Why Should Christians Show Hospitality?
Imagine the feeling you get when you come home after a long day of work, errands, or school. There is a sense of relief and comfort occurs the moment you step into your home. Have you ever felt that in someone else's home? What about when you attend a Worship service? This feeling of peace you receive when you enter a Worship, or a friend's house is due to being shown hospitality. Hospitality in our home and church is an important part of our work as Christians.
When we walk into our homes or church we are at peace (or at least that is the desire!). Our entire body and mind relax. We have a break from the burdens of life. Just as we relax when we enter our home and our church, we should strive to help others feel that same way. Our churches and homes should exhibit an environment of hospitality. But what exactly does it mean to be hospitable in our homes and church?
What is Hospitality?
Hospitality is a loaded word and one that we hear often in our churches. We are to be hospitable, but what exactly does this mean? To be hospitable is to be welcoming and friendly to strangers and guests. From a Christian standpoint, showing hospitality to others is showing the love of God to them.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Opening our churches and homes to guests, friends, and strangers is one of the things that we are called to do. Being hospitable is to create a Christ-like environment that others feel comfortable in. A place where strangers and guests feel something different and are comforted. It's where truth can be spoken within the context of love.
Our churches (as a gathering of Christians) and homes should look and feel different than those other gatherings in our culture. They should be filled with the love of Christ. They do not need to look like a Pinterest picture, be spotless, or have fancy equipment. Our churches and homes are different because of Christ Jesus and His love, not because of the choice of décor. Because Christ's love is active within us, the environment we host is distinct. Spiritually speaking, we will either "smell" of life or death to unbelievers (2 Corinthians 2:16)
Why Practice Hospitality?
Hospitality in our home and church should be practiced for the simple reason that God tells us we should. When reading scripture we see many different instances of hospitality. Hospitality is not just an issue of the New Testament but one that was around way before Jesus.
Old Testament- Hospitality to Strangers
We start in the Old Testament where God is giving instructions on how we are to treat strangers.
“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
The book of Leviticus occurs after the Israelites have been freed from captivity under the Egyptians. Leviticus is a book containing the detailed instructions to the Levites, given to Moses on Mount Sinai
The Levites were the tribe chosen by God to be priests. These were the men who offered the sacrifices to God. If these leaders and men of the church we're called to show kindness to strangers, to be hospitable, shouldn't we? You might think "well I'm not a Levite...", but Hebrews chapter 8 reminds us that we have a new High Priest, Jesus Christ. The old order of things is no longer needed because Christ created a new covenant that was better than the old. Christ's new covenant is based on love and like Christ, we are to love the strangers in our midst.
The Levites were told to show hospitality to strangers in their land because they too were once strangers in Egypt. They were showing hospitality in their home and church by treating sojourners like themselves. We have all been strangers before, either in a church, job, or town. Being new somewhere is not an easy or comforting thing. God knows this and commanded the Levites to show these strangers love. This principle is still alive and expanded for us as believers after Christ's resurrection and ascension.
New Testament- Hospitality in Homes
Let's jump over to the New Testament to see what Jesus has to say about hospitality in our home and church.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
In the book of Galatians, we see that Paul is writing to the church in Galatia. This church was struggling and was losing its faith. Paul was writing to encourage them to stand strong in Jesus.
Paul was reminding the Christians in Galatia that they had been saved through faith in Christ, not because they followed the law. They and we have been freed from the judgement of the law of the Old Testament and with that freedom we should love and serve others.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
As we read more of the New Testament we see not only that Paul told others to be hospitable, but that Jesus himself received hospitality and demonstrated it as well! Christ "came not to be served, but to serve as a ransom for many". Christ was the first to wash his disciple's feet. Throughout scriptures we read of Jesus visiting people's homes, and staying with them.
Hospitality in the Church
Hospitality in our home and church will look a bit different from each other. Let's start by talking about what hospitality in the church could look like. Showing hospitality to strangers and guests in our churches looks as different as each church looks. Some churches might have welcome gifts, handouts with instructions about their service, or greeters welcoming everyone. Other churches might not have any of these.
Hospitality in the church doesn't look like an updated sanctuary, top-of-the-class nursery, or numerous programs. Hospitality looks like saying hello. It's learning about the guests and other members of your church. It looks like sharing meals.
I know how difficult it can be to say hi to someone new or even invite them to your house. If you are not sure about having people over, start with a family in church you know but not well. Then you can build up to inviting the stranger into your home.
Church hospitality does not look like separating families and shuffling people to various locations. It looks like welcoming the entire family and inviting them all into your worship service. It might be a tour of your building so guests can see where the bathrooms, nursery, or kids classes are located. This allows the guests to determine which resources are best for their families.
Hospitality in the church might mean listening to a baby crying during the sermon. A family who has a child with special needs might show up, which would require compassion and understanding on your part. Maybe that child needs to make sounds, or play with toys during your service. Creating an environment that is loving to others, sometimes means we have to give up a bit of our own comfort.
So you had guests attend church and invited them to your home. That I'd such a heat way of showing them God's love. But now what? Let's see how we can show hospitality once guests are in our homes.
Hospitality in Our Homes
We touched on hospitality in church, now let's talk about it in our home. Now that someone has been invited over, I'm sure you are thinking a million different things. We will go more in-depth about practical tips for Hospitality in later posts. If you sign up for our newsletter you will receive our free e-book 5 Tips for Simple Hospitality.
So take away all the details like what to serve, clean, and do, let's focus on the overall goal. The goal is hospitality is to show God's love. No matter what your busy schedule is like, I'm sure you can find one day a month or every other month to invite someone over. So let's stop and think about a few ways you can show God's love to the individual you've invited over.
If you invited over a family with children, one way to show love is to have something fun for their kids. This might be an old box of your kid's toys or a safe area for them to play with and food they would enjoy. Creating a space for the children is a great way to show parents that you care for them.
If the individual. you invited is older, make sure your house is easily accessible. Do you have steps they need to navigate if so is there a handrail? Make sure you have a few chair options and that floor pathways are clear. Another tip would be to have coffee or tea available no matter what the weather.
A younger single or just married couple will have different needs. These couples want to be accepted for their current life stage. Have some fun snacks and games available to play. This group might enjoy some more exciting food and beverages. They also might prefer to meet later in the evening.
There are quite a few different ways to show hospitality to people. Just as each person is different, so should our hospitality be catered to their individual needs.
Go and Do
Starting to be hospitable in our churches and home is not a quick easy fix. It takes time to build new habits and skills when interacting with strangers. The first thing to do is to start with prayer. Start praying that God would use you and your church to reach those he has planned. Pray that he would give you the strength to overcome your fear of hosting and send the right people for you to invite.
When we start to pray, we will see God do amazing things! Even something as ordinary as sending a stranger to your church, and then to your home for a meal. Who knows you might just be entertaining angels.