21 Hospitality Bible Verses
The Bible has some examples of hospitality, both positive and negative.
Review these on your own and glean your own insight on biblical hospitality.
It will affect your church welcome practices.
The Definition of Church Hospitality
Church Hospitality is not evangelism. I’ve written in the past about the connection between Christian Hospitality and Evangelism, particularly as to the connection to welcoming first time visitors. I’ve published stories of being a first time church visitor and experiences of welcoming church visitors: But I want to develop a little more depth on church …
A Wonderful First Time Church Visitor Experience
Our family visited another church for the first time. We showed up unannounced and uninvited. We had seen the sign on the street announcing service times and chose to attend. The experience was very different than the first time visitor story we shared in a prior posting. A Cross Cultural Church Visitor Experience This church …
Should we single out First Time Visitors?
One of the features here is “Ask EvangelismCoach.org“, a place where you can submit a question that’s on your mind about evangelism. I collect them for ideas for future articles, and is a great conversation starter. A recent one that came in was:
2 Tips to Make Visitor Friendly Church Announcements
Many churches still use a bulletin or program to share the news of community life. Do you proofread your announcements? Is the font easy to read? Does the bulletin appear professional (not a 7th generation photocopy)? Are contact names and phone numbers included? If not, what central point can a person go to to get …
Assimilating Church Visitors: Beyond the First Visit
What kind of impression do visitors get when they come into your church for the first time? Every church thinks it’s friendly. I and many others have experienced the fear factor of walking into an unknown place and knowing immediately that we don’t fit and are not really welcome to remain. During my last book …
First Impressions: Survey First Time Visitors (More)
Last month, I posted an entry on Surveying 1st Time Church Visitors to help improve your church’s welcoming. I contacted each church mentioned and discovered the effect of such an online first time visitor survey was a zero. One church visitor survey was a broken link. The second church visitor survey for first time visitors …
Survey Your First Time Visitors?
I found this interesting article on line about surveying first time visitors (Link broken) who visit your church for the first time. The basic premise is put a survey form on your church’s website, ask first time visitors to go there and rate/comment on the service. The article goes on to comment about such a …
Red Carpet Hospitality
Hospitality, or welcoming visitors, is only a part church based evangelism, but it’s not evangelism as we define evangelism. Rather, hospitality helps create a context for evangelism to happen in a church context. What does red carpet hospitality start with? It starts with a good welcome. Who takes the initiative to greet? When visitors show …
Assimilating Visitors to Your Church
Update: Read my review here: Fusion Visitor Assimilation. I think this is the best assimilation book available right now. I’ve not read Sticky Church, but that is next on the list. A new book has been released about turning Visitors into Members, also known as church visitor assimilation. Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members …
10 Tips for Church Greeters
Greeting visitors at church is such an important part of the hospitality ministry of the church. Church Greeters are part of the ministry team and form part of the first impression that a visitor receives. Here are 10 tips for greeters.
Church Visitors – Miracles disguised as needs.
A few years ago I attended a seminar dinner on How to Minister to Visitors at the local church and I learned some great ideas that are worth sharing here. Perhaps these can help you minister to the people God brings to your church through your invitation or through His own sovereign means. 1. Miracles …
How to Welcome Visitors During the Christmas Season
When the Christmas season approaches, your church calendar gets full. Volunteers step up for all the special activities.
As part of your planning, find ways to refresh the vision of great church hospitality and first impressions.
Here are 5 things we remind ourselves every Christmas season
How First Presbyterian Branson Welcomes a Church Visitor
Imagine a church meet and greet where it’s a game: Who’s come the furthest to get here? First Presbyterian Church in Branson MO greeted their church visitors this way when I was there on a visit in 2007. Because its a tourist town, they have plenty of visitors to church who come for the one …
Effective Evangelism Teams
How does one develop an evangelism team or an effective evangelism group in the local church? In the denominational circles I run in (Presbyterian Church USA), this has been relegated to the Evangelism Committee, or the Witness and Service Committe, or New Member Committee, or the “Make up another name just to have a name …
Back to Basics in Church Evangelism
I just read a timely article about this in Net Results Magazine’s September/October 2007 Issue. Bill Easum writes “Back to Basics,” calling on church leaders to get back to the great commission and the great commandment. In returning to the Great Commandment, he exhorts congregations about the need to return to the basic ministry of …
Come to the Table
While in Nashville, I skipped out the conference worship service to attend The Peoples Church in Franklin TN (now merged with Church of the City after 2015). It is a mega church with multiple campuses and multiple services over the weekend. But they had a few programs I can share about evangelism. This program below can …
Closing the Back Door
Outreach’s website reports in “Coming Home – Outreach & Evangelism (link broken)” some statistics about why people leave churches and what churches can do to reach back out. Why people drop out of church The Number One reason people drop out of church is a change in life situation (almost 60%). I think of the …
10 Questions About Your Church Signs
Do your church visitors know where your front door is? We visited a church and used the front door and found it locked. Embarrassing. How did this happen? In one of our church visits, we approached the front church doors that faced the parking lot. The covered front porch provided a dry space for dropping off passengers. …
How to Greet a Spanish Speaking Visitor
In our presbytery, one of the fastest growing demographics is the Hispanic population. Here are just a few phrases that anyone can use to help a Spanish speaking guest feel welcome. (See No One Said Hello for a Spanish speaking visitor who didn’t feel welcome). 1. “Dios le bendiga” with a handshake is a common …
Church Hospitality and Belonging
I’ve had the joy of connecting with a Spanish speaking small church. It is a small church, bouncing from 15-40 in attendance. Our first visit was sometime 2006, maybe October. I’m clearly an American, so I stuck out.
When the shorts and skirts were too short
Most churches have an unofficial dress code that visitors do not know. When a visitor appears to break the dress code, how does your church react? Does your reaction help the church’s mission of evangelism, or does it create an environment that is hostile to evangelism? The ‘secret’ dress code One of our first-time visitors …
2 Ways to Reject Church Visitors
The art of welcoming the first time guests who visit your church is to practice the art of church hospitality. Church Hospitality is not evangelism as we define and use evangelism here. Rather, church hospitality helps to shape the environment for hearing the joyful sharing of the good news of the sovereign love of God. …
No one said Hello
Over dinner this weekend, I heard this story first hand. I had only been a Christian for six months. Six years ago, we moved from Texas to Richmond and began to look for a Spanish language church. I didn’t find any for a few weeks, so my wife and I decided to attend an English …