Hospitality Comes From the Heart, Not the House

          I’ve occasionally seen the gift of hospitality discussed in the Christian blogosphere. Hospitality is arguably the most underrated form of ministry that was mentioned in the New Testament, as it’s where Christians have the opportunity to impress biblical Truth and love to the poor, estranged and unreached in a seemingly otherwise impersonal world. As I watch people discuss their developing skills in hospitality, they sometimes doubt their qualifications, namely based on the size and orderliness of their house. There’s a few things I need to clarify.

          The inner skill of hospitality has just as much to do with the square footage and appearance of one’s house as one’s inner skill in music has to do with how many bells and whistles are on his/her instrument. Not that much. While it’s nice to be hosted in a comfortable, open and clean space, the people with “advanced” skills in hospitality don’t rely on their house, or even their stronger familiarity with any location where God’s people are gathered or going. Their hospitality is mobile.

          I learned this important aspect of hospitality from a mentor in grad school. My wife and I wanted to host more people from our Chicago-area church plant, but we felt inadequate to the task with our barely-affordable 1br apartment. My mentor brushed that aside and said, “That doesn’t matter. You can be hospitable here at the church building.”

          I didn’t know the church building that well, but he continued. “Hospitality is the ability to make someone feel welcome and at home . . . anywhere. If you’re truly hospitable, no matter the situation or the location, you’re deeply caring about how someone you’re with is feeling, and you’re willing to do something to help them.” This is a rough paraphrased definition of mobile hospitality. Not to be smothering and overbearing, but to make people (e.g. the poor, strangers and other guests mentioned in the Bible) feel truly cared for. Hospitality, when you think about it, is an integral part of community-building, discipleship and evangelism. One of the very first records of the early Church comes from a positively fascinated atheist, who points out that Christians “offer a shared table” and “love everyone.”

          In our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbors, the poor, estranged and unreached, let’s think about how we can strive to be this holistic and biblical definition of “hospitable.” Let’s not worry so much about, for example, how recently the bookshelf was dusted. In some cases of hospitality, you’d be amazed how much the thought counts.