Note from Petey
September 2025

I remember some of the most important invitations in my life like they were yesterday. There was an invitation to play basketball with a church youth group in middle school that really launched my involvement in church and led to faith in Jesus. My freshman year of college, I was in my dorm before classes started and I got invited to attend a campus ministry retreat that I tried to get out of. After I reluctantly showed up, it set me on a path that led to a career in ministry. And I remember when Ashley “invited” me to call her through a mutual friend because I wasn’t sharp enough to pick up the signals and ask for her number. There are countless others, but I guess my point is that you don’t know what an invitation will lead to.  

There is a sense of openness in every invitation, as well as a bit of faith and an opportunity to trust. The openness is that there’s something possible with this invitation thatmight not otherwise come to fruition. The faith required, even in non-faith settings, is that this invitation will actually prove meaningful if accepted. And the trust is that the person extending the invitation makes worthy invitations, even if they’re concerning banal matters like a local restaurant or recipe (I like food!).

Invitation always involves putting ourselves out there, moving into an in-between space where we’re open to what will happen next. And that’s why the Practice of Invitation is one of our church’s “practices of openness.”  If we believe it can be powerfully transformative to trust in Jesus, get involved in a local body of faith, and serve our neighbors with our gifts & resources, then we believe those things might be meaningful for people in our lives and our communities. And so we invite. We invite because God is up to something and we want in on it. We invite because what’s impossible (or at least very difficult) with man is possible with God. We invite because we want goodness and joy and healing and peace for others. We invite, even when it’s scary, because God loves us and he loves others. We invite because the Gospel moves for everyone.  

What invitation are you grateful for? And, where is Jesus calling you to practice invitation?
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