Over 48 plus yrs of preaching I don’t know how many times I offered what we call “The Invitation,” at the close of every sermon.
THE THING THAT HAS ALWAYS TROUBLED ME IS HOW WEAK MY APPEAL HAS BEEN.
The thing that has always troubled me is how weak my appeal has been. I give a 25- or 30-minute message on say a topic like Prayer, or Relationships, or Struggling with Doubts, at the close of which I “extend the invitation.” A minute or two invitation? Does that make sense to you? Usually, I’m preaching to people who have been Christians longer than I’ve been preaching. And I’m urging anyone who needs to, to come forward and put Christ on in baptism. It’s something that I found myself sort of tacking on at the end of a lesson; a lesson that really didn’t lend itself to preparing or motivating listeners to respond to in order to become a Christian. At the end of my preaching years, I ended up with a very small congregation made up of older Christians, who I knew fairly well. If they needed prayer, if they needed to respond in some way — it would never come at the end of a sermon but would be made known ahead of time. So, in the end, I did not issue the traditional invitation.
It is only now, as I sit in the pew, that I look around and (as I view it) know what I would do now. I would always give an invitation but not in the traditional way. I would end each sermon and close with a song. Then take time, as Christians, the children of GOD, to celebrate our salvation, and how we were saved and how we responded to GOD’s Invitation. But it would be for the saved. I would take 5 minutes to remind us of what has happened to us. How incredible our life with GOD is now. I think from time to time include the story of our some of the members responded when GOD called them, the when and how and circumstances surrounding that day they were baptized. I would tell that story. I would celebrate our covenant we made with GOD. I would mention what we now look forward to – “a new heaven and a new earth.” Then I would simply pause to ask – ? Have You ? (for the benefit of those who were not Christians yet) and close with a very specific song–“Have You Been To Jesus?,” “Softly and Tenderly,” “What Will You Do With Jesus?”
Yes, I think that is what I would do. It would be a time to celebrate and remember when we were saved. And in this way it would be a witness or testimony to anyone who is not yet a Christian.
That Would Be An Invitation Indeed.
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