The invitation, even in a Lyft
I have always believed that the most important part of the church service is the invitation, the moment when someone’s heart is open to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and be baptized.
For others, the invitation is a time to repent, turn their lives around or ask the church to pray for something in their lives they are not able to deal with themselves.
I responded to the invitation and became a Christian on Dec. 3, 1978. Even though I had grown up in church, I realized that I had never repented of my sins and surrendered to Christ. I needed to be saved by God’s grace through the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross.
As a minister of the Gospel, I try hard to make my sermons thought provoking. But the mission of everyone in the congregation is to make the service impactful for all participants, whether one is ushering or serving communion.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14
One of the most special passages in the Bible is 2 Chronicles 7:14 because it provides an excellent guide to prayer: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
No doubt, he hears us and extends his invitation in many places.
Touchdown moments
I love airports full of people from many cities moving in multiple directions.
So many people with so many roles work to make sure we get home safely. Flight attendants, gate agents and those who push the wheelchairs. Pilots, vendors and air traffic controllers focused on safely landing the planes.
Life and death intersect at the moment of touchdown. Getting the plane to that point requires meteorologists, maintenance personnel and navigators like my old roommate Jeff Hughright who map out the course.
The church is like that. As a minister, my goal is to encourage people to connect with God and to understand his will for their lives. But for a church to be effective, every member, teacher and leader in the congregation must be engaged in the mission and be ready to offer an invitation. Because often, the most opportune moment comes between the Sunday sermons.
The world is filled with so many people, tangled and twisted in difficult situations. My goal is to get their attention and show them God’s plan for their lives. But the sermon is only part of the effort to invite someone to get closer to God.
Others go out of their way to prepare meals or provide clothing, visit the sick or care for the hurting.
“The world is filled with so many people, tangled and twisted in difficult situations. My goal is to get their attention and show them God’s plan for their lives.”
I am convinced that the only way that we were able to remain close to each through the Zoom years was by calling and talking to people about their relationship with God and just listening.
When I went through chaplain training, I learned about being a listening presence. When Jesus prayed in the garden, he rebuked the disciples for sleeping at the hour he most needed them.
I want to try harder to be a better listener because we have family we don’t know, people who are waiting for an invitation.
In August, while in Chicago at the National Association of Black Journalists, I stayed in the suburbs where rooms were less expensive and took a Lyft each day to the convention site.
On one of those days, my driver was so nice and her smile so welcoming. I told her that she looked familiar. She really did.
“Where do you go to church?”
Leonardo Gilbert
“Shelton Heights Church of Christ.”
“Do you Know Brother Leonardo Gilbert?” I asked
“He baptized me,” she said
So I called Brother Gilbert, national coordinator for the Crusade for Christ, right then from the back seat of her Lyft. While we talked, the woman said she had not been to church for a while because of her Lyft schedule but she was going back.
I handed the phone to Brother Gilbert and she said, “Hey, Brother Gilbert!”
By the end of the call she said, “Brother Gilbert, I am coming back.”
On that day, even a Lyft was a venue for the invitation.
HAMIL R. HARRIS is a Christian Chronicle correspondent and a veteran journalist who spent two decades with the Washington Post. He preaches regularly for the Glenarden Church of Christ in Maryland.
The post The invitation, even in a Lyft appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.
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