It's raining You stand in the church foyer, greeting Sabbath worshipers at the close of the service. You spend a moment visiting with a friendly, middle-aged couple lingering near the door.
You learn that they are camping in the area for the weekend. Looking across the foyer, you catch your wife's eye and know she's thinking the same thing you are. There is no way you are prepared for guests this Sabbath. Uncomfortably, you visit with the couple until they finally leave for their campsite.
Your son frowns as he hears you invite a new, young family over for Sabbath dinner. As they leave to get their coats, he explodes. "Dad! I thought this Sabbath, it was just going to be our family for dinner. We have someone over every Sabbath. Now I'll be stuck sitting in the living room all afternoon while you talk with those people."
Do either of these scenarios sound familiar? If you minister a small congregation, as we do, you may find yourself providing weekly hospitality ministry, whether or not it fits with your schedule or family needs. You and your church want the visitors to your communion to leave feeling enriched by the warmth of your Christian fellowship. Yet too often, the pastor and the family are, by default, the primary providers of Sabbath hospitality ministry for guests. I know. On numerous occasions I have been a guest in small churches. I have experienced the gracious hospitality of many a pastoral family. I have also survived through times when it seemed that the hospitality ministry of our church was falling too heavily on my shoulders.
Now the good news. You and your small congregation can provide a full time, fulfilling hospitality ministry without leaning too heavily on any one family. Your members will enjoy in creased fellowship with one another. Your visitors will leave feeling warm, well-fed, and enriched. Your church will be known for its friendliness.
You don't need a lot
Before you begin to tune me out thinking that you don't have the personnel or facilities necessary for such a ministry, let me share a description of our church. We are a congregation of around sixty members. Forty to fifty actively participate, including our children. Our church building has no kitchen, no fellowship room. We trans form our attached school classroom into a makeshift fellowship hall every Friday and turn it back into school be fore Monday morning.
Our church hospitality ministry started with the typical, monthly fellow ship meal held at the church. However, many in our group were concerned when visitors would show up on a Sabbath when there was no fellowship meal. Sometimes one of us was prepared to take the guests home. But too often, their Sabbath visit ended at the door of the sanctuary with a handshake and a feeble wish for a happy Sabbath.
Our second step toward a more complete hospitality ministry was to appoint a hospitality coordinator who recruited a group of seven volunteer families. Six of these families were as signed in pairs to one Sabbath a month. The seventh family was responsible for the fifth Sabbath on any month that had one. The second Sabbath of each month was still reserved for the fellowship meal at the church. The hospitality teams were responsible for providing a place for the meal and for planning and "an choring" it. Anchoring meant preparing the basics of a meal for their families and potential guests. Any additional church members who wished to attend were asked to contact the host families for menu assignments so they could contribute. Rather than try to limit the meal to guests, we actually encouraged our members to join in, thinking it would be a time of friendship-building both within the group and with guests. This plan proved to be very popular and gave us lots of quality time to visit in the homes of our members. As time went by and more families became interested in the ministry, additional members were added to the hospitality teams to lighten the load for everyone. Meals were well attended by members, who looked forward to fellowshiping in the various homes. Visitors also ex pressed real appreciation for the hospitality they received.
However, the very success of the program created new problems for us. Host families began to express feelings of overwork at the pressure of preparing house and food for such a huge group on a monthly basis. (Some Sabbaths would find more than 30 people crowded into the dining facilities of a small family home.) Some host families began to show strain and talk about taking a break from the program.
We were seeing so many benefits. Members were establishing strong friendships that were nurtured each week. Guests left with the feeling that someone across the dinner table had taken the time to really talk with and listen to them. Our members had proved to be very hospitable. We couldn't let the program dwindle and die due to burnout. And so, our hospitality ministry had to evolve a little further. It's what we're using today, and it is working well.
Participation
Our hospitality meal coordinator composed a list of general menus for us to use on a rotating basis. They are:
Week 1—Mexican
Week 2—Hoagies
Week 3—Haystacks
Week 4—Italian
Second week of month: Potluck Other menu ideas we have considered or tried are: casserole dinner, soup and salad, and Chinese.
The menu for the month is posted on the church foyer bulletin board and in the announcement section of each week's bulletin. Members who stay to eat are asked to bring a complete Sabbath meal, according to the menu. The meal is held in the church each week, and all members and visitors are encouraged to stay and eat with us.
There are many advantages to this plan.
1. No one family is stressed by having to do extraordinary house preparation for a large crowd. However, the school teachers do have extra work in getting the room ready for Sabbath, and often in putting the room back together for school. Each family brings only one complete meal, no more than they would prepare for their own use.
2. Each family works from the same menu, which makes planning and preparation easier and the resultant meal more appealing.
3. Our members are developing good friendships much faster than would happen during the formal time available during organized church meetings.
4. Our visitors frequently express happy surprise over the pleasant time they spent with our church family. We have received cards and comments weeks and months after a visit telling us how much our hospitality meant.
5. Regularly attending pre-members are given assignments in the hospitality program. We need and appreciate their contributions, and the pre-members quickly become a valued part of the group as they shoulder responsibility. Currently, our hospitality coordinator is a pre-member.
6. A family, even the pastor's family, can be out of town for a Sabbath or plan a Sabbath afternoon outing with the family without worrying that guests will be neglected. With the hospitality program running smoothly, there is al ways food and fellowship for church visitors.
Church hospitality is a valuable ministry. If everyone in the congregation catches the vision and joins the hospitality team, guests, members, and pastoral families can all truly enjoy the experience.
