Poll a cross-section of people about how they came to faith and participation in the church and approximately 90% will say, "I was invited by a relative, friend or neighbor." Friends invite friends to Jesus.

Congregations across the country have found creative ways to harness the power of this truth by hosting worship events or special congregational gatherings to which their members may invite their friends. Because most people find new places intimidating, they are far more likely to "come and see" if they are invited by a friend or relative.

Today we live in the midst of a large spiritually yearning public. The mission field is no longer overseas. It is in our neighborhoods and schools, our workplaces and homes. The hurts and hopes of a stress-filled, fast-paced life contribute to a hunger for answers and meaning. Our congregations can be communities of hope and healing in a hurting and need-filled world.

2. Effective witness happens best when a congregation teams together in its evangelism efforts.

Many people shy away from faith sharing because they fear standing on their own. Friendship celebrations and other invitational evangelism efforts provide a team effort in which all the elements of the event become "the evangelist." We simply invite. The Holy Spirit working through inviting members, the worship service, the message, the music and the community of God's people works the miracle of a powerful witness.

3. Effective witness is only successful as it is taught and caught.

Friendship Celebrations become a major teaching tool over time. They help a congregation devote attention and training for members about faith sharing and invitation skills for effective discipleship. They give congregational members an opportunity to practice and learn this expression of discipleship. Congregations who regularly host Friendship celebrations discover their members grow in their courage, ability and skill as evangelists.

Still Real, Still Relevant Christmas Friendship Celebration

About the Theme: Still Real, Still Relevant

The world is searching for something REAL. "Real Men Sing Loud," according to the Promise Keepers. MTV presents "The Real World." There is a growing hunger for something that is authentic, honest, sincere. Often people who are not attending church, and even some who are, question the "real-ness" of Christmas. While it is true that the season has fallen prey to an increasing consumerism and hype, there is still a central core. That core is the person of Jesus Christ. However, that reality can be obscured when Jesus is relegated to some kind of "special guest star" role in our seasonal observances. Christmas plays, plastic nativity scenes and religious-theme greeting cards can take away from any sense of what is real. Jesus becomes real for people when they share an authentic Christian love found in relationships. The most important, real gift one friend can give another friend is to share Christ within the context of a worshiping community.

Getting Started: Reviewing the Steps

There are several areas you will need to address to prepare for your Still Real, Still Relevant Christmas celebration:

All too often, we assume that a Christian congregation is immersed in prayer. While national surveys indicate that a majority of people believe in the effectiveness of prayer, a much smaller number actually have a regular prayer life. An intentional prayer focus during this Advent season will help members prepare for the birth of Christ and harness the power of the Holy Spirit in your congregations' relational evangelism emphasis. It is vital that prayer be the foundation of your Still Real, Still Relevant welcome emphasis.

Consider regular intercessory prayers during worship in the weeks prior to Christmas. Encourage members to pray daily for the congregation and the guests who will be invited. Consider making strips of blue (the color of Advent) construction paper available as worship bulletin inserts during the weeks preceding Christmas for members to write the names of those they will be inviting. These strips of paper can be linked together to form a prayer chain. Use the chain as a visible reminder to the congregation of the people being prayed for in preparation for your Christmas welcome. Watch the chain and the prayers grow as Christmas draws near.

The Importance of Teaching Faith Sharing

To ensure the greatest success for your Christmas welcome consider providing a variety of educational forums to teach about the importance of relational evangelism beginning in the early Fall. "Friendship evangelism" is biblically grounded and has a history in the Christian community dating to the first disciples. Look for creative ways to help your members discover this as a mark of their discipleship. Intentional and strategic teaching and preaching provides motivation and builds skills for faith sharing. The following resources provide excellent foundations for your relational outreach efforts (all of these resources can be ordered by calling 800/328-4648):

Tying the Themes of Advent to Your Friendship Emphasis

Review the Gospel passages of the Advent season to prepare for your Still Real, Still Relevant seasonal relational evangelism emphasis. Use the texts as devotional readings during your early planning meetings and invite participants to share insights that might tie the texts to your friendship emphasis. This exercise helps your leaders prepare in advance for the rich season of Advent and should provide a wealth of illustrations and story from the community for use in preaching and teaching.

