One important component of Bethel 2020 is to invite a cross-section of the congregation to serve in small groups to generate ideas and plans in five core ministry areas:  hospitality, worship, faith development, mission and service, and generosity. The Long-Range Planning Committee is learning about best practices in these five areas by reading the book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Robert Schnase, 2007). The author’s perspective is that congregations should focus on specific characteristics in each area where they can be stretched and challenged.  Here are brief descriptions of the five practices we will be considering:

Radical hospitality means inviting, welcoming, receiving and caring for others in ways  that exceed expectations, that go the second mile, that take welcoming the stranger to the max.

Passionate worship means worship that people enter into with expectancy, and with the anticipation that God desires to speak to them and connect to them. Whether traditional, blended, or contemporary, passionate worship is authentic, connecting, and sustaining.

Intentional faith development refers to the purposeful learning in community that helps the followers of Jesus mature in faith and  that apply faith to particular life challenges.

Risk-Taking mission and service refers to the service we offer that stretches us out of our comfort zone and changes the lives of the people who are served as well as the lives of those who serve.

Extravagant generosity describes practices of sharing and giving that exceed all expectations and extend to unexpected measures. It refers to our time, our talents, our spiritual gifts, our passions and our money.

Because Bethel is a healthy and vital congregation now, we are well positioned to being stretched and challenged.

In Faith, Bethel 2020 Long-Range Planning Committee