Clip In: Risking Hospitality in Your Church - Softcover

Ozier, Jim; Haworth, Fiona

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1426788924 ISBN 13: 9781426788925

Verlag: Abingdon Press, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

When a cyclist clips into the pedals, a huge risk is involved because he or she must learn a new way to achieve balance and momentum. Creating a culture of hospitality within your church involves the same intricate process. Not only do balance and momentum go hand-in-hand, one can't exist without the other. Growing a church requires the same kind of delicate interplay: balancing attention toward existing members and generating momentum through reaching new people. Without both, the church won't grow. Creating a culture of hospitality involves risk and relearning old habits, but facilitating both will yield fruitful results.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Fiona Haworth, former Director of Talent for Southwest Airlines, has been a United Methodist for 16 years, during which she has held several leadership roles both in the local church and serving the North Texas Conference. In addition to conducting culture workshops for local churches and Annual Conferences with Jim Ozier, Fiona is a much sought-after speaker and presenter. Most recently, she was a presenter at the Dallas Leadership Summit and the SMU Human Relations Roundtable in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Jim Ozier is an established motivational speaker and presenter for religious groups, civic organizations, and corporations. Based on techniques and ideas learned from his experiences with Southwest Airlines, he has conducted numerous seminars on culture and hospitality for thousands of pastors and laity in churches, districts, and annual conferences. He lives in Irving, Texas.

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Clip In

Risking Hospitality in Your Church

By Jim Ozier, Fiona Haworth

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2014 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4267-8892-5

Contents

"Preface", 
"As Easy as Riding a Bike", 
"Introduction", 
Making First Impressions Last, 
"SECTION ONE": GAINING BALANCE AND MOMENTUM, 
"Chapter 1" The Power of Introductions, 
"Chapter 2" Beyond Introduction: Connection, 
"Chapter 3" Turning Moments into a Movement: Pastors and Staff, 
"Chapter 4" Hospitality Teams: Recruiting and Training, 
"Chapter 5" Hospitality in the Workplace, 
"Chapter 6" Hospitality in the Worship Service, 
"SECTION TWO": ACCELERATE ... MOVING FORWARD FASTER!, 
"Chapter 7" Shifting Gears: Leveraging a Culture of Hospitality into Growth, 
"Chapter 8" Why "Recommendation" Gets More Traction than "Invitation", 
"Chapter 9" Turning "Attenders" into "Recommenders", 
"Chapter 10" Turning "Consumers" into "Producers", 
"Epilogue": Endurance: The Lasting Impression of Culture, 

CHAPTER 1

The Power of Introductions

Get a bicycle. You will certainly not regret it, if you live.

—Mark Twain

I (Jim) love introductions. While I've heard variations of this story, my favorite is as follows:

A pompous old preacher of First Methodist Episcopal South Church in St. Louis—the tall steeple church of the day—introduced the famous humorist Mark Twain at the opening of an impressive new civic library. All the high-society people of the area were there, including prominent politicians, local poli-ticians, and business leaders. Wanting to soak up all the stage time he could, the preacher solemnly strolled back and forth across the platform, plunged his hands into his pockets in a ponderous way, and exhorted: "I submit to you tonight, that we should enjoy a unique experience ... we will hear from a humorist who should be funny." A few in the crowd chuckled.

Mark Twain bolted onto the platform and mockingly imitated the pompous old preacher, plunging his hands into his pockets and strolling back and forth. The crowd roared when he mimicked, "Friends, I submit to you tonight that you will be a part of two unique experiences. First, you will hear from a humorist who will be funny. Second ... you've just seen a Methodist preacher with his hands in his own pockets!"

I love Mark Twain. As a matter of fact, on my first date I went to Mark Twain's cave in Hannibal Missouri. I was living near Quincy, Illinois, at the time and had just gotten my driver's license. Do you remember your first car date? When you and your date were alone, with no parents or older sibling to chaperone?

