When Jesus preached the gospel, he included an invitation: “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:14). Saint Peter, too, when he preached the gospel on Pentecost, also included an invitation: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit… Save yourselves from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:38-40). We too must do the same. Once you’ve had a conversation with someone and shared the gospel, it’s time to invite them to take the next step. What this step will be depends on where the person is in their life and walk with God. Ultimately, of course, we want to invite others to repent and to enter into the Church to live a new life of faith in Jesus. But in many initial conversations, the best thing to do will be to invite people to take just one step closer. Here are some examples of invitations that we might use:
- A person doesn’t believe in God. “… And that’s why I believe in Jesus. At this point, what do you think? … I know it might be a leap, but can I say a prayer for you right now?” Then pray out loud that God will make Himself known to the person.
- A person is hurt and doesn’t trust Catholics. “I’m so sorry that you went through that. On behalf of Christians, please accept my apology. I wish I could make it right — but I would ask you: please don’t turn away from Jesus because of Judas. Jesus is the reason why I’m a Catholic. He tells us that the weeds and the wheat must grow up together. Does that make sense? …” Pray. Help the person get connected with the parish.
- A person believes in God. “What do you think of the gospel? … If you would like, we could pray together right now to invite Jesus to come into our hearts.” After prayer, invite person to connect to the parish near them.
- A person is a fallen-away Catholic. “… That’s one reason that I choose to be Catholic. We can’t love God if we don’t spend time with him. The Christian community is messy, but it’s our family. And Jesus called this family together. What do you think would happen if you were to die right now? … I encourage you to return to the fold! To know and to love God, and to do His will!”
- A person hasn’t been to confession in a long time. “Can I give you one reason that I choose to go to confession on a regular basis? … I’m going to confession at the local parish this Saturday. Would you like to go with me? We could go watch the game afterwards. The meal is on me.”
- For an on-fire Catholic who is an intentional disciple of Jesus. “Have you heard of St. Paul Street Evangelization? I help with a team that goes out and evangelizes together, which makes it a lot easier. We’re all called to evangelize and share our faith. I’d like to invite you to join us next time. If you’re not comfortable talking to people, you can pray for us as we’re talking to others. It’s actually really fun to share your faith!”
- For anyone. “I would like to invite you to our Small Group Bible study. Anyone is welcome and it’s on Tuesday night. Would you like to come? Great. Can I get your phone number and email address to keep in touch? This is awesome. I made a new friend today!”
Obviously, these are just a few ideas. You need to decide if the next step for the person is to call them to repentance, to minister to a wound or past hurt, to make an invitation to embrace Jesus as Lord, to invite them to a small group, or all of the above.