“Go and make disciples of all nations.”

                                                Matthew 28:19

I was reading a study conducted by the Barna Group recently and imagine my shock when I read this summary note: With the exception of a few cities in the Bible Belt, in most major U.S. cities, nobody asks which church you go to because the assumption is that you don’t go.

Ouch.

Let’s go to “Sin City” for example – Las Vegas. There, the number is 14%. Fourteen percent. That means out of every 100 people, 86 are in bed or the casino or the restaurant or 4-wheeling in the desert.

And yet, the city has a number of thriving churches.

How do they compete with all the glitz and marketing in Las Vegas? They don’t. Churches in Las Vegas don’t fill up because of marketing.

The way churches there fill up . . . and everywhere else . . . is that people invite a friend. That simple.

Here’s a deep theological question from the far recesses of my mind: If you didn’t attend church, what are the chances you would walk in based on some great marketing scheme you got in the mail? You wouldn’t. To go, you have to know someone there. Have a relationship.

Regardless of what the church marketing companies and consultants say, the only way non-Christians and unchurched people are going to keep showing up at church is through a personal invitation from a friend.

So, when’s the last time you invited someone to church?

And who are you going to invite this week?

Lord help us to be Your disciples and do the work of the Kingdom we have been placed here to do. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.