The Still Real, Still Relevant Christmas materials are not time dated. They can be used as an emphasis for any Advent and Christmas season. The following information is offered to illustrate possible themes from lectionary cycle A (1998, 2001). Use a similar format if you decide to offer this emphasis during lectionary cycle B or C.

In the church year lectionary, the Gospel texts for cycle A provide the following relational evangelism themes:

First Sunday in Advent: Matthew 24:36-44

In this text, Jesus teaches about being prepared: "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." The season of Advent begins with a warning that the time is short and we do not know when the kingdom of God will come. Jesus says "keep awake" and "be ready." Whether it is the biblical end time, or the unpredictable realities of life, the issue of salvation in Christ is still real and relevant. It is critical for Christians to share the gift of faith with friends, relatives and neighbors who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The stakes are high; the consequences are life and death.

Second Sunday in Advent: Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist shouts the warning, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near..." John warns the Pharisees and Sadducees to "bear fruit worthy of repentance." These are real and relevant words for us today. To "bear good fruit" as God's people who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire is to take seriously our calling to share the Gospel and invite others into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The text for this Sunday provides the opportunity to emphasize the importance of friends inviting friends to know Jesus.

Third Sunday in Advent: Matthew 11: 2-11

In this passage, the imprisoned John the Baptist, sends his followers to inquire about Jesus. "...Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" The Gospel text provides a wonderful opportunity to address the questions of unchurched people about Jesus. The skit included in this planning guide, A Gift Worth Sharing, is based on the biblical theme for this Sunday in Advent.

Fourth Sunday in Advent: Matthew 1:18-25

The final week of Advent features the familiar story of the engagement of Joseph and Mary. As Joseph considers quietly divorcing Mary, an angel comes in a dream, "...do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife..." This text offers a story about trust and faith. Key in on how God works through the common people and circumstances of the day to become real and relevant in peoples lives. How are we invited to "birth Christ" in the lives of others?

Creative Ways To Engage the Advent Texts

Consider creative ways to highlight the Advent texts beyond weekly preaching. Possibilities include lay led temple-talks relating the texts to their daily life, newsletter articles encouraging personal reflection on faith sharing and the publication of a special Advent devotional booklet developed from the reflections of members on these texts.

Counting Down to Christmas: Planning Your Still Real, Still Relevant Emphasis

Follow these guidelines to plan a successful Christmas relational evangelism emphasis in your congregation. About 12 weeks before the event, pull together a task force or team to plan and promote this effort. These should be motivated people, with a heart for sharing the Gospel with others. If you have an existing evangelism committee or team, you may want to involve some of the members on this task force. Because this is a focused evangelism effort, you may be able to involve people who have excellent gifts but do not believe they have time for an ongoing committee or team assignment.

Begin to meet, study these materials, order resources, and organize the effort. Plan out in as great a detail as you can, exactly how your congregation will move forward with the emphasis. Set clear weekly goals and decide who will complete which tasks.

Week 8

Write a lead article in the newsletter announcing the emphasis. Share what members are being asked to do. At worship, announce the emphasis and briefly explain the role congregation members will play as inviters. Introduce the Still Real, Still Relevant theme in a brief bulletin insert highlighting a time line for congregational engagement.

Week 7

Repeat the bulletin paragraph. Ask a member of the planning group to present a brief temple talk about your emphasis during your worship services. Involve the Sunday school. Ask the children to contribute pictures and images that help promote the effort.

Week 6

Encourage members verbally and in the bulletin to think about whom they might invite. Present a children's sermon on the theme and invite children to think about friends they might invite. Distribute door-hangers throughout the neighborhoods in your community. Prepare a press release announcing your Advent and Christmas worship activities to the community.

Week 5

Continue publicity and verbal encouragement. Include slips of blue construction paper in the bulletin to use for a prayer chain. Have worshipers write down the names of people they intend to invite and place the prayer chain links in the offering plate. Encourage members to buy coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, shirts, and hats to use in their daily life as a way to promote conversations about your congregation and its ministries during the week.

