Bro. Archie Miller

Committed to Excellence in Communicating Biblical Truth and it’s Application!

March 2017

March Madness

March was named for the Latin Martius—aka Mars, the Roman God of war.  It’ time to declare war on the evil that keeps people from worshipping God..  Research indicates that 80-90 percent of new church members start coming because of a friend, relative, or acquaintance.  How long has it been since you invited someone to attend worship with you?  Have you become discouraged when you ask someone and they turned you down?  If so, don’t stop inviting.  Another recent study showed that people who became active Christians had been invited an average of 8 times before they accepted the invitation.

Perhaps you find the following suggestions helpful to make the most of your ministry of inviting others.

(1) Identify an unchurched person with whom you would be willing to form a friendly relationship.  Statistics suggest that 80+% of our Orcutt area are unchurched.

(2) Keep that person in your mind and before God in your personal prayers.

(3) Find time to be with that person on his or her own terms as a listener and sharer in his her interests and concerns.

(4) When appropriate, respond to that person in ways that show the role your faith plays in your own life.

(5) Seek ways to serve and opportunities to invited that person, always prepared to accept a “no” without argument.  Do not hesitate to extend another invitation at another time.  “NO” is seldom forever.  It usually means “not right now.”  Just think how many calls you get from your credit card companies asking you to accept their credit card protection plan, or to increase your credit limits.     

(6) Remember that informal social events are easier to enter unselfconsciously than formal worship.

(7) Invited your friend into your home at a time when you are entertaining someone from our congregation as a way of breaking the ice.

(8) Continue all these steps in prayer, always concerned how your friends will react to your invitations, and also concerned that your motives are for that person’s good.

Remember, April 16th is Easter.  We will have our annual Easter Sunrise Breakfast, starting at 8:30 A.M., followed by Resurrection Day Worship at 10:15 A.M.  Would you not agree that is a good day to invite your friends.

Be good to yourselves!

“The principles by which Alexander Campbell and his associates lived,

appear to me

to be indistinguishable from

the principles of primitive and apostolic Christianity.”

Dr. F. F. Bruce - (1910-1990)

 Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis

the University of Manchester, England

Supporting the Church through Amazon

Dr. Archie Miller, D.PTh.

805.478.8841

W6alm@AOL.Com

About the minister