I picked up my sweetheart and drove across the Mississippi, where we were going to spend the day together, just the two of us. Our first stop was to tour Mark Twain's cave. Hundreds of people waited outside for the gates to open. We were divided into little groups, each with a guide. When our time came, we followed the guide through the cavern, squeezed in like sardines, but we didn't care. We held hands, and, like all young lovers, we were in our own world, oblivious to the crowd. We heard the guide drone on about stalagmites and stalactites as we wandered along.

Finally we came to a large space. The guide stopped and explained that this was the very room where Huck Finn and Injun Joe and Becca frolicked and played. "But," said the guide, "when they were here, they had only the light of torches." He continued, "You are in the darkest dark humanly possible; you didn't notice it because of the fluorescent lighting along the cave walls as you toured. But imagine how dark it was in Mark Twain's day. I'll show you. I'm going to turn out the lights, and you will experience total darkness." And he turned out the lights. "I'm going to warn you," he said. "In a few moments when I turn the lights back on, you will be shocked! Your eyes will be shocked trying to adjust."

On and on the guide went, as we stood there in the darkest dark humanly possible. I got to thinking, "We are in a dark room. I am with my girlfriend. What the heck?" I decided to do it. I let go of her hand, slid my arm around her shoulder, pulled her close, and there in the darkest dark imaginable, I stole my first kiss! I remember it still. It was like cave heaven!

And then suddenly the lights came on. The guide was right: I was shocked! My girlfriend was shocked! But not nearly as shocked as the woman I was kissing!

I learned two things that day. Never, ever, go to a dark cave for your first date, and never, ever, be surprised or shocked at what the light of Christ reveals when it shines on us, in us, and through us!

• If we are not careful, in the darkness of our daily living, we might be cuddling up to actions and behaviors that would make Jesus Christ blush.

• If we are not careful, in the darkest places of our soul, we might be embracing mean-spirited attitudes and prejudice that cause hurt and pain to others and ourselves.

• In the darkness of our own hearts, we get cheek to cheek with negative, morale-destroying internal assumptions, like "I'm not good enough"; "I've messed up my life too much"; "I'm not smart enough or attractive enough"; or, "I've messed up my life too much for even God to do anything about it."

• In the darkest darkness of our secret places, we can fall to the temptation to snuggle up with ideologies that separate and divide us and close the doors of healthy relationships.

But the good news is that the light of Christ can shine on us and in us and through us. Once we are introduced to this light, we see ourselves and our world in a whole different way, and we experience forgiveness, acceptance, and a new future.

That's why I love introductions! Isn't it the job of the church to introduce people who live in some kind of darkness to the light of Jesus Christ? Let's not fool ourselves. All around us there are people who are living in darkness.

• Maybe it's your neighbors who have just moved in from out of state. They miss their family and wonder how they are going to raise the kids without family close by.

• Maybe it's your coworker who is living with some guilt or unresolved conflict that is weighing her or him down.

• Maybe it's a family member or close friend who has lost all sense of meaning or purpose.

• Maybe it's those nearly invisible folks who live homeless on the street or who may be struggling with addiction or battling uphill just to survive.

The truth is, there are many people who live in some kind of darkness, and you may be the bridge over which they walk to encounter the light of Christ for the very first time! But it is unlikely you can become that bridge unless you first build a relationship with each of those people.

Fortunately that relationship bridge may well be built within the walls of your church. So relax; this book does not intend to fire you up to go door-to-door and ask people if they know Jesus. Instead it seeks to motivate you and equip you to build a relationship bridge when people come to the church for the very first time.

That's right! Those people who live in some kind of darkness may walk through the front door of your church on a Sunday morning, and many of them are pushing their bikes because of some kind of personal flat tire or chain coming off or handlebar getting loose.

• We never know if that person who walks through the front door for the first time on a Sunday...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Abingdon Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1426788924
• ISBN 13: 9781426788925
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 166
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland