Books from Resurrection

Engaging worship and intentional follow-up processes are important, but what compels guests to return to our churches is the warmth of our welcome and hospitality that goes beyond their expectations.

The Art of Hospitality, a new comprehensive program developed by hospitality experts from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, promises to guide a local church in exactly what the program's title implies: the artform of creating radical hospitality that infiltrates the heart and culture of the entire church. Complete with techniques and strategic planning throughout, The Art of Hospitality will effectively change how you do church, leaving guests surprised, delighted, and eager to return.

The Implementation Guide contains step-by-step implementation strategies for leadership and teams tasked with developing and leading hospitality ministry.

Additional components purchased separately include:

The Art of Hospitality: A Practical Guide for a Ministry of Radical Welcome Book: Loaded with key principles and methods honed by hospitality experts Debi Nixon and Yvonne Gentile in their work at The Church of the Resurrection, this guide is designed to engage staff across all ministry areas in creating a common language around the ministry of welcome.

The Art of Hospitality: Implementation DVD A supplemental DVD to accompany Implementation with visual training in all areas of hospitality.

The Art of Hospitality: Companion Book Three-chapter book for the congregation as a whole or small groups to coincide with a sermon series in order to prepare the hearts and minds of the people in the pews.

This compelling and practical program has been created by two hospitality leaders with credentials to claim their expertise: Debi Nixon is the Executive Director of ShareChurch, and Yvonne Gentile is the Senior Director of Guest Connections at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection--the largest United Methodist Church in the United States with more than 22,000 members and 13,000 average weekly attendees across its campuses.

An update to 2005's The Usher's Book: Creating a Welcoming and Safe Environment for Worship, The Greeter and Usher Handbook provides a guide to the responsibilities of those who are generally the first faces visitors encounter in church: the usher and the greeter. Intended for training use by church staff or volunteers, the text covers responsibilities related to all aspects of creating a welcoming atmosphere for visitors and new members.

The Implementation Guide is a vital follow-up resource, for use by church leaders and other teams to put the Catch principles into practice at your church. This step-by-step guide will enable you to convert principles, inspiration, and excitement into action.

The guide describes the four parts of the Catch program:
1. Attracting People in Your Community (Marketing)
2. Making Visitors Feel Welcome (Hospitality)
3. Connecting and Following Up with Visitors (Connection)
4. Inviting Others to Grow in Faith (Membership)

For each part, the steps are described, and the tasks to accomplish those steps are listed. Forms, scripts, and other reproducibles are provided.

Catch is a comprehensive program for invitational evangelism developed by the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, one of the fastest-growing churches in the U.S. This newly revised and updated resource shows you how to attract visitors to your church, connect them with your faith community, and help them learn to know, love, and serve God. The Catch program has three phases:

This Small-Group DVD contains short, inspiring videos to be used during a four-week small-group study as part of the Catch program. The videos feature Adam Hamilton, Debi Nixon, and other leaders at Church of Resurrection describing their evangelism ministries.

1. Becoming Relentlessly Outward Focused (3:05)
2. Asking Three Important Questions
· Why Do People Need Jesus Christ? (1:51)
· Why Do People Need the Church? (1:34)
· Why Do People Need Your Church? (3:12)
3. Making Visitors Feel Welcome
· A Welcoming Worship Environment (2:57)
· Faithful to Jesus’ Command (1:59)
4. Inviting Others to Grow in Faith (7:31)

The accompanying Leader Guide includes information on:

· Setting up and leading small groups
· Coordinating small-group study with worship and program activities
· Discussion questions
· Activities putting program into action

Chris Folmsbee is an experienced youth worker, an author and speaker, and a dad. He understands that you the parent of a preteen is learning as you go.

Understanding the Common Cry of Preteens is the first piece of a three-part series designed to help you help your teen develop spiritually as he or she develops physically and mentally. The ultimate goal is to prepare you as you lead your child to conform to the image of God through Jesus Christ.

Gladhearted Disciples: Equipping Your Congregation with Generous and Enduring Faith addresses a critical need for church leaders and pastors: How can we guide people to live like Jesus and to draw others into that life? This is a book to study and with your leaders and teams.

I recommend this book for faith communities and all who yearn for a new way of understanding our sacred calling as followers of Jesus.--DJ del Rosario, Sr. Pastor, Bothell UMC, Bothell, WA

If you are seeking to guide others in following Jesus into the mission field that exists right outside your front door, read this book. You’ll encounter vivid stories and a theologically grounded, practical, and missional approach to discipleship in a post-Christian world. --Sara B. Thomas, Chief Strategist for Vital Congregations, Discipleship Ministries, The United Methodist Church

Gladhearted Disciples takes a radically different and welcome approach to evangelism and discipleship. It is a winsome and accessible book with two audaciously important messages. First, Christian discipleship is grounded in grace, characterized by humility, upwardly focused in gratitude, and outwardly-turned in compassion. Second, Christian communities should be marked by the same. Every church would do well to heed this prophetic yet hopeful message.  --Robert K. Martin, Dean and Professor of Christian Formation and Leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary

If you seek a fresh way to understand and share our faith—a way that makes sense in our current reality, I invite you to delve into this book. May you be newly inspired! --Dottie Escobedo-Frank, author of The Jesus Insurgency with Rudy Rasmus, from Abingdon Press

When Jesus taught the disciples, his message was simple and clear. In this illuminating study, Jeff Kirby sweeps aside the clutter of our daily lives and takes us to the heart of Jesus’s message. With Jesus as our teacher and mentor, we explore Christian belief through Christian action, following in the footsteps of our Lord. Jesus’s message is explored in four chapters:
1. The Day I Met Jesus
2. Announcing Good News 
3. The Ministry of Healing 
4. Praying for Self and Others 

This Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the Jesus Apprentice Bible study program. It includes session plans and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.