The Ken Johnson Group / March 19, 2006 Featured Article

Growing a Guest-Friendly Community — Part 1

by Ken Johnson

The Beginnings

In three parts I will go through some of my thoughts as to what a guest friendly church is and how you might grow your church into a guest friendly church. I will soon have an audio power point presentation available on the web site from a seminar that I presented earlier in March entitled Building a Guest Friendly Community. I will let you know when that will be available. The online presentation will flesh out the ideas that I have given here.

The main reason guests show up at a service is because they are hurtingor have some kind of problem, even though they won't share that initially.

Most of the time when people come they're treated like an annoyance because they're messing up "our gig."

Let's talk terminology; Maybe we should call our visitors guests?

Here's Webster's definition:

Visitor Visit

n : one that visits; esp : one that makes formal visits of inspection

1 a : a short stay : call b : a brief residence as a guest

Guest

... stranger

1 : a : a person entertained in one's house

b : a person to whom hospitality is extended

It sounds like guest would be the preferable term for the people who visit our churches.

Maybe we should call or church a community instead of a family?

Again Webster's definition:

What is a family?

n, household (including servants as well as kin of the householder)

a : a group of people united by certain convictions or common affiliation : FELLOWSHIP

What is a community?

1 : a unified body of individuals b : a people with common interests living in a particular area

c : an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.

What would you prefer to be the servants and kin or a group of people with common interests and that common interest is Jesus?

What is the Mission of the church?

"...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1: 8b NIV

If we regularly taught the Great Commandment we could turn the world around for Christ overnight.

Here is what I think the purpose of the church is:

To exalt Christ
To bring people to Christ
To bond people in Christ
To build people in Christ
To send people into ministry for Christ

Here's another way to say the same thing:

Inviting all people to become Disciples of Christ
Equipping all disciples to become ministers in Christ
Sending all ministers to go as missionaries for Christ

And another :

Bring them in
Build them up
Send them out

When is the most important time for a guest?

Most guests decide whether to return in the first 10 to 12 minutes. This is from the time that they drive into the parking lot.
Or the three minutes following the service.

Are guests welcome at your house?

How much time do you spend getting ready for guests at your church?

How much time do you spend getting ready for guests at your home?

Part 2 --How do your buildings and grounds fit into a guest friendly church?

Go to Part 2