A hands-on training session for teams to experience and practice leading interactive Bible study together.
Taste and See: How to Train Your Ministry Team to Invite Others into the Goodness of God A practical guide to help your ministry team move from simply attending to intentionally inviting others into spaces where they can encounter God. If you lead a ministry, you’ve probably felt this tension: You care deeply about the people already in your group—you want them to grow, to know God, and to live out their faith. But you also know it’s not meant to stop there. Just as the psalmist writes, we want others to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) —to experience Him personally, not just hear about Him. Invitation isn’t about filling seats or programs—it's about giving people the opportunity to encounter God and His goodness firsthand. But here’s the challenge: many of us have forgotten the impact of a simple invitation. Your ministry teams need reminding. Return to it often. Help your team keep the mission of making Jesus known not on the back burner, but at the very center of your group. As a leader, you have the opportunity to keep the mission of making Jesus known in clear focus. Use this post as a guide with your leadership team or small group: to reflect on who invited them to understand God’s heart for invitation and to take practical, personal steps toward inviting others And at the end of the post, you’ll find a free discussion guide you can download and use with your team . Because invitation isn’t just a nice idea. It’s often the first step in someone else’s story of truly knowing God. WHO HELPED YOU TASTE AND SEE? If you pause long enough to reflect, you can probably name the people God used in your life. What was it about them? Was it their consistency? Their kindness? Their boldness? The way they talked about Jesus like He wasn’t just a concept—but a person they knew? Most of the time, it wasn’t perfection that drew you in. It was authenticity. It was relationship. It was invitation. They didn’t just tell you about God—they invited you into something. And that reflects the very heart of God. It was invitation—not information—that changed something in you. A RELATIONAL GOD WHO INVITES God has always been relational. From the beginning, He walked with His people. Throughout Scripture, He pursues, restores, and draws near. And through Jesus, He made a way not just for us to know about Him, but to know Him personally. But here’s something we can’t miss: God often chooses to use people to reach people. That means your life—your relationships, your conversations, your invitations—matter more than you think. You are part of how someone else might come to taste and see that the Lord is good. God uses people to reach people—and that includes you. WHY THIS INVITATION MATTERS If we’re honest, one reason we don’t invite people is because we lose sight of what’s truly at stake. We get caught up in the day-to-day. Schedules. Responsibilities. Comfort. Fear of awkwardness. But Scripture reminds us of a bigger reality. God is just. Sin is real. And apart from Him, people are separated from the life they were created for. At the same time, God is incredibly merciful. He didn’t leave us in our sin—He sent Jesus. Through His death and resurrection, we are offered forgiveness, freedom, and eternal life. That changes everything. When we lose sight of eternity, we lose urgency. When we begin to see life through the lens of eternity, the question becomes unavoidable: Do I care about the souls of the people in my life? Do I want more for them than what they’re currently living in? Not out of judgment—but out of love. Love doesn’t stay silent when it knows there’s more. WHAT DOES INVITATION ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE? Invitation doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. It’s often much simpler—and more natural—than we make it. Invitation is often simple—it just requires intention. It can look like: Inviting someone to grab lunch Asking a friend to come to church with you Bringing someone to your small group or ministry gathering Opening your life and letting people see your faith in action You’re already living your life. You’re already going to these places. You’re not adding something new—you’re bringing someone with you. What would it look like to simply bring someone with you? The goal isn’t pressure—it’s exposure. That they would get a glimpse. A taste. YOU’RE ALREADY STANDING IN THE INVITATION Here’s something worth noticing: Many of us are already consistently in spaces where God is being talked about, Scripture is being opened, and community is being built. Church. Bible study. Student ministry. Small groups. We show up. We benefit. We grow. And yet—it often stops with us. Not because we don’t care, but because we separate these spaces from our everyday mission. We think of invitation as something extra… when in reality, it’s already built into the life we’re living. You’re already positioned to invite—you may just not be thinking that way yet. You don’t need to create a new opportunity to reach people. You’re already going. You’re already going. The question is: who are you bringing with you? IT’S NOT ABOUT BUILDING A GROUP—IT’S ABOUT OPENING A DOOR It’s easy to hesitate here. We don’t want to seem pushy. We don’t want it to feel like we’re trying to “grow something.” But this isn’t about building a name or filling a room. This is not about building your ministry—it’s about pointing people to Jesus. It’s about creating space for people to encounter God. Your Bible study isn’t the goal. Your ministry isn’t the goal. Jesus is the goal. These spaces are simply environments where people can: hear truth experience community and begin to see the goodness of God for themselves You’re not promoting an event. You’re opening a door. FROM PASSIVE TO INTENTIONAL If we’re honest, many of us have become passive with something that was never meant to be passive. We attend… but we don’t invite. We receive… but we don’t extend. Passive faith rarely multiplies—but intentional faith does. But what if we began to live just a little more intentionally? What if: every week, we prayed for one person to invite we looked at our schedules as opportunities, not just routines we saw our ministries as launchpads, not destinations Not out of pressure—but out of purpose. What changed your life might be one invitation away from changing someone else’s. FROM A TASTE TO A HUNGER We see this clearly in John 4 with the woman at the well. She encountered Jesus and immediately went back to her town saying, “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.” People came because of her testimony. But they stayed because they encountered Him themselves. They said, in essence, “Now we’ve seen for ourselves.” That’s the heart of invitation. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to convince anyone. You don’t have to convince people—you just have to invite them. Because when someone truly experiences the goodness of God: A taste turns into a desire. A desire turns into a hunger. A hunger turns into a life transformed by knowing Him. A simple invitation can lead to a life-changing encounter. So the question isn’t just who invited you — It’s: who is God inviting through you? TEAM TRAINING DISCUSSION GUIDE If you’re leading a team, don’t just read this—CLICK HERE to access the guide below to help your group begin living this out together.