I feel that religion is a personal matter.

This is a pretty common feeling. However, if everyone felt that way, the church would have died back in the first century! God’s call on our lives here at Hyde Park is clear — to make disciples of Jesus Christ, create community, and participate in God’s transformation of our city and our world. But in order to accomplish those things, we need more help! Inviting someone to help us feed the poor, or visit the sick or imprisoned, listen to those who are hurting, and live the selfless life like Jesus taught us is essential if we’re do what we’re called to do and be the church we’re called to be. You don’t have to ask a person to believe just like you in order to be a part of this work. Tell them that we need their help, because we do!

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I feel awkward or embarrassed about inviting others to Hyde Park.

There’s rarely a smooth segue from a topic like news, weather, or sports to talking about your church. However, if you feel the urge to invite someone, that is the voice of the Holy Spirit, and when we hear that voice, we should respond!
 
First of all, remember that the results of your invitation are not up to you. Whether or not they accept your invitation is between them and God. All we’re called to do is to be faithful and invite them and help them feel welcome. So, pressure to be convincing enough definitely does not from God! The easiest way I’ve found to invite someone is to ask them about their church experience. “Do you have a church that you guys attend? What’s that like?”

If they have a church, then there’s no need to invite them to ours. Evangelism is not stealing people from another church.

However, if they don’t have one, I’ll say, “We sure could use someone like you at Hyde Park.” Match up their gifts, interests, and abilities to the areas of ministry at Hyde Park where you think they could be of great help.

Another way to invite someone is to ask, “What would you look for in a church that you’d attend?” Doing some listening would help you to be responsive to the person’s needs. Don’t look for opportunities to convince them or overcome their objections. In fact, during the conversation you might find that they’d feel more comfortable at a different church than ours. Maybe they live too far away, or they have ministry interests that don’t exist at Hyde Park. Helping them find a church where they’d fit is just as much a success in Evangelism whether it’s our church or not.

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I don’t have many friends or family to invite.

This happens to many of us, especially the longer that we’re a part of the church. We can get to a point when almost all of our friends are a part of our church because it’s a place where we spend time and a community in which we invest a lot of our energy.

However, it’s important to maintain a connection to the larger community. First, the church needs the infusion of new ideas that comes with engaging our community. Second, like mentioned before, we have work to do that requires more help, and if we don’t know anyone outside the church, we’ll never find it!

Perhaps you could join a club or play a sport or get involved in some kind of activity that is not related to the church that will take you out of your comfort zone a bit. That way you can gain some fresh perspectives, and gain new relationships that will stretch you, and that might end up in opportunities to invite new friends to be a part of what’s going on at Hyde Park.

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I don’t know how to extend an invitation to others.

Believe it or not, it’s not different than inviting people to anything else. Invite them to a specific day and time, and offer to meet them or drive with them so that you can help them learn their way around. It’s not that helpful to invite them “to come to church sometime.” Be specific and make a plan, rather than just leaving it open ended. An open ended invitation leaves all of the pressure on them to get there and find their way, as opposed to your getting them there and helping them find their way. Then you can introduce them to friends when you’re there, and take responsibility for their visit.

An invitation where you take responsibility for their having a good experience at Hyde Park is an invitation that someone is more likely to accept.  “I’d love to show you my church sometime. We’re doing a series about _______ right now. Can I meet you there this Sunday at _______, show you around, and introduce you to some folks?”

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I just don’t think about it.

Evangelism is a symptom of our relationship with Jesus Christ. As you grow closer to Christ, evangelism will happen. Your faith will help steer you more and more as you live, make decisions, lead others, etc., and so it will become more and more natural for it to become a part of your conversation, reputation, etc.

If it never occurs to you to invite others to church, perhaps it’s time to ask yourself — how is my own growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ progressing? Why is it that I don’t ever thing about inviting others? As a follower of Jesus, we’ll realize more and more that Christ lived for others. As we follow him more closely, we should begin to live the same way, and we should grow to care that people have the opportunity to know him as well. Further, we should also feel responsibility to help our church live out God’s call upon us to impact our community and world, and as mentioned before, we need more help!

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I feel that if someone were interested, they would seek out Hyde Park on their own.

It is true that many of our first time guests find us via the internet because they were looking for a church to attend. We continue to be thankful for the work that has been done on our website to make it an effective front door to the church for so many.

However, if we have second time guests, it’s because they met people that they connected with, or because they were invited by someone or came with someone. Guests have a much better chance of staying engaged with the church if they have relationships there. So, when someone comes by your invitation, they’re much more likely to feel at home at Hyde Park when they get there.

Further, evangelism is not just for those who are invited. We also grow as followers of Jesus Christ when we invite others and give them the opportunity to become a follower of Christ as well. By avoiding inviting others, we stunt our own growth. As beneficial as it might be for someone to be invited by us to Hyde Park, turns out that anyone we invite is doing us a favor in being a part of our growth.

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