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FOREGOING THE INVITATION IN WORSHIP GATHERINGS
Many evangelical Christians were raised in churches that gave a weekly invitation, i.e. a time of response usually placed at the end of the worship gathering. I am such a person even as my dad pastored a church that employed such an act. Currently, however, and for various reasons, the so-called traditional invitation is being removed in many evangelical worship gatherings. While those who have become accustomed to an invitation for nearly their entire lives might resist such a change, I would invite people to examine the invitation itself in a different light and question the foundational purpose behind its existence in the first place.
The
Invitation Is Not a Biblical Concept
An invitation belonging to a Christian worship gathering is not a concept to be found anywhere in Scripture. The predominant practice, until the 19th century, was worship gatherings without an invitation time. Revivalists and efforts to reach the lost by bringing them into the context of corporate worship paved the way for local churches to begin implementing an invitation time. For centuries, Christian worship was solely focused on God’s glory and praise and nothing else, i.e. worship gatherings were not primarily evangelistic opportunities but rather time set aside for a brief moment each week when God’s people would devote themselves to the praise and adoration of their God. The mentality began to change in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century and continues even now, although many evangelical churches are now foregoing the practice. What some might refer to as a traditional invitation then is not traditional at all but instead an invention of the past one-hundred fifty years. The invitation holds little place in church history and certainly not in the Bible. Its foundation, therefore, is recent tradition and should be considered closely by believers.
Worship
Is Designed for Christians; Unbelievers Cannot Worship God
While there is nothing wrong with unbelievers attending Christian worship, they have no capacity to worship God until they have been transformed by him, for worship may only occur in the power of the Holy Spirit, which they do not possess. Since evangelical worship gatherings, since the 19th century, have become evangelistic opportunities, their focus has become distorted and led many Christians to view the purpose of a worship gathering as primarily evangelistic in nature. Nevertheless, reality is that worship is designed only for the church. Thus, believers should now realize that worship with the purpose of reaching the lost is an incorrect approach and adjust accordingly. Such is occurring in many modern evangelical churches where the truth of worship belonging only to the church is further being realized.
The
Invitation Often Becomes Manipulative
Many, including myself, have experienced what could be called manipulation during invitations. Often, the music is slow and emotional, the lights are dim, and the preacher makes seemingly endless attempts at persuading congregants to make decisions of any kind because it looks good when many people fill the open altar area (usually the steps to the platform) during an invitation. What is such a moment except manipulative? While believers should strive for excellence aesthetically, e.g. lighting, sound, etc., if people are changed by human manipulation rather than the Holy Spirit, they are truly not changed. Jonathan Edwards, a revivalist himself, says, “I should think myself in the way of duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided that they are affected with nothing but truth and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with.”[1] Affections are a vital part of human nature. Dealing with the affections then is crucial to ministering to God’s people; yet, a truly effective minister understands that affections are intended to align with the moving of the Holy Spirit, not manipulate people despite it. Ironically, although the invitation was born from a revivalist era, Jonathan Edwards himself understood this truth. Worship gatherings should not manipulate but should reveal God for who he is in all his glory and splendor and provide an avenue for his people to worship him.
The
Church Is Called to Go
While an invitation is certainly not wrong, many modern evangelical churches have seen the futility in its application and have opted to design worship gatherings with the sole intent of worshiping God. Often, the church desires a lost world to come to her when Scripture is clear that believers are called to go to the world (Matt 28:19-20). An invitation could be perceived (and rightly so) as laziness and neglecting the call to go. The church should not use worship gatherings as a manipulative opportunity but should seek to be biblical in every approach. Since lost people cannot worship God and since an invitation is not a biblical concept, perhaps, local churches would benefit from considering why they might employ an invitation in the first place. If its purpose does not have the aim of God’s glory, the act should be abandoned with haste and without apology.
[1] Edwards, Jonathan. Works Vol. 4. “The Great
Awakening.” Yale.
