I have a confession to make. I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies. I know very little to nothing about them. I am officially an outsider when it comes to all things Star Wars. With all the…
Christian stuff the world needs, part 1: Welcome the stranger
By Corey Fields We hear a lot about the declining influence of the church and decreased religious participation. I can’t help but think that this has been partially self-imposed by our tendency to let issues of individual morality and other…
Belonging: Maybe fences don’t make good neighbors
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” –Mother Teresa It is Friday night, and 125 friends, new and old, crowd the yard at QC Family Tree. We are gathered to…
Moving beyond denial to determination: Pathway of engaging newcomers
With church attendance on the decline in many communities and an increasing disinterest in church attendance and membership, newcomers, visitors/guests are a rare and seemingly desired and valued group by churches today. I have been in a clergy role, lay…
Hospitality: I’ll worship like a dog
Do you know Andrew Hozier-Byrne (aka Hozier)? Rapidly growing in popularity, this Irish musician and singer-songwriter is responsible for the song, “Take Me to the Church.” Here is the refrain: Take me to the church I’ll worship like a dog…
Welcoming the stranger
By Amy Butler It’s a pretty commonly accepted biblical mandate that we welcome the stranger. As we’ve witnessed in the news of late, in our better moments we people of faith can manage to cross wide valleys of opinion to…
Know thy neighbor
The Wave Recently as I was driving into the neighborhood of the church I serve, I realized I was behind one of my church members at the stop sign. I waved furiously, hoping that he would look in the rearview…
Baptists pushing hospitality beyond comfort zones — and discovering deeper spirituality
By Jeff Brumley Hospitality to a lot of Christians means taking a meal to a sick church friend or inviting neighbors over for a barbecue on Memorial Day. But neither of those meanings come even close to the spiritual practice…
Risk list
I live in a hospitality house. Living in a hospitality house has become a more frequent choice for Christians lately, sort of in the way that kale has experienced a resurgence over the past few years: having people think you…
How to welcome a new pastor to your church
When Beth McConnell was being introduced to our congregation as our new pastor, someone asked her what we could do to make her transition easier. Beth is too humble to give you this list. Over the decades, I have given…
Customer service and servant leadership
For the most part, I only think about “customer service” when I am the customer and on the receiving end of what I consider poor service. I will not elaborate here. Each of us has a collection of frustrating stories…
Strangers among us
Most churches can, and should, do a better job of making sure that visitors feel welcome. Where were these words spoken? 1. “Greetings! How are you today?” 2. “Hello! I’m so very pleased you are with us today. How can…