I would like to share something I was challenged by what I read off of the DISCIPLES TODAY website.

the church can’t rely on events to evangelize but must focus almost entirely on building good relationships to share the gospel. In the West inviting someone to church is usually a major step, or even the first step in sharing with someone. In China, there are rarely visitors at church—only someone very close to being baptized would be invited to attend. 

I gave a midweek lesson inspired from Douglas Jacoby's "Shining Like Stars" and shared about how we were given a mission the same as Saul. Our mission given by Jesus is to "Go and make disciples..."When Saul partially obey God and was confronted, he said "But I did obey".

  When we share our faith by JUST inviting someone to church and they don't come are we going to tell God, "You said to Go and make disciples and I DID INVITE THEM TO CHURCH".What if they don't come to church? Do you write them off? I know I have in the past - I would look for someone 'open' and if they weren't 'open' to coming to church or studying the bible then I would move on to the next person.

 Inviting someone to church is not equivalent to 'Sharing you faith' although it can be a part of it. Inviting to church is good - but please don't let it END THERE.Here's a challenge I gave to a a brother at midweek "Make a disciple w/out inviting him to church."

http://www.disciplestoday.org/content/view/706/181/

In love w/ unity, Byron

I agree. Inviting people to church is good, but it can seem so unloving and even focused on numbers. It's building a relationship with the person that you meet that is important. How your relationship with God is revealed by how your relationship with your new friend is. You also have to show your new friend that there is more to you than church services and reading the Bible. We need to show people that we are friendly, concerned about our new friends well being, fun to spend time with, worth spending time with and more. I can tell you that I have shared my faith with many people who haven't come to church right away. There were two very timid women and one very timid man that my mother in Christ and I shared my faith with while in college back in 1992. They all were so timid that not only did they not want to come to church, come to a Bible talk discussion group, or study the Bible, but they would be so timid that just talking to them in a conversation was a major task. My mother in Christ and I put a grain of sand on a scale with every day we knew them (so to speak) by being their friends and not rushing them. After about ten years worth of grains of sand on those scales, the scales finally tipped in the other direction; in the direction of God. All 3 of them studued the Bible, two were baptized, and one of those sisters is married to my once roommate, whom I also met and baptized. They make a wonderful couple, and the sister has learned that this giant room of people called a church is not here to make fun of her or cause her harm, but they are here to love God and love her as Jesus loves us (John13:34-35). I will say though that my spiritual mother and I did meet these women and this man cold contact, but that it was the quality of of our friendship with them that led them to God. I will say that a good number of the people that I have baptized have considered me their best friend, or a member of their family, or even a blessing from God. One of them even went steady with me. But I still would not have met these people if it were not for cold contact sharing of my faith, and setting goals of how many people to reach out to daily.It depends on the person really. Some disciples have 100's or even 1000's of friends outside of the church, while others have none. Some have 100's of relatives while others have none. When it really gets down to it though, whether friend or relative, sooner or later you have to meet them cold contact and say "hello" or you will never get to have a relationship with this person or relative at all. I myself have hundreds of relatives; some I know very well (because I saw them every holiday, or more often than that), while others I hardly know at all (because they lived 3000 miles away and I never even had a chance to even say "hello" to). So I am a believer of cold contact meetings and of taking that cold contact met person and building a deep relationship with them Take my cousin Cathy for instance, for 30 years she was but picture on the wall in my uncle and aunts house. Her and her husband lived 1000,' of miles away. After 30 years she moved to Cape Cod (where most people in the neighborhood are a relative of mine, and where I go regularly) and I got to know her. It took cold contact to go up to her and just say "Hi", but now I know her at a deep level...JohnfinnJr

I am also going to say that I did make a disciple, without inviting him to church. I studied the Bible with an elderly man. The man was in such bad shape that he couldn't even leave his house, so inviting him was useless. Soon the man died, without having ever gone to church or a Bible talk discussion group. Now that i think of it, the majority of people I have shared my faith with, I invited them to a Bible talk discussion group, not church...JohnFinnJr