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 match into life’s grand structure. Each of us has our personal, distinctive narrative that starts with the signals the globe sends our way. These signals are reinforced by parents, our family and our buddies. My personal narrative tells me who I am, what I am great at, how others see me and why I am beneficial (or not).Churches, like most corporate entities, also have a narrative. It is shaped by experiences good and poor, 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 easy to rewrite. When they are the outcomes can be absolutely nothing short of miraculous. Dr. Timothy Wilson’s book, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, provides sociological research that demonstrates the power of rewritten narratives.Similar to some applications of Cognitive Behavioral therapy, rewriting our narratives redirects our thoughts. By reframing our narratives with a fresh perspective we see issues differently. Once discouraged individuals start to really feel optimism which produces changes in behavior.The biblical precedent for this is discovered in Proverbs 23:7, “As a he thinks within himself, so is he.”If your church struggles to retain visitors there’s probably something incorrect with the hospitality ministry. In my encounter as an intentional interim pastor these churches struggle in large part because the corporate narrative is unfavorable. The location to begin is by leading the hospitality team through an exercise that rewrites the narrative.Begin with a 90 minute session for the entire hospitality group, including fresh recruits. Lead them in brainstorming answers to this question: “What comes to mind once you give thought to our church’s hospitality ministry? A recorder ought to create the words and phrases that pop up on a whiteboard or a large easel.When the energy starts to wane more than this part of the meeting, choose one or two interest 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 choose up 1 of the more troubling statements (e.g. “we have a difficult time recruiting volunteer greeters”) and then brainstorm different ways to rewrite that narrative (e.g., “individuals gladly volunteer when the understand how important it is”).Then facilitate a group discussion that explores different ways that this rewritten narrative may have advantageous impact on the hospitality group and the church at big.Finally, divide the group into pairs to talk about a new narrative: “Our hospitality ministry delivers outstanding hospitality to church visitors.” Give them thirty minutes to answer 4 important questions around this exciting story:- How will my service to the church be various in the future?- What will church visitors experience from now on?- What advantageous impact will this new narrative have on the entire church?Here are few even more short articles associated to Sam Mustafa which may fascinate you.