John 1:45, “Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote —Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
One of the most effective ways to see people come to Christ is through your friendships. In today’s verse Philip invited his friend Nathanael to come and meet Jesus. Afterwards, both Philip and Nathanael became Jesus’ disciples!
Dr. Win Arn, an expert in church growth, surveyed 50,000 churchgoers over a 10-year period to find out what the leading cause was for them coming to church. Between 75-90% overwhelming said, “I began attending church because someone invited me.”
In contrast to other methods, personal evangelism is still the most effective way to preach the gospel. For example, only 2% have come to church by advertisement, 6% by a pastoral invitation and just 6% by an organized evangelism campaign. On the other hand, 86% came by the invitation of friends or relatives. And from those 86%, 37% (over one third) testified that their coming to faith was directly related to the invitation they received to come to church.
However, the sad part is only 2% of Christians are actively inviting their unsaved friends to church according to Thom Rainer in his book, The Unchurched Next Door. Also, Scott McConnell from LifeWay Research wrote, “35% [over one third] indicated that they would be inspired to attend church, ‘if I knew there were people like me there.’” Lastly, 7 out of 10 unchurched people said they have never received even one invitation to church- God have mercy!
We need to pray, preach and invite our friends and family to church. First, we must pray for them by binding the work of Satan in their lives and ask the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to receive the gospel. Second, we need to preach to them the gospel and not just invite them to church. We should present the gospel to them personally. Third, we should invite them to our church to join the Body of Christ and grow in their faith.
Friends don’t let their friends go to hell without hearing the gospel!
Reflection
Action
- Repent if you have been lazy, shy or fearful in sharing the gospel with your friends and family.
- Pray and ask God to give you boldness to preach the gospel to those in your life (Acts 4:29).
- Look for open doors to preach the gospel and invite your friends and family to church.