Week 4

Prepare a second article for the newsletter sharing information about any special plans you might be making: special music, groups performing, refreshments, etc. Recruit helpers and continue with the prayer chain. Recruit actors to perform the drama A Gift Worth Sharing to be shared most ideally on the third or fourth Sunday in Advent. Distribute multiple copies of the audio cassette, The Sounds of Christmas, and model for worshipers how they might share the cassette with a friend during a brief temple talk. Offer an adult education emphasis on relational evangelism using Sharing Your Faith in Your Daily Life: A Guide to Strengthening Your Relational Evangelism. Begin a sermon series on relational evangelism tying the Still Real, Still Relevant theme to the advent texts.

Week 3

Continue internal publicity among members and external publicity in the community using the ads, postcards, bulletin inserts, and other promotional materials. Have volunteers make phone calls to remind members about the upcoming Friendship emphasis. Invite a congregational member who came to faith through the invitation of a friend to share a temple talk about their experience. Pray for the members who will be inviting friends to come to your Christmas services. Continue your educational efforts with adults, youth and children about ways to engage in faith sharing.

Week 2

Continue publicity. Provide a bulletin insert listing examples of hospitality members might consider as they make their invitations (eg. offering to provide transportation, a meal or refreshments before or after the worship, the importance of introducing them to other members, etc.) Hand out printed invitations, postcards and cassettes as tools to facilitate inviting. Continue preaching using the theme material as a part of the message for the day. You may choose to share the drama A Gift Worth Sharing this week or save it for the last weekend before your Christmas services. Intensify your external publicity efforts with a print ad in your local newspaper and a press release about the your congregation's Still Real, Still Relevant friendship emphasis. Invite a young person in your congregation to give a temple talk about what it feels like to be invited and included.

Week 1

Continue publicity. Provide a bulletin insert offering ideas about different ways to extend invitations (eg. by mail, in person, by phone, etc.) Invite several people to role play different ways of inviting during your announcements as a way to model possibilities for others. Pray for members inviting and those who are being invited. Encourage all members of every age to invite their family, friends, and neighbors with them to Christmas services. Finalize arrangements for any on site hospitality efforts, such as name-tags, refreshments, greeters, building tour guides, etc. Present the drama A Gift Worth Sharing and tie in a brief motivational message highlighting the theme and emphasis.

Welcoming Guests to Your Christmas Worship

The holidays are an important family gathering time. Christmas worship services are often surrounded by special family rituals and visits from relatives. At the same time, Christmas tends to be a time when an unchurched person is more likely to experience the heart tug to "check it out." Navigating this tension between the family gathering and an openness to guests is extremely critical when choosing to offer a friendship emphasis during your Christmas worship services. Think carefully about the level of commitment members can make to bring a special sense of welcome to the day. While you may not be able to offer a meal following worship, you certainly could consider offering an extended refreshment time by throwing a "birthday party for Jesus" with cake and drinks.

Whatever you choose to do, the key is to be genuine, warm and welcoming. Christmas tends to be a time when congregations are at their best: special music, choirs, flowers, festive banners, candle light drama, and a special message. There is often high energy and a wonderful sense of expectation. It is a great time to welcome guests to the ministry of your congregation! As you do so, keep in mind the following issues of basic hospitality:

Position "greeters" or "hosts" around your building and in your parking lot. Their job is to smile, greet and help people feel graciously welcomed. Ask everyone, members and guests to wear a name tag. Be sure to have plenty of signs to help guests get around. Temporary signs and church maps could be printed for guests. The goal is to make your space easy to navigate. Do whatever you can to lower the anxiety level of your guests and help them feel welcome. Do not force them to stand up and introduce themselves; this will make them feel conspicuous and uncomfortable. Instead offer a general welcome to all worshipers, extending a special welcome to those who are worshiping for the first time.

Be Sensitive to Families with Children

A clean and orderly nursery, staffed with friendly and competent personnel will make a strong impression. Provide children's bulletins and children's activity bags to help children appreciate the worship service at their level of comprehension. You may also choose to distribute a gift to visiting children as something that will remind them later of their visit with you. Highlighting your children's choir and offering a children's message communicates on many levels the value your congregation places on children and families. Consider inviting a high school youth to do the children's sermon. One way to lift the theme Still Real, Still Relevant could be to perform a few "slight of hand" tricks talking about how some things appear to be one place and then they are not. Focus on how love and faith are still real and relevant.

