Commentary: How to prepare for an 'Invite A Friend' day

Steve Foster

I consistently see lives changed when I preach the gospel at a Friend Day.”

A Friend Day at church is an intentional strategy to engage church members to invite people in their circle of influence to a church service where the simple gospel will be preached, and a clear invitation will be given to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. I preach numerous Friend Days in churches of various sizes every year and almost always experience people making the decision to follow Jesus. The key to an impactful Friend Day is preparation.

5 Steps To Preparing For A Friend Day

1. Start with prayer.

• Encourage people to pray for Friend Day with emails, text messages, and announcements.
• Hand out cards and ask people to write down the names of people who they will pray for daily and invite to the event.
• Invite people to pray at the altar on Sundays leading up to Friend Day.

2. Promote Friend Day.

• Enthusiastically announce the Friend Day every Sunday morning for six weeks leading up to Friend Day.
• Pastors/Staff should talk from the stage about their personal commitment to pray and invite friends.
• Enlist Small Group leaders to promote it consistently for four weeks leading up to Friend Day.
• Produce an Invite Card for Friend Day for church members to give to people.

3. Train your First Impressions Team.

• Cast a vision to your team for Friend Day.
• Walk through your building and think about cleanliness and presentation.
• Create a system of follow-up to guests and those who make a spiritual decision.

4. Enlist and train decision counselors to help those who respond to the invitation.

• Have various ways that people can decide to follow Jesus by asking them to come forward, text a number on the screen, and go to a Next Step area after the service.

5. Preach a simple gospel message.

• The Friend Day is all about the gospel.
• Don’t just give out information, but give a clear invitation.

I consistently see lives changed when I preach the gospel at a Friend Day. When pastors and their people pray, the gospel is presented, and an invitation is given to respond, we see God do amazing things.

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Steve Foster serves as an Evangelism Consultant with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.