Andy Stanley has said, “The Church is a family expecting guests.” Is your family ready? Have you prepared for the arrival of guests and all that is to follow?
Let’s say I’ve invited you into my home for dinner. I would put great effort into getting ready for your visit. I would want to make sure that my home gave off the best possible impression of me. For our meal, I would be sure to make a dish you would enjoy. When you arrive, I would show you around, make sure you know where the bathroom is and give you a comfortable place to sit. I would do everything in my power to make you feel welcome and respected as a guest in my home. By preparing for your coming, I would be able to treat you with the hospitality you deserve.
The Church—your church—truly is a family expecting guests. And you should be ready to show them intentional hospitality when they arrive. When they leave, be proactive in giving them a return invitation they’ll be hard pressed to refuse.
As you put a system in place to effectively integrate guests into the family, you will be able to fulfill part of the responsibility God placed on you when He prompted them your way. God is honored when you show your guests true biblical hospitality.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture in which the business world understands more about true expressions of hospitality than the Church does. Just step back and take a look. While hotels, restaurants and stores all around us serve their guests with intentional care, we often let ours wander in and out of our weekly services with no specific plan for showing them how important they are to us.
We are in God’s business. Yet we focus less time and energy on engaging our guests than the people who provide theirs with little more than a comfortable bed and a hot shower. The new people who walk through our doors have the opportunity to come into relationship with their Creator, a chance to discover His will for their lives and the ability to step into their place in His family…and we take our part in that opportunity for granted. We are not prepared.
Understanding the significance of proper assimilation may require you to change the way you think about service. God has not only given us the responsibility of being hospitable to His guests, He has also given us the perfect example of how to go about it. Jesus came to the earth to serve, not to be served. Throughout the New Testament, we see His examples of selfless service for those He had the opportunity to influence.
And we’ve been left with the challenge of doing even greater things.
Assimilation is simply well-planned biblical hospitality through service. The head of our organization is the greatest server of all time. Doesn’t it follow that we should be the ultimate example of such service to our guests? With the right system in place, we can serve in a way that will truly touch lives for God’s kingdom.
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
P.S. – Upgrade your biblical hospitality with the right system!
You have people attending each week for the first time but it’s difficult to get them to return to church for a second time. And if WE DON’T GET THEM TO COME BACK, they are never going to become fully developing followers of Jesus.
The great news is there IS a proven process to welcome first-time guests, get them to return again and again, and effectively move them to membership and an ongoing relationship with Christ.
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Plus, it’s organized for team training with seven powerful sessions that you can go through at your own pace – easily one per week!
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME – you have a Team Training DVD Option! Train your staff and key leaders — I will be right there on the screen walking you through each of the seven sessions of training.
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