| abstract |
St. John Missionary Baptist Church is a traditional African-American Missionary Baptist church that has continuously served the city of Boynton Beach for nearly one
hundred and ten years. From its inception, the church has served as a major pillar in the community and currently boasts over one thousand members. It is a vibrant
church that contains a full ministerial staff, board of deacons and trustees, a senior pastor, a social service agency, and a plethora of ministries. Although it
continues to serve as a beacon of hope within the community, it undeniably lacks in extending the necessary attention needed to give to its guests and a strategic
plan to maintain its new members. I firmly believe through calculated observation that the lack of hospitality, fellowship, discipleship and outreach has become
the subject by which the church has had to endure the impact of individuals not experiencing the church as a place to belong. Therefore, while some would join based
upon the proclamation of the Word of God, they would unfortunately after encountering the closeness, territorial ways, and on occasions the coldness of the church,
they would eventually not return. This has become a major concern for the church as it seeks to maintain its influence within a diversifying community. Therefore,
in embracing the words of Albert Einstein, "significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them," we
developed a system to shift the culture of the church. This system has proven to be very effective. The church has witnessed considerable growth as a result of it
and has experienced a large number of people express their appreciation for the hospitality they received while attending St. John.
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