Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)
This week we received a great group of people into membership. If you were to ask them why they decided to call this their church
home, many of them would speak of the friendliness of this church.
I read an interesting article the other day about the Ritz-Carlton. What I discovered is that they encourage their “ladies and gentlemen” to be radically hospitable to their guests. They have found that people will frequent their hotels more often if they are received with “radical hospitality”.
They do it for a financial reason. But, we have a much more compelling reason to develop a strong environment of hospitality. When someone is looking for a connection to God, we often become either a path or a roadblock to their experiencing God, based upon how we respond to their visit. What I want to suggest is that we have a responsibility to draw “strangers” into our fellowship.
Over the next few months I want to give you some ideas as to how you can reach out to those “strangers” with whom you come in contact here at church. I want to pass on five (5) ideas that will help us grow in our ability to reach out to strangers.
The first idea is what is called, “The 3 minute rule”. What I want to encourage you to do is this, spend the three minutes just before and just after the worship service greeting those whom you do not know. So often we visit with people we do know. What I want to challenge you to do is find someone you do not know and visit with them. Be intentional about getting to know someone you don’t know during these two times.
I look forward to hearing the stories of what will happen as you reach out to those around you! By the way, I love being your pastor!
Rev. David Harris
