Come on everybody!

CREATING A CULTURE OF INVITATION IN YOUR
CHURCH
By Michael Harvey
Monarch Books. 159 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 0 857 216 328

Michael Harvey’s book essentially asks one disarmingly simple question: ‘Why don’t Christians invite people anymore?’

Accordingly, Harvey begins by unpacking some of the man-centred reasons why this rather passé evangelistic tool has fallen off many contemporary radars. Subsequently the reader is encouraged to recall numerous biblical heroes, who trusted that God was with them, even in the midst of deep apprehension. Granted, some of Harvey’s advice in evangelism – ‘Stop fearing man!’, ‘Dance with anxiety!’, ‘Remember you are dust!’, and ‘Just realise that you’re going to get nailed!’ – strayed somewhat from a CCEF approach, and yet I really appreciated the book’s courageous and godly premise – faithfully to invite, pray, and leave the results to God.

Is an invite sharing the gospel

Having said that, the book felt a little long and at times the excellent premise was lost amongst numerous reasons for our fear. In fact, partly due to the foreword, which states that this book cuts to the heart of the evangelism conundrum – why don’t we say: ‘would you like to come to church with me?’

– it occasionally felt that the evangelistic tool of invitation became synonymous with sharing our faith. Indeed Harvey’s use of the Great Commission, to remind us that God is with us in invitation, made it unclear whether he sought greater church invitation, or greater disciple making. While I’m sure he would undoubtedly commend both, I couldn’t help but feel that Harvey needed to make the distinction.

Nevertheless, in an age when savvy, conservative, contextualisation-focussed, evangelical church leaders are tempted to produce ten-year pre-evangelistic strategies for reaching their scarily-secular neighbours, Harvey’s frank and yet unassuming paradigm for future success (where success is one person inviting one person to church, leaving the yes and no to God) is delightfully timely. If the simple, artless and free tool of invitation has been jettisoned from your evangelistic toolbox, this may be worth a read.