Have A Positive Attitude

Be Enthusiastic

Consider where they are coming from emotionally. Observe their body language. Connect with them emotionally.  This final responsibility is the most important of all. Everyone associated with the Hospitality Ministry Team must—must—be enthusiastic, positive, and see the bright side of things. This is more important than all of the details mentioned above. Guests want a positive experience. It is hard to recover from a nonchalant greeting. An enthusiastic greeting lets guests know they can expect an uplifting and enjoyable experience as they approach God together with the rest of your church family in Bible classes and worship.  Enthusiasm can be faked, but it will be recognized as fake. Constantly remembering the significance of the task that hosts perform will generate genuine enthusiasm.

A hospitality ministry is not as important as the Bible. It is not as important as worship. It is not as important as a daily living sacrifice to God. If all of these things are so much more important than a Hospitality Ministry Team, why bother? If your congregation is not friendly, loving and warm, guests will never get past that and move on to all those things that are more important. That is why the task of the Hospitality Ministry is so important.

Also, while everyone in the body of Christ is very important, the lost souls are important too. Please consider what Jesus said in Luke 15.  The one lost sheep (1 %) gets the focus of the 99 who don’t go astray. The lost coin (10%) gets the focus over the 9 accounted for at the time. The lost son (50%) is at the heart of two sons when one is lost. So, let me encourage us as a body to not exclude one guest at the expense of our chit-chat with a member. Don’t neglect the “opportunity of outreach” as one of God’s gifts. We need to build a culture that understands our friends and brethren can catch-up with one another at some other time, but right now we are doing mission work. In fact, hopefully they learn the value of how much God loves lost people.

Remember the importance of the first 7 MINUTES. It is all the time it takes a first-time Guest to decide whether or not they will come back. This is before they sing one song, hear one prayer or hear one word of a lesson! The clock is ticking and time is short to make a great first impression. Once a bad impression is made, it is virtually impossible to change it no matter how good everything else is that ensues, because everything else will be filtered through the “eyes” of that impression.