Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

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Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

• Bishop Robert Schnase

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Radical Hospitality
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Scripture

• Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ
  has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
• Romans 157

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Jesus welcomed

• Prostitutes, Children, Zealots, Lepers, Women,
  Sinners,Pharisees, Sadducees, Tax Collectors,
  Business people, Demon possessed Those needing
  healing, even YOU

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I John 410-11

• This is love not that we loved God, but that He
  loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice
  for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved
  us, we also ought to love one another.

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Deuteronomy 1018-19

• He ensures that orphans and widows receive
  justice. He shows love to the strangers living
  among you and gives them food and clothing. So
  you, too, must show love to strangers, for you
  yourselves were once strangers in the land of
  Egypt.

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Hebrews 132

• Dont forget to show hospitality to strangers,
  for some who have done this have entertained
  angels without realizing it!

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In America

• In most communities, 40 to 60 percent of people
  have no church relationship. A majority of our
  neighbors on the streets where we live do not
  know the name of a pastor to call when they face
  an unexpected grief.

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Early Methodists

• John Wesley and the early Methodists practiced
  hospitality in ways so radical in their day that
  many traditional church leaders found their
  activities offensive. Wesley preached to
  thousands on roadsides and in open fields in
  order to reach coal miners, field laborers,
  factory workers, the underclass, and the poorest
  of the poor.

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Radical Hospitality

• Congregations that practice Radical Hospitality
  demonstrate an active desire to invite, welcome,
  receive, and care for those who are strangers so
  that they find a spiritual home and discover for
  themselves the unending richness of life in
  Christ. Radical describes that which is
  drastically different from ordinary practices,
  outside the normal, that which exceeds
  expectations and goes the second mile.

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Radical Hospitality

• Radical Hospitality in our personal walk with
  Christ begins with an extraordinary receptivity
  to the grace of God. In distinctive and personal
  ways, we invite God into our hearts and make
  space for God in our lives. We say Yes to God and
  open ourselves to the spiritual life.  We accept
  Gods love and acceptance of us.  We receive
  Gods love and offer it to others.

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Questions

• How do people hear about your church?
• Is there a consistent plan for welcoming visitors
  who attend any church ministry?

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Questions

• What is one activity your group or class could
  do, which, if done with excellence and
  consistency, would have the greatest impact on
  fostering a culture of Radical Hospitality in
  your congregation?

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Radical Hospitality

• Group Activity Walk through the parking lot and
  building as if visiting for the first time. Talk
  about what you see, what you smell, what you
  hear, what you notice that is welcoming and
  inviting and helpful, and what you find confusing
  or uninviting or forbidding. Imagine moving
  through the building from the point of view of a
  child, a teenager, a mother with a baby, and a
  person with a disability.

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Romans 1213

• Always be eager to practice hospitality.

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