Day 5 – Renew Hospitality

The fourth point of our vision is renewing hospitality. This may not seem like it fits with the elements of renewal we’re looking at, but it actually fits quite well, both in mission and community. It aligns with mission because part of hospitality is displaying the welcoming love of the Father to people. Over the last several years, we’ve made some significant reform as to how we do this, not only by adding a pastoral staff member for whom one of his primary responsibilities has been to ensure we do this well, but also by revitalizing and reemphasizing the small community groups we call Connect Groups.
Every church does community imperfectly, but community is imperative for every church and for every believer. However, Connect Groups are our means not only of encouraging genuine fellowship, but of continually improving it.
It is not for nothing that the New Testament refers to the church as the body of Christ, calls us brothers and sisters, or says that we are like living stones being built up together for the presence of God. People who convince themselves and attempt to convince others that they can be a Christian without the church are mistaken. To be a Christian is to be placed into the church. The joints and ligaments of the body are intertwined to hold us together. It is to be a place of encouragement, support, supply, care, friendship, that is, it is to be a place of genuine love.
Of course, it’s hard to genuinely love hundreds of people. Real love requires personal concern and care. So, we have smaller communities. But those Connect Groups are not there only to be a place for friendship and fun. The vision is that they are a place where you grow in prayer, where you encourage one another to remain faithful, in which you are accountable to one another, where you stir one another up to love and good deeds. I want them to be a place where, when you have a need, you don’t just call the church office, but you call brothers and sisters in your Connect Group who want to rejoice with you and weep with you and help to meet your needs. I like to put it this way: we want everyone in a community that meets needs, spurs growth, and stirs hearts. I invite you to participate in the community at Bethany.