more like planting seeds. There is no score card. The person who shares the gospel and helps the most people get saved gets a better mansion?Sometimes an invitation to church is better received on a personal level. Bringing people to church where they can have the Holy spirit move within their hearts to convict them of their need of salvation, through friendly people, music, preaching and invitation is something that all churches should do. Every baptist church I've visitted does this as part of every service because it is that important.

I've never been to a church that was "a resting place" as you said, where people go to worship God without thought for the lost. Do such churches really exist? Bring them in from the fields of sin.

I'm not in any way saying that believers shouldn't make their faith in God known to others outside of church. Of course they should. But it is also something that should be done in God's house.

None of us have aprehended, there is still work to be done within each one of us, myself included. We have not learned all there is to know about being a christian and faith in God, until we die we should push towards the mark. Please don't judge others who do things differently than you think is right. Love others with God's love. Be humble. Be charitable. Be like Jesus. Let your testimony of christ likeness be seen by others in what you do and what you say

 

Crazy as this sounds, church is not supposed to be a "Christians only club". I've known people who came into church who were not Christian when they came in, nut enjoyed the followship. They would do this for years. Finally after 20 or so years, they become Christians. God's time, folks, who are we to argue?

 

I actually understand what Gina's getting at.

I believe she's saying that the emphasis has drifted away from personal evangelizing to "let the pastor do the work."

In which case, I agree with her. We were commanded to go out and preach to all nations, not let someone else do it for us.

 

As a pastor I always try to include three things in my sermons, Salvation, Separation, and Soul Winning. I Preach textual messages or books of the Bible (Of course not all at one time! ) The church is for the preaching of the Word. Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God. I think there is a great lack today in strong textual preaching, which helps the Christian to mature. We have around 35 in the church and every Saturday we have 6 to 10 go out and knock on doors. I believe that if we can get the Christians to mature they will automatically reproduce.

 

Well said, Charlotte Marcel, Good Post.

 

Thois is how our fmily was saved, 3 of us the first couple of months and the youngest a couple of years later. But my boys were bus kids, and a month or so later we wanted to knoww aht was going on that my kids liked it so much there, so we went,a nd ended up all being saved.
My pastor preaches to fed the saved, then the last little bit is for any unsaved there, telling them why they don't have the relationship that he has been telling the rest of us about.
I think both can be done in the saem worship time, feed the flock,and and preach to the unsaved if done well.

Gina, if an unbeliever doesn't want to go to churhc then fine, you can't compell them. It will be up to you do the witnessing. But when they do go to church They hear even more about Jesus, and maybe from an different angle. You also can't force someoen to listen to you either if the Holy Spirit isn't leading them too. You won't compell them to got ot church unless the Holy Spirit is leading them. The Holy SPirit will always do ti His way, whether it is in church or not. Never hurts to do both. I firmly believe in the people of a church doing the witnessing, never hurts to let them hear the word preached and explained.

 

Gina, you are absolutely right on this one. The church is the saved! We come together to worship our Lord and the Almighty God. It is our job to reach the lost. Although when we witness we are planting a seed and maybe through the foolishness of preaching the seed will be watered and bloom.

 

I couldn't think of a less biblical thought then excluding non-believers from the church service. How selfish! What could you possibly be thinking?!?!

 

The unsaved are not excluded from worship in church. Dig into the book of Acts--where the Etheopian Eunich was returning from "worship" and was there in that little watering hole where Phillip met him--the Eunich had been to some sort of worship service and was probably reflecting on what the preacher was preaching on that very day or before sometime---curious as to what the text was saying right out of Isaiah--keep in mind he had been to worship and was now going home---a seed had been planted in that worship service by someone and now God had been watering and Phillip was going to get in on the glory of leading him to faith in Jesus--

But I do think Gina has a blessed point--in my 15 years of preaching very few have been saved "in the worship service"--the vast majority are saved somewhere and somehow outside of the worship service and later on come to worship on Sunday and make a profession of that found faith!

Your buddy,
Blackbird

 

Is there a biblical example for inviting lost people to church?

 

23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
Acts 28:23-24

Murph