The Casserole Strategy of Family Evangelism
Families that are visiting a new church are uprooted. They are looking for roots. The church must provide roots.
Every church should call for regular volunteer families to prepare a meal to share with visitors. Casseroles are the obvious choice. They are brought to church and heated in the oven. If no visitors show up, the family can take it home for lunch. Freeze the casserole's leftovers. Nothing gets wasted.
If a new family does show up, an elder or other person assigned to the Sunday greeting committee will invite the family to lunch after church.
The church should designate a place to eat.
The family that prepares the meal makes a point to invite the family back the next week. The family also invites the new family to come home with them the following week after church. This is important to establish a personal connection with the new family.
It is wise for a second family in week two to invite the visiting family to visit their home home week three. This way, the visiting family gets three meals with families in the church. That should be sufficient to establish a bond. These two families will serve as the initial personal pathways into the congregation.
This is the opposite strategy from Evangelism Explosion, which rests on getting an invitation into a stranger's home. The evangelists are perceived as unwanted guests. In the casserole strategy, the new family is a welcome guest in the meal provider's household. The psychology is different: wanting in.
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