Be Conscious of Helping Guests Through Worship

Assume your guests will not be familiar with the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW). Consider printing up everything worshipers will need in one worship folder or bulletin. Pulling all of the worship elements into one seamless worship booklet minimizes juggling various books and pieces of paper. (Don't forget to check copyrights and obtain permission where necessary.) Be sure to provide a word of welcome in your bulletin for guests and any relevant information about your congregation's ministries that you wish to share. You may wish to consider designing your welcome and announcement page as a "take-home" piece, knowing that this may be the one hard copy piece of information your guests will carry home with them.

Be attentive to hospitality practices when it comes to offering and communion. You may wish to announce the following just before collecting your offering: "If you are worshiping with us for the first time, please know you are our guest. Rather than your donation, we ask that you fill out our guest card and place it in the offering plate. We are glad to have you worshiping with us and hope to see you again soon." It sends a message that the guest's presence is more valuable than their money. Be sure to offer clear instructions before communion so guests know who is welcome to the table and how your congregation communes.

Be Ready to Gather Information on Your Attending Guests

Don't short-circuit weeks of motivation and preparation by not having an adequate system in place to record the names and addresses of your worship visitors for follow up. A welcome book in the sanctuary is not enough! The most ideal form of recording attendance for a friendship celebration are "pew cards" or "pew pads" which are filled out by both members and guests. Providing space for prayer concerns and encouraging their return during the offering instead of a donation helps minimize the feeling of recording attendance. Cards or pads can be easily reviewed by the ushers so that guests are identified immediately following worship by designated greeters or staff. They will also lend themselves to easy follow up in the days after Christmas.

Be Sure to Greet Guests Following Worship

Consider offering special refreshments following worship. You may also want to have packets with information about your congregation's ministries to share with guest, including a useful gift to help them remember their experience in the weeks to come. (Review the list of items available as part of the Still Real, Still Relevant campaign for possibilities.)

Following Up After Christmas

Plan in advance the ways you intend to follow-up with the guests who attend your Christmas worship. It is important to engage in follow-up within 24-48 hours of the worship service. You will see a greater number of your guests return to worship on a subsequent Sunday if your "follow-up" ministry is lay-led. Build on the web of relationships which already brought your guests to church by asking the "inviters" among your members to follow-up with a phone call within two days.

Please note: the days following Christmas tend to be the time your pastor takes a much needed break for family or a vacation. Anticipate this by making sure lay leaders and a system are in place for worship guest follow-up. Because of holiday schedules this can be an ideal time for lay people to do visitor, even during the day.

If you don't already have a lay-led evangelism ministry of "worship guest visitation teams," consider beginning this ministry in the weeks preceding your friendship Celebration. In-person and telephone follow-up of worship guests lets them know that you valued their presence at worship. It gives you the opportunity to say "thanks for worshiping with us" and allows you to strengthen the connection between your congregation and its guests.

Having this kind of deliberate follow-up ministry in place helps your congregation "adopt" new people into its life and ministry. It nurtures the bonds between those who are searching and congregations, like yours, who are anticipating with open arms the presence of seekers and new believers in your midst!

Final Thoughts

Your congregation is not in competition with the other Christian faith communities in your area. It is in competition with the hectic pace of life today and the myriad of activities competing for the time and interest of people. In today's world, people are literally bombarded with attractive offers to go here or go there, to do this or that. Unfortunately the church cannot rely on people seeing through the clutter. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is still real and still relevant for today's world. But we may have to try a little harder, reaching out in new ways, to break through the noise and clutter that people face. People long for something genuine, something authentic, something that will fill the emptiness they feel. We in the church have just that, but we may have to lose a little of our shyness in sharing this great message. We may have to take part in and support a worship experience that is truly designed and presented "for one who doesn't know Christ." Make your friendship celebration an experience that will help your congregation spread God's real and relevant message to your community today!