Over decades of church life, our family has hosted hundreds of occasions with guests in our home and at other venues. We believe that home hospitality is a vital part of our Christian life and I would like to share a few suggestions based on what we have learned over the years.
If you are waiting to have the perfect home, menu, or level of preparedness to invite people into your home, it is unlikely to happen. Don’t let this stop you! Showing love and care through hospitality is not dependent on how excellent your house, food, or preparation is. When it comes to Christian hospitality, action is more important than perfection and pride can be an unnecessary barrier to this ministry.
Plan dates to invite guests ahead of time, as Jesus did with the Last Supper. If we don’t intentionally plan to entertain guests, we will probably not have the time, energy, or resources needed to make it happen. By planning in advance, we make home hospitality a priority, more successful, and more frequent.
When time to prepare or cost is a barrier, keep the meal simple so that minimal preparation time and cost is required. Accept guests’ offers to help by bringing a plate of food if needed.
The same is true for accepting help with preparation or clean up. As the host, if I do these tasks alone, I am missing valuable time and potential opportunities to minister to my guests as I talk and work with them. We need both the Marys and the Marthas when involved in hospitality ministry. While the physical work of hospitality needs to be done, we don’t want to miss out on the spiritual opportunities offered at these times because we are too busy or too exhausted from doing all the work alone.
Over the years, my husband and children have been a wonderful help in sharing the workload created by opening our home to others. The experience is much more enjoyable and repeatable when the load is lightened by many hands.
Another advantage of keeping meals simple is that your guests feel less intimidated to reciprocate, avoiding a possible barrier to further relationship building. When you plan to make hosting easier, it will become more rewarding than exhausting. When you minimize the work and expense to a level you are comfortable with, you are more likely to want to host often, multiplying your ministry.
Even Jesus only provided a simple meal of loaves and fish when He fed the multitude. There are no records of tables and chairs being provided, nor napkins, dessert, or even drinks offered. Despite this, the crowd understood Jesus’ message of love when He supplied food to meet their needs. Likewise, we don’t have to host the perfect dinner party at the perfect venue to show God’s love.
“Even among those who profess to be Christians, true hospitality is little exercised. Among our own people the opportunity of showing hospitality is not regarded as it should be, as a privilege and blessing. There is altogether too little sociability, too little of a disposition to make room for two or three more at the family board, without embarrassment or parade. Some plead that “it is too much trouble.” It would not be if you would say: “We have made no special preparation, but you are welcome to what we have.” By the unexpected guest a welcome is appreciated far more than is the most elaborate preparation.”1
If entertaining in your own home isn’t possible, as with Jesus and the Last Supper, plan to entertain at another venue like a park or church hall. It is the loving act of hospitality that matters, not the location or the venue.
Be prepared to be flexible. If you feel impressed to invite more people home for a meal than you have prepared for, have a backup plan. We always have emergency supplies of suitable food (e.g., pasta, rice, or bread) that can be used to multiply the food easily if needed. We also have plans to utilize less food if we have fewer guests than anticipated. In this way, we are not wasting food or making hosting an unnecessary financial burden.
As in all other ministry work, I have found it essential to rely on God for support. Many times, I have felt exhausted, inadequate, and incapable, but God has always given me the strength, resources, and ability that I needed. We can trust God’s promises: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me. . . . And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:13, 19, ESV).
When we show God’s love and care through hospitality, our guests become more receptive to the spiritual messages. Don’t miss this priceless opportunity for spiritual growth and nurture. During gatherings, plan to make a habit of praying together and praising God (Acts 2:42). This was an integral and vital part of the early Christians’ home gatherings and is a key time for us to develop spiritually also.
When we show God’s love and care through hospitality, our guests become more receptive to the spiritual messages.
While our family has often found hosting to be an effort, we have always experienced it to be an even greater reward and blessing. Seeing God reveal ministry needs and opportunities to us as we have fellowshipped and connected with our guests has been a great joy. When we have nurtured and cared for others spiritually, we have also enjoyed vital growth. My husband and I believe God has already blessed us way beyond anything that we have given to Him in ministry or is promised to come to us in heaven.
I love the story of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah found in 1 Kings 17. The widow’s incredible hospitality in giving her last food to Elijah was rewarded by the endless supply of oil and flour that kept them alive throughout the time of famine. Her son was also raised from the dead by Elijah. Think of the rewards she would have missed out on if she had refused hospitality to Elijah and kept the last of her food for herself and her son.
Christian hospitality is a vitally important part of Christian life. When we share our resources and open our homes and hearts, we manifest God’s love to others. We build connections and relationships that help our community to prosper and thrive physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We need our churches to be centers of vibrant and contagious spiritual growth!
I would like to challenge you today to plan and find ways to develop and increase your hospitality to others. Open your lives to the great rewards and blessings from sharing in this ministry that God wants you to experience also!
“Christ keeps an account of every expense incurred in entertaining for His sake. He supplies all that is necessary for this work. Those who for Christ’s sake entertain their brethren, doing their best to make the visit profitable both to their guests and to themselves, are recorded in heaven as worthy of special blessings.”2
“As you open your door to Christ’s needy and suffering ones, you are welcoming unseen angels. You invite the companionship of heavenly beings. They bring a sacred atmosphere of joy and peace. They come with praises upon their lips, and an answering strain is heard in heaven. Every deed of mercy makes music there.”3
1 Ellen G. White, My Life Today (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1952), 194.
2 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1900), 6:344–345.
3 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1898), 639.
Debora N. Kent, a registered nurse and midwife, is actively involved in hospitality ministry at Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church and lives in Silver Spring, MD, USA.
