Certainly, invite your friend to church! Yet, do so understanding: (1) how that invitation does and does not relate to the purpose of the Sunday morning gather; and (2) how that invitation relates to your evangelistic role in your friend’s life.
First, an invitation to church is only tangentially helpful in reaching the lost. This is because New Testament teaching seems to assume that the Sunday gathering is a gathering of believers for the purposes of worship, equipping, and fellowship.
In corporate gatherings, believers devote themselves to public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching (1 Tim 4:11-12). The purpose of this teaching is to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph 4:12). The saints encourage one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as they sing in worship to the Lord (Eph 5:19), stirring one another up to love and good works (Heb 10:23-24). They observe the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:17-34) and tend to matters of church membership (Matt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 5).
For this reason, what some may tend to call a worship service, the NT calls church (1 Cor 14:19, 28, 35). That is, the Sunday time of gathering, with all its associated activities, is called by the name of the gathered body of Christ. This is a strong indication that this gathering is primarily about the worship, equipping, and fellowship of the saved.
Strictly-speaking, the unbeliever has no interest in any of these purposes—worship, equipping, or fellowship. He/she does not worship God, and due to being dead in sin, has no spiritual gift with which to minister to others, no Holy Spirit empowerment for growth or service, and no ability to rightly understand and apply the Scriptures. In other words, the NT instructions regarding the activities of the Sunday gathering assume one is a believer.
That being said, at least one New Testament passage (1 Corinthians 14) assumes that, though the gathering of the saints is geared toward the worship, equipping, and fellowship, there may be unbelievers present. This does not change the purpose of the gathering. That is, the church is not to transform the Sunday gathering into an evangelistic enterprise. Rather, the Scriptures indicate that as the church operates as the church—in the presence of the unbeliever—the unbeliever may be convicted of sin and turn to worship God.
Similarly, an unbeliever may benefit from attending a Sunday gathering in that he/she will hear the gospel. However, the gospel is not preached primarily because unbelievers may be present, but because believers WILL be present. The NT assumes by the content and structure of its teaching that the saved need to hear the gospel regularly.
So, inviting an unbeliever to church may be tangentially helpful in reaching them. That is, the Sunday gathering may help to reach them, not as a direct intention of the gathering, but as an indirect benefit of the gathering’s primary purposes of worship, equipping, and fellowship.
In some traditions, a primary strategy for reaching the lost is to invite them to Sunday morning church services. Again, there is certainly nothing wrong with inviting non-Christians to church. However, there is danger in using the Sunday morning gathering to do something for which it is not intended by God. When the Sunday gathering is thought to be primarily evangelistic, worship tends to be restrained, equipping tends to be blunted, and fellowship tends to be superficial. In the long-term, there may be (1) a loss of the centrality and wonder of God’s glory, (2) an emaciated flock, and (3) a shallow, fractured body.
A second concept to keep in mind is how an invitation to church relates to your evangelistic role in your friend’s life. As mentioned above, the teaching office of the church was gifted to the saints… “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph 4:11-12). One aspect of that teaching pertains to evangelism, indicating that evangelism is not the sole responsibility of the teachers of the church. Rather, the teachers equip the saints to do the work of evangelism.
When we couple this reality with the preceding truth regarding the purpose of the Sunday gathering, we could say that the church gathers for worship, equipping, and fellowship, and scatters to evangelize. This certainly seems to be the pattern of the apostles and early church. For example, Paul evangelized by going where he was sure to find the lost (Acts 13:13-14; 14:1; 17:1-3, 16-20, 22-34; 21:26; 21:37-22:21).
As disciples of Christ, we are all called to do what He did…make disciples (Matt 28:18-20). God has placed you on the front lines of the battle for your friend’s soul. Therefore, be encouraged that God has entrusted you with this work, and take it seriously. As you strive to exemplify the gospel with your life (Titus 2:1-14), proclaim it with your tongue (2 Cor 5:11a).
You certainly may invite your friend to church to witness the saints worshipping in Spirit and truth, to hear the Word taught, and to see the love of Christ displayed in the body. But do not forget that the Lord has given you the privilege and responsibility of carrying the good news to those around you. An invitation to church should not replace your speaking the truth, but should supplement it.
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