We always need to keep invitation and outreach in front of our members’ minds. The natural drift, and it’s not evil, is insular; that is to say, over time we will become comfortable with “our church people” and “our church friends” leading to complacency. But we are called to make disciples, not only of “our church friends,” but of lost and searching friends and others we don’t even know yet, who are yet to believe. With that in mind, here are three paths to invite people to group (and remember that a safe place to invite folks to is a group fellowship, rather than the Bible study proper):
- Supernaturally – Pray for the Holy Spirit to quicken minds so that people come to group. We have lots of folks wandering in who have recently moved here for a plethora of reasons and we have lots of people walking in to “try out” Brentwood Baptist. Leverage your campus pastor’s talent to attract the unconnected; pray those people find your group.
- Internally – Most of our members, no matter what campus you’re on, are unconnected to groups. If you see someone wandering around that you don’t know, introduce yourself and invite them to group. If your group aims at parents of preschoolers, then hang out around the preschool area to invite parents, and the same for children’s and students.
- Externally – Look around your neighborhood and the normal rhythms of your life (dog walking, grocery store, sports practice) and pray about who you should be inviting into community. Remember that the Spirit goes before you working in the minds of those that you’ll be convicted to invite.
Seek to incorporate all 3 paths into your group but start wherever your heart currently is. We don’t want to grow for growth’s sake and we don’t want to grow to hit some arbitrary metric we’ve chosen, rather we want to grow because our communities are full of lost and searching families who are unbelievers or unchurched. We want the abundant life for them, so pray about your role in introducing them to biblical community.