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The Fatal Flaw Of a Church Potluck

June 20, 2010 Rodlie Ortiz, D.Min.

Does your church do potlucks? I know many churches no longer do these. In case you don’t know what this is, it’s just some kind of lunch that’s offered after the service is over.

At my church we used to do these every week. We thought that it was a great opportunity for people to connect with each other and touch base with guests that have come. To a certain degree, this was the case. A few months ago we made the decision to just have a joint potluck just once a month. To be honest, this was mainly a financial and human resources issue. Doing a big potluck every week requires quite a few volunteers and a lot of cleanup, so we decided to do something else for the other weeks. Outside of the church doors we set up some tables with drinks, muffins, cookies, and that sort of thing.

And guess what we noticed? We noticed that people were actually interacting a lot more then they were in the potlucks. In a potluck, people typically sit with the same people, in the same areas. If they do sit with a guest, they have the ability to connect with 3-4 people, perhaps. Notice the fatal flaw here? It’s all the sitting that’s happening.

But when we began doing the snacks outside after the service, we noticed people began mingling with more people. People would move around and say hi to different people. A lot more connections were being made than before. We’ve noticed that people typically hang out for about 30 minutes or so. And then when it’s all done, we just need to pick up the tables and bring them inside. Instead of having people “in the kitchen” cleaning up and serving food, we can have them “on the floor” interacting with guests.

For us, this was all a surprise. But definitely a pleasant one at that.

If you’ve never tried it before, I suggest doing a little experiment and seeing how it works for you.

So what about you? Do you do something for guests after your church service? A potluck? Snacks? What has worked for you and what have you seen?

[image by Lopiccolo]

Filed Under: assimilation Tagged With: assimilation, first time guests, potluck

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About Rodlie Ortiz, D.Min.

On the pastoral team at Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University. Tech geek.

Comments

  1. Joshua Majors says

    June 21, 2010 at 12:04 am

    When I was in CA, our church had a potluck once a month, the attendance was usually good, but after reading your post I recall many “sitters”, lol. The other 3 weeks, many of the church members would often take certain weeks and do the, “inviting” of church members mixed with visitors to their homes, 2-3 families. That seemed to work very well for small group development and fellowship with new members and older members.
    When I think about the idea of having refreshments after church like you described it seems like a great idea. In most churches I have been too their is usually many people who congregate and talk for a bit after church and I could see how providing refreshments would provide more opportunities for church members to socialize and become better aquatinted. One church I visited was providing refreshments before sabbath school, mainly for the young adults of the church but many members were present. I think they were striving to get more people than to meet and greet. Great idea’s Rodlie! Have a excellent week.

    • Rodlie Ortiz says

      June 21, 2010 at 11:34 am

      Yeah, it’s super simple and seems to work well. Thanks for the comment!

  2. Wags says

    June 21, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    Timely. Seriously.

    Great ideas, Rodlie! I was just talking with one of my elders who is helping with our hospitality ministry and we were talking about how we are thinking about cutting down our potlucks to just one. Then having people invite guests over for lunch. Tim has just finished a sermon series on hospitality you might be interested in: https://www.louisvillefirstsda.com/article.php?id=88.

    We’ll toss this idea around and see what people think about it.

    • Rodlie Ortiz says

      June 21, 2010 at 8:06 pm

      So glad, Jon. Please come back here and share how it goes if you guys try it out. I’d love to hear your experience. And thanks for the video.

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