If you do that your church will turn out to be the warmest, most hospitable group a church visitor will ever meet.Narrative is the internal story that determines how we see the globe, the way we interpret life’s experiences and tells us how we fit into life’s grand structure. Every of us has our own, unique narrative that begins with the signals the world sends our way. These signals are reinforced by parents, our family members and our friends. My individual narrative tells me who I am, what I’m good at, how others see me and why I am valuable (or not).Churches, like most corporate entities, also have a narrative. It’s shaped by experiences good and bad, by successes and failures, by the private narratives of believed leaders and by the collective history accumulated over many decades.The beauty of narratives is that they are pretty simple to rewrite. When they are the results can be absolutely nothing brief of miraculous. Dr. Timothy Wilson’s book, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, offers sociological research that demonstrates the energy of rewritten narratives.Comparable to some applications of Cognitive Behavioral therapy, rewriting our narratives redirects our thoughts. By reframing our narratives with a fresh perspective we see things differently. Once discouraged people start to feel optimism which produces modifications in behavior.The biblical precedent for this is found in Proverbs 23:7, “As a he thinks inside himself, so is he.”If your church struggles to retain guests there is most likely something wrong with the hospitality ministry. In my encounter as an intentional interim pastor these churches struggle in big component because the corporate narrative is negative. The location to begin is by leading the hospitality group through an physical exercise that rewrites the narrative.Begin with a 90 minute session for the whole hospitality team, such as fresh recruits. Lead them in brainstorming answers to this question: “What comes to thoughts once you give thought to our church’s hospitality ministry? A recorder should create the words and phrases that pop up on a whiteboard or a large easel.When the energy begins to wane over this component of the meeting, choose 1 or two attention grabbing statements and have the group expand on them to add more detail.At some point you will sense that the brainstorm has run out of steam. At that point rotate and pick up one of the much more troubling statements (e.g. “we have a hard time recruiting volunteer greeters”) and then brainstorm different methods to rewrite that narrative (e.g., “individuals gladly volunteer when the understand how essential it is”).Then facilitate a group discussion that explores different ways that this rewritten narrative may have advantageous influence on the hospitality group and the church at large.Finally, divide the group into pairs to discuss a new narrative: “Our hospitality ministry delivers outstanding hospitality to church visitors.” Give them thirty minutes to answer 4 important concerns around this thrilling story:- How will my service to the church be various in the future?- What will church visitors encounter from now on?- What beneficial influence will this new narrative have on the entire church?Is this write-up inadequate? Discover more about Sam Mustafa Charleston at our web site.