We meet in a rented hall so we don’t have a bell or buzzer to use to alert everyone when services begin. During our business meeting last evening one brother (whose wife teaches the children’s class) made a request. He stated that our normal procedure during our mid-week services has been that we make announcements, have a couple of songs then the lady teaching the children goes to another room for a class.<\/p>\n
Sometimes she does not have time to gather up her class materials and return for the invitation that is extended; therefore, he suggested that we offer it at the beginning of the class. I have never seen this practiced and suggested that one of us go and signal her in order that she will have time to prepare by gathering up her class materials and return to the auditorium.<\/p>\n\t
I know of nothing in the Scriptures indicating that an invitation must be offered each time we gather, let alone when that invitation is given. Generally, congregations wish to take advantage of the time that they have to encourage one another toward faithful service. An invitation naturally follows a lesson (short or long) because the lesson should stimulate the audience’s mind toward things which need correcting or improving. Most people feel that it makes a good ending to a gathering, but I’ve seen it done at other times. Here in La Vista, on Sunday evenings the lesson and invitation are given in the middle of the service instead of at the end. It basically comes down to what is expedient for the local group. I know of one congregation where the preacher rarely offers an invitation at the service. He doesn’t want people to think there is a set time to obey the gospel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: We meet in a rented hall so we don’t have a bell or buzzer to use to alert everyone when services begin. During our business meeting last evening one brother (whose wife teaches the children’s class) made a request. He stated that our normal procedure during our mid-week services has been that we make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[836,84],"class_list":["post-6918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-invitation","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34893,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-singing-and-prayers-during-mid-week-bible-study-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":6918,"position":0},"title":"Are singing and prayers during mid-week Bible study worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother, I am a member of the Body of Christ. I have a question that I hope you can answer for me. After midweek Bible class everyone gathers and we sing songs, offer up prayers, a short sermon is given, and an invitation is extended. Is this worship?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-lords-supper-only-be-offered-after-the-invitation\/","url_meta":{"origin":6918,"position":1},"title":"Should the Lord’s Supper only be offered after the invitation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been a member of the Church for many decades and have never felt the Lord's Supper should be served before the invitational hymn. We want to wait for those who care to join our work, so we should serve it after the hymn. Do you agree? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27468,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-handle-being-invited-to-a-bible-class-that-you-know-isnt-going-to-teach-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":6918,"position":2},"title":"How do you handle being invited to a Bible class that you know isn’t going to teach the truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do I handle getting offers to attend studies and other programs from my friends who attend denominational churches? The conflict is them saying \"no\" when I invite them and me saying \"no\" when they invite me. I know it's not worship. Would I be able to attend those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27921,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-handle-an-invitation-to-a-party-where-drinks-are-being-served\/","url_meta":{"origin":6918,"position":3},"title":"How do I handle an invitation to a party where drinks are being served?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have received a recent invitation\u00a0to attend a pre-nuptial party.\u00a0I don't have any objections to the occasion, nor any ill-feeling to the hosts or anything like that. What I am against is that some alcoholic\u00a0beverages will be served during the party. I'm not sure what to do -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39849,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-stealing-ok-if-one-is-starving\/","url_meta":{"origin":6918,"position":4},"title":"Is stealing OK if one is starving?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am preparing for Bible class that I am teaching this evening during our regular midweek services and need to be prepared in case I am challenged by one of our members who might have the idea that stealing is okay if one is starving. Your response? Answer: \"People\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27912,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-young-soul-winner\/","url_meta":{"origin":6918,"position":5},"title":"A Young Soul Winner","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant \"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit\" (Matthew 28:19) Nancy Harber was only 14 (well, almost 15), and at this young age had already experienced one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}