The 10-Second Challenge: Are You Up To It?

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” – Romans 10:14 (ESV)

Over the past several months, thousands of individuals have risen up to accept the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS and other great causes. While I’ve done the challenge and, in fact, have been challenged to do it again, I struggle with a problem that churches battle and want to put out the 10-Second Challenge. It is based on the question, “Would you like to come to church with me?”

That’s a question that can be asked in less than 10 seconds but is very seldom asked by Christians. I believe every Christian would agree that the question needs to be asked of those in our community. We might even agree that inviting people to church is a key part of evangelism and central to the mission of any church body. Research has shown that most people actually want to be invited to church, with nine out of 10 unchurched people saying they would come to church if invited.

The problem is that we rarely ask the question. The reality is only about one in five churchgoers invite anybody to church over the course of a year. We might have someone who could be totally up for it right in front of us, practically begging us to invite them, and instead we hesitate and don’t even get the words out of our mouths.

People want to be invited to church, and they would come if we would just invite them. But we’re not doing it. There’s only one probable explanation: fear. Fear of what they’ll think of us for going, fear of what they’ll think of our church, fear of what they’ll think of us if they come and don’t like it. Truth be told, some of those fears might become reality, but that’s not a valid reason for us to deny an opportunity to share Jesus with someone.

Pastor Matt Rogers offers these eight tips for getting around the fear that has stood in your way:

1. Pray you’d have God’s heart for the lost
2. Pray for courage
3.  Pray for specific people
4. Remember your own calling
5.  Remember the Gospel
6. Trust in the power of the Gospel to save
7. Know that sharing the hope of eternity is loving
8. Know that it’s not about you