This post may be an exercise in stating the obvious, but here it is anyway: Don’t forget to invite people to Christmas services at your congregation.

In LifeWay Research’s latest report, it states that 48% of Americans do not routinely attend some sort of service at Christmastime. An additional 5% are not certain if they will attend any given year.

At the same time, 56% of these people (who either do not routinely attend services or are not certain if they will attend services) say that they would attend if invited by someone they know:

One of the most common reasons that we do not invite people to attend congregational worship is because we are afraid of rejection. It is awkward to put an invitation out there and have someone turn it down. This statistic can help us move past at least this one concern.

To be certain, the full practice of evangelism involves a process of inviting people to take steps of faith into the abundant life of God through Christ takes time offered within a trusting relationship with a constant reliance on the work of the Holy Spirit in both our lives and the lives of those we invite. That can seem overwhelming, especially when we are not used to inviting people to consider Jesus or even spiritual things more generally. To begin the process of inviting people, it can help to have an initial, specific step we can invite people to take. Inviting those we know to experience the unique joy and beauty of worship at Christmastime is demonstrably one of the easiest such steps that many people are likely to accept positively.

So, this Christmas, consider who you know that you can invite to take that first step toward abundant life with you by welcoming them to join you and your congregation as you celebrate the Nativity of the One who came to bring us that life.