Worship and Hospitality:
Reaching Out & Healing through Worship
by Steve Clapp and Fred Bernhard
In Worship and Hospitality, Clapp and Bernhard offer hospitality as a new lens for looking at what happens in Christian worship. The practice of biblical hospitality can take people beyond their personal preferences for traditional or contemporary and help them recognize Christ as the host of the service.
Worship and Hospitality explores:
 | How the concepts of worship and hospitality relate to each others and what it means to see the presence of Christ in those with whom we worship. |
| How the practice of hospitality should influence music, prayers, the sermon, and the entire flow of the service. |
| How the setting of worship impacts what we experience. Lighting, carpeting, seating, electronics, the pulpit, and the rest of the church facilities all affect our worship and reflect our hospitality. |
| How to reach out to people without a church connection and to help our services speak to those persons when they come without sacrificing the core purpose of worship. |
| Specific strategies for identifying needed changes in worship, including exit interviews with those who leave the church. |
| How to understand the major trends affecting worship and evangelism without automatically embracing each trend. |
A study guide with discussion questions is included.
Steve Clapp and Fred Bernhard have collaborated on two other
books. Hospitality: Life in a Time of Fear
looks at the ways hospitality can transform our lives and give us hope as we
live in fearful times. Widening the Welcome of
Your Church has been recommended by Herb Miller in Net Results
and shows how hospitality can improve congregational life and bring about
significant growth.
$15 each. 10 or more copies, $9 each. Product Code: HW Order now
Contents:
Chapter One: A Different Lens
Hospitality is a different lens for looking at worship. It moves us beyond
what we personally "want" to consider the importance of worship for all who
participate in offering praise to God.
Chapter Two: Changing Paradigms in Worship
We need to understand the major trends in worship today, but we do not
automatically want to embrace every trend that we discover. Changing worship
does not guarantee church growth. More meaningful worship and deeper
hospitality are the best reasons for change.
Chapter Three: Music, Music, Music
The sermon speaks to us intellectually; drama speaks to us emotionally; but
music often speaks directly to the soul as we offer praise to God. We need to
reflect hospitality in our approach to music.
Chapter Four: Lights, Camera, Action!
The setting of worship has tremendous impact on what we experience.
Lighting, carpeting, seating, electronics, the pulpit, and the rest of the
church facilities affect our worship and reflect our hospitality.
Chapter Five: Connecting with People
Congregational hospitality is more than a program – it is the very heart and
soul of what the church is doing. Greeters, ushers, and all those who
participate in worship reflect positively or negatively on the hospitality of
the congregation.
Chapter Six: The Flow of the Service
Much of the focus on worship goes to music and to the sermon, but every
aspect of the service is important. We need to examine all the elements and the
overall flow of the service.
Chapter Seven: Words, Words, Words
We need to take a fresh look at the sermon in the 21st century. The Word
needs to be powerfully and meaningfully communicated in our time. Drama, video,
and other tools help, but content still counts more than form.
Chapter Eight: Worship as Outreach
Evangelism is not the purpose of worship, but worship certainly has an
evangelistic component. We need to find ways to reach out to people without a
church connection and to help our services speak to them when they come. We
need effective follow-up strategies for visitors to worship.
Study Guide
For those wanting to think more deeply about the topics raised in this book
and for those studying the books with a class or group.