I’m no expert in inviting friends to events. I’ve had some success in the past. More often than not I chicken out and end up feeling guilty; as I should. But it seems to me that the success of any invitation is a combination of at least three factors.

First, there’s the quality of friendship that we enjoy with the person we’re trying to invite. The better the friendship the more predisposed they’ll be towards listening to what we say and sharing in the things that define us.

Secondly, there’s the enticement provided by the talk itself. The more tailored the talk is to where the person is coming from the more likely they’ll want to pitch up. In other words if my issue is atheism and there’s a talk addressing specifically that issue I’ll be keen to hear what’s said. That might especially be the case if the speaker is also someone who can speak with authority and ability on those issues.

Thirdly, there’s the unseen work of God preparing someone’s heart to consider spiritual issues. If God is at work behind the scenes then there’ll be a divine impulse attracting someone towards the truth. They might not know it and they certainly won’t be able to explain it. But when God irresistibly draws us to Himself we’ll find ourselves wanting to consider things that we used to think were irrelevant or worse!

Rarely will we be able to get all three working in symbiotic perfection! We might get two out of three, which isn’t bad. But sometimes we just have to work with one and pray that’s sufficient. But take heart because that’s all God needs.

Sometimes we can persuade someone to come to an event even if we don’t know them that well and the talk isn’t quite their cup of tea simply because God has been preparing the ground. But if we don’t ask we’ll never know!

On other occasions even though the talk is not obviously relevant and our friend has shown no particular interest in spiritual things they’ll come to something because they so value our friendship. Friends like that are hard to find and we should return their commitment to us by trying to put them in the way of the gospel.

It might be that our friends show no few signs of an interest in Christian things and we’d only regard them as passing acquaintances but nevertheless they’re mustard keen to come because the issue is right where they’re at. The simplest way to find that out is to talk to them about what makes them tick and what they’re objections to Christianity are. Apologetic talks are ideal at helping people think these things through.

In other words, all of this is an encouragement to get involved in the mission not simply by praying, not simply by volunteering but by inviting the very people this week of events is intended for; namely those who don’t agree with us!