By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
FORT WORTH, Texas (LBM) – O.S. Hawkins and Matt Queen have pub[1]lished a primer for pastors about how to give “an effective, God honoring, public invitation, void of manipulation.”
Queen spoke with the Baptist Message to share why he and Hawkins feel there is a need for such a renewed focus on intentional calls from the pulpit for repentance to salvation, and how their new book, “The Gospel Invitation,” addresses the need.
“Churches are baptizing fewer people on the whole,” Queen underscored. “You go into some church services, and they don’t give an invitation.” Moreover, he revealed three primary reasons for the lack of an invitation:
— “There is a well- meaning discipleship culture that has put forth the idea that for someone to come to Christ they must spend a lot of time investing in a relationship over a long period of time,” he explained. “The idea of calling someone to immediately and publicly trust Christ conflicts with some discipleship views.
— “Some people associate a public invitation with Arminianism, and that is a theological conflict,” he observed. “Also, there have been past abuses in terms of manipulations. So, some well-meaning people are trying to protect against these.”
— “The last group, I call ‘pragmatists,’” Queen said. “They don’t have a problem with it, but they tried it and didn’t see someone respond, so they say it doesn’t work.”
Regardless, Queen offered that giving an invitation is an intentional practice in the Old and New Testaments, and he presented examples ranging from God’s inquiry to Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9) to the public call by the Spirit and the Bride, “Come” (Rev. 22:17).
“It’s historically correct to offer an invitation,” Queen said.
But he equally emphasized, “No one gets saved apart from the Gospel. No one is led to repent and believe unless they get it explained.” Still, he was emphatic that an “A-plus sermon” must include an invitation, “driven by the text.”
Queen and Hawkins establish a foundation for giving a public invitation with every sermon in the first two chapters of “The Gospel Invitation.” Then in Chapters 3-5, they provide tools for planning the invitation as part of sermon preparation, offer examples of invitations according to the genre of the text, and give best practices to sharpen the Gospel presentation.
Queen is hopeful that the book will be an effective tool in the hands of pastors.
“We don’t go out seeking God on our own,” Queen said. “But whenever sinners hear the Gospel and the Holy Spirit convinces and convicts them, there is this question, ‘What do I do?’
“The tax collector asks, ‘What do I do?’ The soldier asks, ‘What do I do?’” he continued. “If we share the Gospel and the Holy Spirit is working, we must take the opportunity to explain to them how they can repent and believe.”
“It’s a biblical precedent, and those who preach and proclaim the Gospel, must answer the question, ‘What do I do?’” Queen concluded, “That is the purpose of ‘The Gospel Invitation.’”
