Performance related Inviting
There is a concept in business called performance related pay. Organisations have worked out that if you reward the results you want, you get more of those results. I found that there is an aspect of performance related rewarding going on in the church. Unfortunately we are currently rewarding the wrong result. In invitation we reward a congregational member for bringing someone by recognising their achievement in public. By telling their story. Unfortunately this sends a signal to other congregational members that they will only get recognition if they are successful inviters. Thus when we get a rejection in invitation we feel a failure, and stop inviting. Inviting is not rewarded, only bringing. We are looking for success not faithfulness. I want to suggest that we need to reward inviting. We need to celebrate a congregational member inviting someone and getting a no. We need to cheer each other on when we get a yes and a no. Jesus set the performance related inviting criteria when he said to the 72 that they would be accepted and rejected, and they came back rejoicing after having suffered both!