Invitational Guilt
The reason some of our congregation are disengaged in the area of inviting friends and relatives is that they feel guilty about their lack of success in mission. They have invited someone but the person has said no. They feel that they have let God and the leadership of the church down. This might have happened yesterday or twenty years ago and they have buried it. Now of course success in invitational mission is one person inviting one person, not the person saying yes! But they have the impression they have failed. Guilt does not serve us very well, whether it is self-induced or inadvertently put on our shoulders. To become invitational we need to forgive ourselves and others and invite someone to take a closer look at Christ and His church.
