“Fusion” Biblical Hospitality

This week I am going to be discussing Nelson Searcy’s excellent new assimilation book entitled, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church. Searcy is the founding pastor of Journey Church in New York City and formerly served as the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. He has personally trained more than 20,000 pastors, church planters, and church leaders through Church Leader Insights.

In chapter 2 of his book, Searcy discusses the concept of “biblical hospitality.” Here’s an excerpt:

The Church–your church–truly is a family expecting guests. And you should be ready to show them intentional hospitality when they arrive. While they are in your company, they need to feel comfortable and valued, no matter where they are in their spiritual development. When they leave, be proactive in giving them a return invitation they’ll be hard pressed to refuse. Your church is a representative of the bigger family of God. As you put a system in place to effectively integrate guests into the family, you will be able to fulfill part of the responsibility He placed on you when He prompted them your way. God is honored when you show your guests true biblical hospitality. . . . Assimilation is simply well-planned biblical hospitality through service.

I like the phrase “biblical hospitality” because it reminds us that being hospitable to others is biblical. When God sends guests to our church, He expects us to prepare for their visit, speak the truth in love, and minister to their needs. He expects us to meet them where they are, regardless of their level of spiritual maturity and move them closer to Christ.

As the church, we should put our best foot forward, treat our guests with kindess, and let people know we care.

Tomorrow, we will continue looking at the book, Fusion.

2 Comments

  1. Nelson,

    You’re welcome! Thanks for your work in this important area.

    I appreciate the information about your website and your blog. Fortunately, I had already found them, but I placed links to your site and your blog on my site so my readers can easily find them.

    I would love to have you teach here in Kentucky some time….I’ll be in touch about that. Keep up the great work!

  2. Thanks for the shout out for Fusion! I’m glad you found it helpful.

    For a ton of free stuff that didn’t make it into the book, check out:

    http://www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/fusion

    Let me know if you have any questions!

    Nelson Searcy
    Author, Fusion
    Pastor, The Journey, NYC

    P.S. I just started blogging at http://www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/blog – I hope you find it helpful!

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