Toolbox For Faith

Sandy Birch, who is a member of the St. Michael staff, put together the following article  on hospitality ministry.  We are running it in the January newsletter.

Hospitality Ministry

A new worshipper walks into St. Michael. The new worshipper has taken the first step – a giant step toward connecting with God through the ministry of St. Michael. They have overcome every barrier that might keep them away; fear, intimidation, social inertia, weekend distractions, preconceived notions and a million other reasons that might have kept them away until that moment.

Many people have said, “You only have one chance to make a first impression.” When it comes to churches, you might get two opportunities: the first three minutes after someone arrives at St. Michael and the first three minutes after the worship service is over. During those first three minutes, you have the opportunity to make someone feel welcome and connected to the people of God at St. Michael. You don’t have to be an official greeter. You don’t have to say something clever or scripted. Simply reaching out in Christian love, to say a word of welcome is a powerful ministry of hospitality. The next time you see someone you don’t recognize at worship, remember the words of the angels, “Be not afraid,” and take a moment in the first three minutes to welcome them to God’s family of faith at St. Michael.

Jesus and the disciples were a movement.  The early church was a movement.  Constantine started the process of turning the church into an institution.  The Reformers started as a movement, but over time, the reformation churches became institutions as well.  In a time of institutions, being an institution was good.  Today, however,  is a time for movements.  When the church is at its best, we live and behave as a movement.  Dr. Kennon Callahan has a helpful word about the difference between a movement and an institution in his his book, “The Future that Has Come”.  In the following document, I have excerpted a few helpful ideas from the book.   Movement or Institution

As most of us know, the research says that there is very little chance that a long-term inactive member will ever become active again.  With that in mind, consider exchanging your inactive list with another local congregation for Christmas.  Perhaps an invitation to a Christmas Eve Service from a different worshiping community will be just what is needed to help someone reconnect with God.

A conversation with a former member and a question from a colleague inspired me to give some thought to the way in which we welcome new worshipers into the life of the congregation.  Coming out of seminary, I adopted the fairly standard model of new member classes.  I found good models to copy and did them because “that was what I was supposed to do.”  Through the years, I have had limited success with the new member class.  This week, I came to the conclusion that what you do for new worshipers should be a direct reflection of who you are as a congregation.

If you are a high challenge, high commitment congregation with a heavy emphasis on formal membership, then by all means have several classes with specific topics to be covered and introductions to make.  If however, you are a congregation focused around community and compassion, for example,  feel free to try another path.  At St. Michael, we got rid of the classes and moved to a meal.  We have an individual from the congregation who hosts the meal (usually groups of 10 or less).  I attend and we simply talk with people and eat together.  Individuals make connections and tell stories.    As the meal is drawing to a close, we give the new worshipers a “Welcome to St. Michael” folder that has general information on our ministries.  I say a word or two about the information and then open it up to questions.  Over the last three years, we have had 30 to 40 people at meals like and most of them are actively involved in the congregation today.

Like many congregations, we use email and electronic communication regularly as a part of our ministry.  At times, email is extremely helpful, but at times it can also cause problems.  The Alban Institute posted an interesting article this morning called “Is Email the New Parking Lot“.  If you use email regularly in your ministry, you might be interested in what they have to say.

If you are looking for a helpful book on Revelation, I have been using a book entitled, “Come, Lord Jesus: A Study of Revelation” by Pastor Mark Braaten, who proposes that at its core, Revelation is about calling people to live faithfully. The format of the book is extremely helpful.  He prints a passage from Revelation and then follows with an explanation.  You can find it here on Augsburg Fortress’ website.

If you are interested in what the church looks like from the outside looking in, you might enjoy Jim and Casper Go to Church, the story of a long-time Christian and an atheist who go to visit several churches and share their observations.  You can find it on Amazon here. I pulled together a few of my favorite passages along with a few comments into a document if you would like to get a flavor of the book: Passages from Jim and Casper Go to Church .

I just came across this article entitled: “How a Mighty Church Falls: What it takes to prevent congregational decline.”  It has a few very interesting ideas.  If you would like to see it,  you can find it at the following link:  http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/communitylife/visiondirection/howamightychurchfalls.html