Reviewed by: Connor Salter, a Professional Writing student at Taylor University in Upland, IN.

Introduction

Title: The Comeback Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your Church’s Guests to Return

Authors: Jason Young and Jonathon Malm

Publisher: BakerBooks (Baker Publishing Group)

Publication Date: 2018

Format: Paperback

Length: 184 pages

OVERVIEW

What does it take to make newcomers want to return to a church? Good worship? Dynamic preaching? Jason Young and Jonathon Malm argue those things are great, but people won’t come back if they don’t experience one thing: good hospitality. Using their combined experiences working with various churches, they explain what hospitality truly means, what it looks like, and how churches can introduce it into their organizations.

It’s tempting to think hospitality just means quick customer service and not creating a healthy organization that hospitality naturally flows from. Fortunately, Young and Malm make it clear early on that true hospitality means cultivating empathy, humility, and other virtues. Their writing is mostly practical, focusing on the good business principles and tips churches must use. However, they always come back to the inner values that fuel those principles. Consequently, the book works as more than just an instruction manual on how to improve churches. It ultimately works as a book that also shows church leaders how to improve their thinking.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars)

4 stars

Suggested Audience

Church planters seeking best practices for their churches; church leaders seeking new practices for their existing churches.

Christian Impact

This book will show church leaders how to create church cultures that new guests really want to come back to.

Interested in reviewing a book, movie, album, or other type of media for our website? We would love to hear from you! Find out more about how to submit media reviews.