I Invited my Friend to Easter … Now What?
Each person that hears the gospel is always and forever an enormous win. Easter annually provides a special opportunity for Christians to invite family members and friends who wouldn’t normally attend a church gathering. For many, this is a Sunday that those who normally avoid churches accept the invitation and join us. Easter 2020 offered a particularly beautiful twist in that our friends didn’t have to leave their own home in order to join the Easter celebration.
And yet, Jesus’ commission to the church was never to “invite to Christian gatherings.” Instead, in Matthew 28:19 Jesus called his church to make disciples. Don’t hear me wrong, invitation is a beautiful step. But it truly is just that — a step. And for many of our loved ones, that is an amazing and beautiful step.
But this week, the question for us as Christians may be, “I invited my friend to Easter … Now what?”
It’s incredible that friends or family joined us for our Easter gathering, but Christian, don’t view this as the finish line. View this as the starting line. An Easter morning gathering should provide a launching point into more evangelistic or discipleship conversations rather than being the end goal. If churches and Christians only care that we had more people than usual attending our Easter gatherings, it’s safe to say we’ve missed the call of Jesus.
If attending an Easter gathering is the starting line, then what do the next few steps look like? The path will vary depending on the situation, but here are a few encouragements.
Pray
Prayer can often be classified as obvious, yet forgotten, in our evangelism efforts. You may even be tempted to skim over this section and get to the “real steps” after the necessary Christian cliché. But this is a good chance for us to stop and ask if our practice matches our theology.
Many of us would acknowledge that it is God who saves souls. We would acknowledge that it is God who ultimately moves a sinner from death to life. We would acknowledge that our efforts useless without the power of God in our conversations. And yet, many of us would quickly skip over prayer to move to the “real” action steps. Christian — the most powerful thing you can do for your friends is to pray that the Lord of Hosts moves to save their souls.
Take the next few weeks and pray that the seed that seemed to land on the soil of their heart would take root. Pray that the Spirit would nourish it into salvific maturity. Pray that God would provide laborers (in addition to yourself) to water that seed abundantly over the following few weeks. Ultimately, pray that God will do what you never could — bring your loved one to salvation.Follow Up
What do we do after we pray? We act! In God’s immeasurable grace, He allows us children to be the means He often uses to reveal the gospel. You may be the very person that God has ordained to explain the gospel to your loved ones that will lead them into a saving relationship with Jesus. God may be empowering you to bring hope, victory, and life in their lives.
Therefore, make sure to follow up with your loved ones soon. Don’t let weeks go by before you ask what they thought of the message they heard. In love, follow up this week to talk and have them share their thoughts. If you had a conversation after the gathering on Sunday, get in touch with them again this week to follow up with more conversation. It may feel odd at first, but people rarely feel put-off by people taking an interest in their lives and well-being. Be bold, and follow up soon.Ask Questions
As you follow up, don’t feel the pressure to have a new sermon prepared to deliver every time you talk. In fact, oftentimes our attempts to bludgeon people with our intellectual prowess does more harm than good. Instead, consider approaching a follow up conversation as one of asking questions and listening.
Asking conversation-provoking questions can reveal a lot about what the Lord is doing in a someone’s life. “What stood out to you from the message on Sunday?” or something that is not a “yes or no” question is a great starter to find out what caught someone’s attention. (Heads up—it might be different than what stood out to you, so don’t assume what the person will say. Ask questions.) As you listen, ask questions of “Why…?” or “How…?” in response. Your goal is not to simply find out some facts but to see where the Lord is working.
Asking questions may not be your instinct, but this is an essential evangelism practice. The gospel speaks into every reality of our lives. Your job as the evangelist is to simply ask questions and find which specific areas of their lives God is speaking into.Invite
Lastly, invite them into next steps. Every time Jesus looked to engage in a relationship with someone, He invited them into something.
Again, this process is far from one-size-fits-all. But a few options for invitation may be: another dinner conversation, your City Group, Sunday worship gatherings, a plan to read the Bible together, Zoom call someone who can help you answer any tough questions, etc.
None of those are the best next steps and none of those are terrible next steps. Your follow-up invite will depend on you and the relationship you have with the person you are about to disciple. Think proactively and invite the person to continue pursuing Jesus with you side-by-side.
Final Thoughts
In Luke 12, Jesus exhorted his disciples to acknowledge him before mankind and reminded them that when they feel overwhelmed, “the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:12)
I think the same is true today. These conversations may be hard to start, but trust Jesus when He says He will be with you and the Spirit will guide these conversations. And remember, if God is the one who saves, the pressure is off. You just do your part to pray, follow-up, ask questions, and invite.
By Andrew Rutten, Providence Pastor and Co-Planter