Are We Giving Clear or Confusing Invitations?

I have sat through many invitations times over the years and I believe we sometimes get stuck in a tradition instead of offering a Biblical truth to those listening.

Over the past few years while speaking at children's ministry events, I've tried to stress the idea of keeping things simple, real, & true when teaching children. Children have such a literal mentality.

A few days ago I spoke at a seminar and was discussing the topic of words that we use when teaching children.
As an example, I gave phrases that are commonly used during the invitation time in our churches.

Lets look at the list:
Will you invite Jesus into your heart?
Will you surrender your life to Christ?
Will you promise to commit your life to Christ?
Will you confess your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you?
Will you make Christ the Lord of your life?
Will you give your heart to Jesus?
Will you accept the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him as your personal Savior?Will you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the grave?

The group of 70 agreed that all were fine invitations, but are they?
How did you do? I broke the questions down below.

Let look at each phrase.
Will you invite Jesus into your heart?
This one is confusing! Children picture a literal asking Jesus to come into their Valentine shaped heart.

Will you surrender your life to Christ?
This one is confusing. This one puts the focus on man's actions. We give nothing to Christ. We must accept what He has done.

Will you promise to commit your life to Christ?
This can be confusing. Salvation is based on God's Grace alone and not our actions. Once saved, the commitment will come.

Will you confess your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you?
This one is confusing. Repentance is involved with Salvation. Confession is involved with your daily Christian walk once you are saved. There is no way a lost person can confess every sin they have commited.

Will you make Christ the Lord of your life?
This one is confusing. This one I like the least. Jesus is the Lord of Lords and who are we to make Him anything. We must accept that He is Lord and submit to His Lordship.

Will you give your heart to Jesus?
This one is confusing. Children take this literally and gives an idea that we must do something rather thnn accepting a free gift.

Will you accept the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him as your personal Savior?This one is clear. Each person must personally trust in Jesus alone.

Will you believe that Jesus Christ Died for your sins and rove from the grave? This one is clear. We must place our trust in what Jesus did.

I believe that we must examine how we share the Gospel. We are commanded to share this Good News, and we must do it accurately. If not we may be sharing a false hope.I would enjoy reading your thoughts on this subject.

If you have other phrases that you’ve heard, feel free to share those.