Invitation and challenge

I've been thinking about this Invitation & Challenge matrix lately. I first stumbled onto it some years ago - probably through 3dm - but the best description I know of comes from Ben Sternke in his "Making Disciples" series.

As Ben says in his post, "How I Make Disciples: Invitation & Challenge,"

Invitation refers to an attitude that says, “I’m glad you are here, I’m committed to you and will welcome you no matter what.” Challenge refers to an attitude that says, “I want you to grow, I’m committed to holding you accountable to change for the better.”

It's not a very long article and the series itself is so well put together that I highly recommend it. And, while Ben is speaking specifically to the work of making disciples, I believe it has application far and wide.

What initially reminded me of this was a discussion with my pastor about our church culture. It was then magnified (to me) by the first preaching team meeting we had. I haven't said anything yet, but finally decided to refresh my memory with the above chart.

It somewhat blew my mind, because in our discussion of culture, we both agreed (well, at least he agreed with my take) that there is a pretty "cozy" culture in our group. People tend to feel comfortable coming to our church gatherings, but that's usually all the farther they go. So when I saw the top left quadrant - High Invitation/Low Challenge - I almost laughed out loud. That is EXACTLY how our pastor is!

Then, when we had our first preaching team meeting, I was a little frustrated by the discussion. It was slanted WAYYYYY to the invitation side. To the point that "invitation" was actually used as a synonym for "proclamation (and what our preaching is to be about), and there was no mention of "challenge" whatsoever.

Now, as a "challenge" sort of person, this caused me to think all sorts of things. You know, the stifling of my prophetic voice, an insufficient (false) gospel, quenching the spirit, so on and so forth. I don't really feel it is intentionally any of those things. I think/hope it is just that he leans way to the invitation side, and I to the opposite extreme in challenge.

I suppose it's also possible that we feel differently about preaching in general. His take is that it should be nothing but proclaiming the gospel. I don't disagree, but I think my understanding of it is a little different. I believe proclaiming can/does include teaching, and also includes challenging people to be different and better. In other words, I believe preaching/teaching to be the same, and both should include discipling at the core. You can't merely proclaim the gospel to people in one moment, then disciple them at another time. It's all the same thing to me. At least I think so.

At any rate, I also need to remind myself often of what Sternke points out at the end of his post on invitation/challenge:

"If you want to make disciples, you’ll have to learn to do intentionally that which you’re not good at naturally. Those who are natural “inviters” need to learn to bring challenge. They’ll need to learn to push harder than they’re comfortable with. They’ll need to learn to hold others accountable for taking action in the kingdom. Those who are natural “challengers” need to learn to be inviting and warm. They’ll need to learn to have meetings with no clear agenda, just enjoying the company of others. They’ll need to learn to affirm and encourage those they’re discipling... when you feel like you are leaning into that which you’re not comfortable with way too much, you’re probably almost there. “Challengers” will feel like they are being overly-mushy and sentimental when they’re actually calibrating an almost-appropriate amount of invitation. “Inviters” will feel like they are being harsh task-masters when they’re actually calibrating an almost-appropriate amount of challenge."

 So, just some stuff simmerin' in my brain today. Good stuff, at that!