Backwards Growth

Apply this to your club or civic organization if you want to. What I'm really talking about is church.

Times have changed. People don't join anything anymore just by advertising, "We're here!" Direct mail is even losing its charm; we get so much junk mail that much of it is thrown away without being read. If you really want someone to join your church (club, group), your best bet is to go invite them face-to-face.

It's not easy for any of us to just ring the door bell at a home of someone we've never met. We imagine all kinds of negative responses. We decide to put it off until just the right time, then the perfect time never comes. Let me assure you, from years and years of experience, that it is extremely rare for someone to not like you coming to make their acquaintance.

We usually ruin our chances of the new person we meet ever coming to church by what we say on that first visit. We are determined to extend an invitation to church before we leave. That is so wrong, in our present day. That's backwards. Your first priority is to be a new friend. They don't want to think that they are special because they can be a part of your church. They want to be recognized as special just because they are a new friend.

As you grow your new friendship over time, and your friend sees and understands what you are like and what's important to you, they'll be much more likely to respond positively to your invitation to Christ or to church. They've seen your heart.

Before they know you care, sharing your heart is an empty gesture. It's just another piece of direct mail, and we know what happens to that.