There was a radiance in Abdul’s demeanour. As we chatted after church, he looked like he’d just received a marriage proposal. And in one sense he had – he’d decided to follow Jesus. Once a stranger in a foreign land, he had found a new home and a new family, centred around Christ.
When I asked about his spiritual journey, Abdul distilled his experience into one profound insight: “Once hospitality had opened that one door of my heart, all the doors were opened.” His words revealed a profound truth: the ministry of welcome he had experienced laid the foundation for faith, offered a living example of Christian community, and created the space where the gospel message could take root.
This encounter led me to a deeper question: is hospitality merely a niche ministry for those with the gift or inclination, or should it be fundamental to Christian discipleship?
As I returned to Scripture with this question, I discovered something transformative – hospitality is central to holiness itself. To be like God is to be hospitable.
Walter Bagehot, the English political essayist, once shared, “an ambassador is not simply
an agent, he is also a spectacle.” In other words, an ambassador’s role extends beyond simply representing their country; they are also a reflection, a living embodiment of its values and character.
Similarly, Christians are called to be living displays of our God’s character. Our hospitality becomes a window through which others glimpse the divine welcome that God offers. Our story of salvation points to this in a variety of ways.
Before the world began, the Trinity existed in eternal, perfect community – a divine fellowship of welcome. Then, in the Garden of Eden, God creates space for humanity, inviting them to join in the divine fellowship.
This means that when we practice hospitality, we’re not inventing something new – we’re mirroring the God who first welcomed us. Our open homes and hearts become living testimonies to a Creator who designed the universe as a place where relationships could flourish.
We also welcome with resources that are on loan from the Lord. As Jacques Derrida insightfully noted, “Whoever gives hospitality ought to know that he is not even proprietor of what he would appear to give.” Our stuff is not just ours to store, but ours to share.
Throughout Scripture, God’s welcome into specific places points toward something greater – an offer of fellowship with a person. Eden wasn’t designed as a public playground, but an invitation to a personal relationship with God.
The Exodus wasn’t simply about freedom from captivity, but an invitation to belong to a covenant community. The cross is not just about being declared innocent by Christ, but an invitation to feast with him at the wedding banquet.
This progression reveals an important truth about biblical hospitality: it moves from mercy to mission. Our welcome of others isn’t the end goal – it’s the beginning of a journey toward deeper revelation of God’s character and purposes.
Biblical hospitality moves from mercy to mission. Our welcome of others isn’t the end goal – it’s the beginning of a journey toward deeper revelation of God’s character and purposes.
The welcome of Jesus during his life on earth adds another fascinating perspective. He didn’t base himself in one location and demand that people come to him. Instead, he went to them. And he spread the net wide.
His encounter with Zacchaeus demonstrates how Jesus intentionally sought those on society’s margins, becoming their guest for the sake of the gospel. He was on his way to his Father’s house, a heavenly banquet, and everyone was welcome.
We are called to follow the same path. In Luke 10, Jesus commissioned his disciples to practice this itinerant hospitality – to go where people are, accept their welcome, and witness to the good news. We’re passing through this world on the way to paradise and there is room for more.
None of this should be a cause for arrogance. The foundation of Christian hospitality is humility, not strategic cleverness or prideful generosity. We welcome others because we have first been welcomed by God.
As someone once observed, we are simply beggars showing other beggars where to find bread. The source of our nourishment is not ourselves – we merely point to it.
Abdul’s story reminds us that hospitality can serve as the doorway through which faith enters. When we create spaces of genuine welcome, we’re not merely practicing good manners – we’re mirroring God’s redemptive work.
My encounter led me back to scripture to a new way of seeing Peter’s command to “show hospitality without grumbling,” (1 Peter 4:9). In our acts of welcome, we become a living spectacle of his love, a reflection of his eternal embrace.
Join Jason at our Practical Evangelism Day on 20 September and explore how you and your church can offer hospitality. Find out more at lcm.org.uk/PET
LCM shares the gospel alongside the local church of London, equipping everyday Christians to lovingly bring a message of hope in Christ to those least likely to hear it.
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