What place does hospitality have in the mission of God? by Mark Chamberlain

Grow your mission the fun way through hospitality.

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How can we use the natural and enjoyable principle of hospitality to carry forward the mission of God?

Bishop Peter explains that the whole shape of the gospel has to do with the practice of hospitality! As the waiting father welcomed the prodigal son and celebrated with food and drink so God in Christ welcomes us into his family and celebrates.

Bishop Peter also talks about the eucharistic meal which is at the heart of our worship. It is a symbol of the radical welcome and hospitality of God. We are invited to God's table to receive food and drink - to enjoy fellowship and hospitality.

In this way hospitality is both an essential element in our worship and a principal mode of outreach. As Christ invites us to his table, we receive nourishment and are then sent out to offer this same welcome and hospitality to others. It's a basic missional principle!

You're invited to think of the practice of hospitality as a way of deepening your fellowship as a church but also as a crucial way of participating in the mission of God. Reach out to others through hospitality as God reached out to us in Christ!

Offering hospitality is a spiritual and missional practice.

For more information on hospitality as mission read Mission as Hospitality by Edward Smither - blurb below;

God is a missionary God. God is also hospitable in his nature. He makes his enemies friends and invites them to intimate communion. The mission of God in Scripture often occurs through hospitality when God's people encounter the not-yet people of God at table or in hospitable environments and invite them to believe. This motif of mission as hospitality plays out through the Old and New Testament Scriptures, and through the Eucharist. It can also be observed through the witness of monks and contemporary missionaries who embraced a hospitable approach to mission. For the church to participate in God's mission today, a vision to win, conquer, or change the world should be exchanged for a conviction to welcome the stranger and make room for others while proclaiming the gospel--that is, to imitate the hospitable God in mission.