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Champions Fax ArchiveA Lesson In How To Be Hospitable
To Strangers Ed Note: Bill Easum is a member of the Church Champions Editor's Board. In June I attended a workshop on "Managing Creativity" sponsored by Leadership Network and the Disney Institute in Orlando. Although I didn't get to see much of Disney during the day and half I attended the workshop, I was introduced to enough of it to have some interesting thoughts. Here are some of them. After less than two hours at Disney I thought "Wouldn't it be exciting if our churches cared enough about welcoming strangers as does Disney?" Every Disney employee I met, welcomed me as if they really were glad to see me. Of course I knew why they were glad to see me....I was paying their salary. Perhaps it is time to regularly train our staffs and the leaders of the congregations to welcome the stranger. After a few hours, it was apparent that everyone who works at Disney knows the Disney story... how it got started, what Walt dreamed of creating, and what role they play in creating the Disney drama each day. Every person understood that they were a cast member of a giant play. What would change in your church if every leader understood that they were a cast member in the great drama of divine intervention into this world? It was also soon apparent that Disney had a code of conduct such as not smoking or chewing gum on the premises, saying Good Morning, Good Evening, Good Afternoon instead of Hello, or upon seeing someone taking a picture of their family asking if they could take it for them so the family member could be in the picture. Simple things, but things that showed the people of Disney were prepared to make anyone's trip to Disney an experience they would not forget. What if our church leaders were prepared to make the Sunday morning an unforgettable experience? It is also occurred to me that the code of conduct gave Disney the appearance of direction. Church Mission Statements are comparable to the Disney code of conduct. They help guests understand what your church is all about and where it is going, not to mention they give direction to how your church makes decisions. Consider how it would change the strangers view of your church, if every person they asked "What is this church all about" was able to give them the same response? I experienced the power of direction while visiting Trinity Church in Chicago (pastor Jeremiah Wright). Every person I asked to describe the mission of church, including a six year old, gave me the same answer: "We are unashamed black and unapologetically Christian." Anyone who visits that church knows has no trouble discovering its mission. Bill will continue his thoughts in the next issue of Church Champions FAX. He will be in attendance at our Church Champions Editor's Board meeting and General Consultants Forum on August 23-25 held near Atlanta, Georgia. To apply for an invitation call 800.765.5323. To see the Easum/Bandy Consulting web site go to www.easum.com. It has a new forum for denominational leaders.
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