When we first moved to Texas, my closest relatives and our friends both lived three hours away in Austin. My husband had been called to a loving church in suburban Houston. Sadly, these cities were three hours apart. We were no longer in our early twenties and part of the going out crowd, yet we did not have children. I did not have a job, so I did not know anyone socially through work. One day, a parishioner from David’s church invited me to come to Daughters of the King for a Bible Study on Esther. It was a casual invitation, but the group began lifting a huge burden off my heart. I began to feel less lonely. Even as the months became hotter, my affection for Houston grew. My admiration for the Episcopal Church grew and I began investigating exactly what this church based in community was really about; and I found out the answer was love.
Inviting someone to church is an invitation to engage in God’s love.1 Our new program, Invite, Welcome Connect is about living into our Baptismal Covenant.2 When we stand before God and say that we will proclaim the Gospel, which means Good News, by word and example, this means we not only have to act kindly in our lives, but also invite people to church. This might be inviting someone we know, such as a neighbor or friend, or it might be inviting someone who we do not know. I would not be a clergy in the Episcopal Church if someone had not invited me to a Bible Study. It might have been intimidating for her to invite me since I was the priest’s wife and an unknown quantity. There is good news on this score: we are not alone when we invite someone. When we fulfill our Baptismal Covenant, we know we are doing so with God’s help.3
This invitation to inviting people to church is also scriptural. An interesting aspect of Christianity is that we are all disciples of Christ and he has promised to make us fishers of people.4 Yes, times have changed. For this, I am thankful as I did not have to leave our family behind. Nor do I have to travel from town to town with only the clothes I am wearing. Still, we have to understand that God does not want us to keep our faith private, the more people that are part of Christ’s body, the stronger we are as a group. Each person enriches Christ’s body with their unique gift.5 The more gifts the Church6 has, the better the world can understand God’s love.
I think we live in a culture of anxiety and fear of rejection, so you might be thinking: what happens if I am rejected or if the person I invite goes to a different church? Or what if they do not go to church at all? When a family friend was baptized, another friend, who was Mormon, came to the baptism. Her theory is my theory now: having Jesus in your life is never a bad thing. We cannot control what someone does with the invitation to church, what we can control is our invitation as joyful followers of Christ to share in all our church has to offer.7
So, my challenge to you this week is this: read Mark 1:16-20. Read the Luke version 5:1-11. Read the version in Matthew where Jesus calls his disciples.8 Pray about who in your life needs extra love and attention that they could find at our church. Invite them to a Bible Study (they can login from home!) or a worship service. It will enrich your life, as well as their life. It will make the Body of Christ stronger.
1 See Michael Curry’s invitation and words for more details on this idea: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/way-of-love/invitation/
2 See the Book of Common Prayer (1979). New York: Church Publishing. p.305
3 Foster Parmer, Mary (2018). Invite, Welcome, Connect. Cincinnati: Forward Movement.p.26-27
4 Mark 1:17
5 1 Corinthians 2:14-31
6 I capitalized Church here because I am talking about the church as a whole, not specifically Saint Dunstans. See the next paragraph for more details about this.
7 Foster Parmer, Mary (2018). Invite, Welcome, Connect. Cincinnati: Forward Movement. pp.36-37
8 Matthew 4:18-22
