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Serving on the Shore

Even a casual reading of Scripture reveals that the role of an invitation in building the Kingdom is difficult to overestimate. In some ways, it is our mission. We often devalue an invitation because we only see it as an exercise of getting others to attend a church service, which sometimes (even for disciples), seems not to be that exhilarating. We are so shrouded in the mundaneness of our everyday lives or burned out by years of doing church stuff that we have trouble seeing spiritual realities. One reality is that seemingly small insignificant acts have amazing possibilities when connected to the mission of God.

In the ministry of Jesus, the invitation is a call to encounter. Jesus invited people to engage Him. He said things like: “Come, follow me,” “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” It is an invitation to understand the world differently. It is an invitation to grow in our understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him. It is an invitation to exercise our growing faith, to take the next step; even when that next step is out a perfectly good boat onto a stormy sea. Jesus’ word to Peter was, “Come.”

Those who encountered Jesus had a similar, seemingly spontaneous, response. They invited others. Nathanial’s skepticism (Can anything good come out of Nazareth?) is met with Philip’s invitation, “Come, and you will see” (John 1:39). A broken woman, after coming to believe in Jesus, goes back into a town that despised her and said: “Come and see a man who told me everything I had ever done.” The result of that simple invitation was that the whole village came to believe in Jesus.

What does this have to do with inviting people to a worship gathering? It is one of the ways the power of an invitation can be seen at work in the Kingdom. What happens when God’s people gather? One important thing that happens is that we encounter God again. We are reminded of who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him. Our encounter leads us to grateful worship of the one who loves us and gave himself for us. This is what happens when we gather. It’s not really about doing something, it is about encountering someone. When we invite someone to join us we also invite them to encounter the one who loves them, and gave himself for them. We invite them to encounter Jesus, maybe for the first time. In that encounter, Jesus engages them – which is really what we are after anyway. It is that encounter that impacted visitors to assemblies of the early church. Their conclusion: “God is really among you.”

From the last verses of the bible come this lingering invitation: “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Rev. 22:17).

If I understand this text properly, the word spoken by the church, through endless generations, into a broken world is an invitation, “Come.”

Being on the cutting edge of what God is doing in this world can be as simple as offering an invitation.