Church

Radical Hospitality (Part Seven: Small Groups)

By jgiroux ⋅ July 20, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

This is Part 7 of the Spring Leadership Lesson Series: Radical Hospitality at National Community Church. As we lead our groups and ministries, we must strive to forcefully advance the Kingdom of God through strategic evangelism, exponential discipleship, and sacrificial service. Hospitality is on the front lines of such an advance.

Today, we will get very practical and talk about how to practice hospitality at our weekly small group gatherings.

It has been said that the front door of the home is the side door of the church. Honestly, I have no idea who said that or when they said it, but I absolutely believe that it’s true. I’ve seen it happen over and over- people who are far from God find themselves face to face with him in a home where a few Christ-followers are gathered and making John 13:35come true. Some of us have groups with people like this.

It’s also been said that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints (I’ve seen this credited to so many people, I don’t know who to credit. So I’ll give Chris Jarrellcredit). If you’ve been doing small groups long enough, then you realize that your grand notions of building deep and lasting community with a stellar group of Christ-followers last for about a week… and then you start bandaging wounds. Many of us have groups people like this in our groups- people in desperate need of a healing.

Both the person far from God and the sinner in need of the hospital long for the sanctuary that our small groups can offer. And as we’ve learned over the past several weeks, the mission of hospitality is what we must provide.

Create a Welcoming Environment

First, we must create small group spaces that are welcoming. This relates to the physicalspace and the emotionalspace. Think about the following things:

Is the temperature of the room comfortable?
Is the seating arrangement comfortable? Too crowded? Too distant?
Are drinks and snacks easily accessible?
Do people feel freedom to open the refrigerator and your cabinets?
Is anyone standing alone?
Is everyone being included in conversation?

Create an Honoring Environment

Romans 12:10tells us that we should honor one another above ourselves. Honoring others is a virtue that has been almost totally sucked out of our culture, but I believe the mission of hospitality requires us to restore obedience to this command. My own small group brought this home for me last week (quite literally) when they surprised me with a little birthday celebration. How can we create environments where people feel respected and honored? Think about the following issues:

How well do people disagree with one another in a discussion?
How balanced is conversation among the group members?
Can people in your group approach, embrace, and work through conflict in a healthy, maturing, and Biblical way?
Do you as the leader know the dreams, hopes, and fears of any of your group members?
Do the members of your group know each others’ dreams, hopes, and fears?
How can you create an environment where people recognize and celebrate the small “wins” in the lives of one another.

Appoint a Hospitality Coordinator

Let’s face it. All of us are challenged to show hospitality, but some of us are a bit hospitality-challenged. My own small group makes fun of me for this on a weekly basis.  Here’s the solution. Appoint a hospitality coordinator. Look for someone with a gift of hospitality, mercy, or service. A person with a gift of administration may be good in this position, as well, if they are able to channel that gift into creative a hospitable environment. Responsibilities could include emailing group members, keeping track of prayer requests, setting up/cleaning up the host home, taking charge of meal and snack preparation.

A hospitality coordinator can also help the group leader build their emotional intelligence and understand how people are feeling, interacting, and growing in the group. They can help the leader strike the right balance of conveying information and building relationship.

What are some ways that you strategically use your group as a mission of hospitality?

Tags: Christ Followers, Desperate Need, Discipleship, Drinks, Group Gatherings, Kingdom Of God, Leadership, Notions, Sacrificial Service, Saints, Sanctuary, Seating Arrangement, Service Hospitality, Sinner, Small Group, Small Groups, Snacks, Stellar Group, Strategic Evangelism, Wounds