Can sharing coffee and other forms of hospitality in the church help a congregation grow? Coffee won't do it alone, but biblical hospitality will. In this exciting book you'll come to understand how the congregation which embraces hospitality always grows in vitality and in numbers. You'll learn the biblical and historical basis for hospitality and also come to understand: hospitality to strangers; hospitality to children and youth; hospitality to church members; hospitality to those who make us uncomfortable; physical facilities and hospitality; and styles of worship and hospitality. "Widening the Welcome" includes a study guide ideal for individual, small group, and congregational reflection.
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. . . practical ideas that can increase the quality of hospitality. . . . This book has great value for pastors and ministry chairpersons in several areas of congregational life. -- Herb Miller, editor of Net Results, in Net Results
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Can teaching people to share coffee and other forms of hospitality help a congregation grow? Coffee wont do it alone, but biblical hospitality will. Thats what happened at the Oakland Church where worship attendance grew by 19% and Sunday School attendance grew by 36% in three months. And the church has continued to grow!
If thinking about a congregation which had experienced rapid growth creates for you the mental image of a huge physical facility with dozens of creative programs in a major metropolitan area, you will be disappointed by this book. The physical facilities and the program of the church certainly have expanded to keep pace with the membership, but demographics do not explain what has happened. The Oakland congregation is located in an Ohio farming community.
Pastor Fred Bernhard, convinced that hospitality is an essential part of the Gospel, developed a comprehensive model of a welcoming congregation which has had dramatic impact. While hospitality is not itself an evangelism strategy, the congregation which embraces its practice almost always grows in vitality and in numbers!
Fred joined forces with Steve Clapp to create a book which shows the Oakland experience in the context of strategies which have proven effective around the country in truly welcoming new people into existing congregations. Biblical hospitality can be the answer for many local churches which have felt blocked on attracting potential members and on truly assimilating new members.
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The True Meaning of Church Hospitality,
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This review is from: Widening the Welcome of Your Church: Biblical Hospitality & the Vital Congregation (Paperback)
If your church truly wants specific ways to extend hospitality rather than just friendliness, this book is for you.
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