Let’s go back again to the paragraph we highlighted at the start:
The term ‘invitation’ is a term intended to apply to two dimensions of the same reality: 1) in one sense it is intended to define a period in the conversation where it appropriate to offer an invitation (yet to be defined) to repent - turn from self to God - and embrace a grace-motivated life of following Jesus Christ; 2) and in another sense it is intended to define a period in the conversation where the person who does repent and embrace a life of following Christ begins (and understands they are beginning) their new life in Christ with the intention of being a follower for the rest of their life.
Because of length considerations many gospel presentations, just to avoid going on forever, seem to “add on,” almost as an after-thought what happens after faith in Jesus Christ and the new birth. And who can blame them for that? But it’s not good.
Many people’s attention span is very short and yet the seriousness of the gospel demands people understand and reflect enough on what it really is in order to have a healthy conversion. Parenthetically, that’s part of why in many cases it is extremely helpful to have a Bible study group go through this process of learning more over a period of weeks. You would expect, ceteris paribus, that the further people are culturally and intellectually from the gospel, the longer it might take for the truths of the gospel to be culturally digested. Of course, there are exceptions to this, that’s why we said, ceteris paribus.
Now there are many times that people can understand the great things of the gospel in one conversation. We have seen that happen many, many times, but there are typically some relevant back-story in those situations. In some cases this can occur because the person whether conscious of it or not has a great deal of emotional and intellectual resources to understand love of God, our fallenness, and the offer of redemption through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. They just more readily get it and it coheres with so much of their life and its journey--”of course,” they might think, “I just haven’t gotten around to doing anything about it.”
There is, to be sure, the matter of their will as to what they’ll do about it, but they can quickly grasp things. Others, don’t seem to have this wealth of background, but because of the power of the gospel and other unknown factors they also find themselves in a situation where a profound and previously unnamed need is crystalized by a hearing of the gospel.
We just want to urge you to take the time needed as you explain the gospel as to how these two aspects can and need to take place (either in a Bible study, a long conversation, or in one single conversation); and emphasizing that this is meant to be a conversion to a beginning of a new way of life. A way of life that continues or is meant to continue all their lives...and if they understood it properly they certainly would want to do so.