I fully believe that Cleveland Park Congregational UCC is a truly Open and Affirming, Welcoming and Including Church.  We welcome all, all races, all economic classes, all ethnic backgrounds. People of diverse political persuasions and diverse sexual orientations make up this dynamic congregation.  We are an intergenerational church.  We are a mentoring church.  But are we an Inviting Church?

We know that most people visit and then join churches because they are invited to do so.  Studies have shown that the most effective inviters are the lay men and women of the church.  Pastors, advertising, public relations, denominational identity, the yellow pages and signs all taken together do not bring into American churches even a fraction of the numbers that are brought by the personal invitations of friends, family, coworkers and even “mere” acquaintances.

Most of us tell our friends, family, coworkers and all about new restaurants we have discovered.  We share the news about good movies, and concerts and plays.  We take people to the Birchmere, we meet them at Spices, we stand in line with friends at the Uptown.

If CPC is important to us, we need to share that good news in the same way. We are not trying to impose anything on them, we are sharing something that they may enjoy, benefit from, need or maybe even find surprisingly different from all their previous experience with churches.

We don’t have to invite them to Morning Worship or Vespers out of the blue.  We may invite them to a dinner, a Bible study, the Christmas Pageant, a recital or to a service project first.  Sometimes we know that the worship will touch an interest they have.  

When thinking about whom we can invite, we often make the mistake of thinking of very settled friends, the ones most like us.  Often, these are the friends who already have a church home.

The first step in inviting people to church is to exercise personal hospitality.  Is the circle of our love and friendship open or closed?  None of us have all the friends we truly need.  God has presented us with the gifts those shadow presences in our lives who can become solid and precious friends  We need to consider the persons just transferred to DC.  Those people who are just entering our circle of acquaintances are very often those who  most need our friendship.  Younger and older friends are often seeking the community of support friendship is.

There is  a simple technique to knowing whom to invite, how and when.

Before we encounter someone we can offer ourselves in prayer to God, asking how we may minister to the person or people we are about spend time with.  We ask for the wisdom to see beyond words to the person’s true state of mind, heart and soul.  We ask God for the proper way to respond to each person whom we meet.  We pray that God may be in their words and that Christ may speak to them through us,.  We let the spirit speak.   All this takes is a second or two, and sometimes it is done in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

No, it is not enough to welcome those who come through the church door on their own.  Each of us needs to actively share the excitement and the spiritual depth of this congregation which is growing into God’s Gift of Tomorrow.