How do you prepare for guests at home? And be honest, if it’s the first time someone is coming over, do you put some more effort and elbow grease into making sure everything is crisp & clean for them? 

Windex on all glass surfaces.

No piles of mail or oddments laying around.

Garbage cans are empty with clean bags, maybe a candle somewhere, some light music playing softly, snacks & drinks at the ready, fresh ice, everything vacuumed, and you even swiffer -behind the toilet-! 

That first impression matters.

You want to be as welcoming as possible.

But once familiarity sets in, maybe that junk mail is still on the kitchen table, the bathroom is clean, but the living room floor looks fine…so no vacuum this time. They know you have kids or pets, so the toys are kind-of cleaned up. And it becomes more about the quality time together than the extras.

There’s a comfort that comes from time spent together. 

Hospitality becomes welcoming people into the “normal” of your life.

And because you want brownies…you make some to share & put the coffee pot on.

For ministries and churches, there’s a weird tension. We want people to see the reality of who we are, but we also want to show real hospitality to them.

But just as hospitality at home requires prep work, hospitality as the church will, too.

But before anyone walks in your physical doors, we need to make sure our digital “front door mat” is a place they want to stop, and that it also shows every sign of being ready for them.

Your website and socials aren’t made for your members. Sure the Groups/Classes pages & calendar are meant to be used, but those who are in regular partnership with the church don’t need to know service times, location or how to get in touch.

But your potential visitors sure do.

I’ve seen so many churches who sites & socials presume a lot on those who are visiting. Beyond “insider language,” there are churches who won’t advertise having youth and children’s programming on Sunday morning. There’s an assumption that a visitor should just know what goes on, because you know…”it’s church.”

They’ll just say “Sunday School for all ages!” but then I’ve seen where “all ages” means that 12 year old 6th graders are in the same class as College Age folks because to some older person “they’re all young.” And having age-appropriate conversations becomes almost impossible. If you’re a visitor dropping off your 7th graders daughter in a room that has 2-3 24 year old guys just hanging out? 

Nope. I would never have come, and that lack of communication speaks very poorly to hospitality & understanding the needs of those you seek to serve & welcome. 

Churches need to have trusted, non-members/non-partners sit down with their digital properties and give an honest evaluation of how welcomed they feel, how clear the communication is, and how their “I don’t know what going on here” questions get answered before they know to ask.

Rather than just saying, “Here we are and here’s what we do,” hospitality means anticipating the real, practical needs of your guests and presenting those answers right as they’re even thinking to ask.

This isn’t a business website. It’s not a presentation of sprockets & widgets. This is about hearts, hurts & hopeful homecoming. They aren’t customers. And we don’t want them to become consumers. If you’re showing hospitality, there’s a desire for closeness that comes with that intent…a desire for shared life.

If you were talking about adoption, welcoming someone into your family, how would you want to talk to that person? How would you want to welcome them home? 

Practically: Seriously consider having someone who is unfamiliar with you or your church take a serious, uninformed, unspoiled look at your digital front door (sites & socials) and let them give you an honest evaluation.

You’ll need to schedule it, and it needs to become a new way of thinking moving forward. Showing hospitality should be something the whole church family owns together. It’s how we example Christ to others.