92% of our neighbors, coworkers and people all around us are disconnected from a relationship with God. Many of them have simply decided that church isn’t relevant to their life or they have more important things to do with their time.

When we show up to something like Easter and see a ton of people we assume that we’re reaching new people. But unless we’re inviting the 92% we may just be shuffling the deck of Christians that come to church infrequently. God longs to connect with people that are far from Him, it’s why He sent Jesus.

God spoke through His prophet Ezekiel to say that very thing, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ez.36:26).” There is no one so far gone that God can’t soften their heart and change them from the inside out.

And actually—it may be way easier than you think. Did you know that 82% of people who identify as “unchurched” say they would be “somewhat likely” to attend church if someone just invited them?! That’s amazing.

We think it’s going to be so difficult and we allow our fear to paralyze us against the backdrop of something like an invitation to easter but more than eight in ten people you ask are at least “somewhat likely” to come. There are very few risks we take in our life that have that good a chance of success and the stakes of this invite could be eternal.

The power of invitation has personally changed my life many times. I had a friend from my neighborhood invite me to his Cub Scout troop when I was a little boy and it eventually led to new leadership skills, an Eagle Scout rank, and a medal of heroism (but who’s keeping track?).

God used that invitation to shape me; and God wants to use your invitation to shape the future of people so close to you but so far from God this Easter. So invite someone. You’ve got great odds ;).