For those who were around during the doughnut-outpouring in the late 1990s (after Toronto and the Pensacola but around the same time as the whole gold teeth stuff was happening).
I remember it well, any church that was reaching young people (I was one at the time) would have a manifestation of doughnuts after the service. Good times :)
We still offer the the doughnut experience at our prayer meetings but it’s is more of hospitality thing. Also, we’ve moved on to the Homer Simpson kind; round ones with pink icing, rather than the messy jam ones.
So, in terms of hospitality, what are the essentials today? It’s a good question, not sure if I really have a good answer; here’s what we do:
- Good coffee is key. Since the Starbucks revolution people expect to get percolated coffee rather than Instant Fairtrade. The coffee should of course still be Fairtrade but the type that requires a machine. We got our machine for about £60 online and it’ll make for 60 people in one load.
- Tea, well as always, not the weak church tea that some places offer. Okay, maybe that is just a Northern English Man’s thing.
- Eats of some kind, we usually go for iced-doughnuts, a few Danish pastries and some American cookies.
- Fresh fruit juices (ie. from the carton), ideally the ‘not from concentrate’ variety but this isn’t essential.
That is the basic level, it needs to look good and smell great. We never have a lot of food, most people don’t want it, its more for that welcoming feeling than giving people something to eat. Also, since this is England, less than half will drink the coffee but the smell is totally awesome.
On a Sunday, we often send someone around with a bowl of celebrations/mini-heroes pre-service. 
It’s essential that it is carried around by a server to have affect rather than help yourself. Celebrations also work better than Roses/Quality street as people can recognise the branding of Marsbars, Malteasers…etc. No-one wants to route around in a bowl of sweets looking for their favourites, you can see what you want straight-away with Celebrations. We don’t do this every week either as it loses impact.
NB: We don’t bother with the eats on Sunday morning, it feels like too much fuss. However, we still offer real coffee.
The Christian Centre, has almost doubled in the last few years. Most people say they stayed with us initially because we made them so welcome. It sort of goes like this:
- We visited because we saw your website
- We came a again because you went out of your way to welcome us
- We stayed longterm because we like the worship and the teaching
Interestingly, those who were not Christians on their first visit tend to be even more impressed with the welcome; maybe, Christians just expect it?