When Jesus preached the gospel, he included an invitation. “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” St. 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.” 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. And 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 someone to take just one step closer.
Here’s some examples of invitations that we can use. For example, let’s say a person doesn’t believe in God. You can say, “And that’s why I believe in Jesus. At this point, what do you think?” Or, “I know it might be a leap, but can I say a prayer for you right now?” And then pray out loud that God will make Himself known to the person. Or invite them to ask God to make Himself known to them. Let’s say a person is hurt and doesn’t trust Catholics. You can say, “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 am a Catholic. He tells us that the weeds and the wheat must grow up together. Does that make sense?”
You can pray. You can help the person to get connected with a Catholic parish. Let’s say a person does believe in God. You can say “What do you think of the gospel? If you would like, we can pray together right now to invite Jesus to come into our hearts in a deeper way.” After prayer, you can invite the person to connect to the nearest Catholic parish. Let’s say the person is a fallen away Catholic. You can say something like, “I know the Christian community is messy, and many people have been hurt in the church, but it’s still our family and Jesus called this family together. I encourage you to return to the fold. To know God, to love Him, to do His will.”
Let’s say a person hasn’t been to confession in a long time. You could say, “Can I give you one reason I choose to go to confession on a regular basis? I’m going to confession at a local Catholic parish this Saturday. Would you like to go with me? We could go watch the game afterwards. The meal is on me!” Let’s say the person is an on-fire Catholic who is an intentional disciple of Jesus. Well, at that point you might say, “Have you ever heard of St. Paul Street Evangelization? I help with a team that goes out and evangelizes together. We’re all called to evangelize and share our faith. I’d love 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.” Now, in many circumstances, a follow-up conversation might be appropriate. An invitation to talk further over a cup of coffee or lunch could begin a journey towards discipleship. If the person lives close to your home parish, you might consider inviting them to join you for Mass or Bible study. “I’d like to invite you to our small group Bible study. Anyone is welcome. It’s on Tuesday night. Would you like to come? Can I get your phone number and email to keep in touch?”
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, to make an invitation to embrace Jesus as Lord, to invite them to a small group, or all of the above! The Holy Spirit will help you discern the next step. And, as with any invitation, the worst that can happen is they can say is “no.” Jesus experienced both acceptance and rejection while He was on earth. So we can follow in His footsteps as men and women who make the invitation to be reconciled to God, without fearing the consequences.