I have talked about the "old attraction" model a number of times in this newsletter. The attraction model is asking the guest to make all the effort to connect with us, while we wait inside the church. Obviously, this doesn't work; have you noticed that you don't have dozens of new people just showing up each week? Invitation by members, rather than waiting for people to come, is the key.

And the same applies for our online presence. For example, I hear many churches talk being online on Sunday mornings and most of the people viewing are church members or former members. The church longs for more guests to engage with online. But how is a guest supposed to find our church on Sunday morning amongst the million of websites, Facebook pages, etc. If we simply are waiting for online guests, we are really repeating the old "attraction" model.

Therefore, the key is to drive traffic to your online worship services, and other activities, by having members share and invite. There are a couple of great benefits to this approach:

1). Many members are reluctant and fearful to personally invite and bring people to church. An easier starting point is to have a member simply share a link and say "check in out" or "see how you like it". It is a great way to begin to develop more of an invitational culture in your congregation.

2). This approach is also great for the guest. Many non-church people are reluctant to walk into a strange building with people they don't know. It is easier to first check out our church from the safety of the kitchen table. It is a simple first step to help people experience our church.

So, I want to encourage you to begin to ask your congregation to regularly share the link to a website, Facebook page, Zoom gathering, whatever. Regular reminders, emails and texts with links that are simple to copy, will help your parishioners start to get in the habit of inviting others online.

For many people, this "come and check it out" invitation can be the beginning of a faith journey.