Does hospitality include toilet paper?

Last week I had the privilege of gathering with the women in my church family to hear Mrs. Lanese Dockery discuss the importance of hospitality. She began with a simple question: What do you think of when you hear the word “hospitality?”

Food? Entertainment? Welcoming?

Mrs. Dockery said that in Greek, “hospitality” means “taking in strangers.” I don’t know about your household, but if Kevin started grabbing strangers off the street and bringing them into our household, I’d be terrified to sleep at night!

Her key emphasis was that by practicing hospitality, you are “participating in the process of changing a person’s status before God from stranger to guest.” We need to reclaim the home as the key location for ministry and reconnect the home with the church.

Bringing an unbeliever to church is a good thing, but inviting them into your home to allow them to watch how you respond to each other, the good, the bad, and all the in-between will have an even greater impact on them.

The night after participating in “hospitality night” with my sisters in Christ, Kevin and I housed one of our college friends, Peter, for the night. How did I show hospitality?

1. A place to lie his head. I pumped up the ol’ air mattress and suited it up with my Christmas penguin flannel sheets.

2. Food to eat. I grabbed a can of pumpkin and baked up some delicious holiday cupcakes.

3. Entertainment. We organized a get together at a local restaurant and invited them to our house afterwards for dessert (hence the cupcakes) and board games. We even planned brunch with a church family the next morning that wanted to catch up with Peter.

4. Comfort. I replaced the 1-ply toilet paper with 2-ply. Apparently when we moved into the house someone’s house warming gift to us was environmentally friendly toilet paper. It may be kind to the environment, but it’s a pain to me.

5. Encouragement. Meeting physical needs were easy. But meeting spiritual and emotional needs proved more of a challenge. Each of us had experienced highs and lows in the past three months and we set aside time to sit and talk about how God is moving in our lives.

Hospitality is not about proving how many material items you have, how good of a chef you are, how many plies your toilet paper boasts, or even how many spare bedrooms you keep. Hospitality is about living life together to point people to Christ. If you host a believer, they ought to leave your house encouraged in their faith; if you host an unbeliever, they ought to leave with a clearer understanding of the Gospel.

Are you using your home as a launching pad for the Gospel or as an off-limits symbol of your social status?