Practise hospitality!

“Please bear in mind that there are quite a few non-Christians here this morning” is something I hear increasingly as I preach around the country in my work for Solas. Pastors wisely want the visiting preacher not just to know the Bible text to preach on, but to make sure that the sermon is suitable for people who are not there to be discipled in the faith, but who are still exploring what the gospel actually is.

Being “seeker-friendly” is a phrase which has fallen into disrepute, conjuring up unhelpful images of stage lights, and reverent worship being displaced by entertainment. What might be a better phrase for seeking to welcome and share Christ with the curious who are turning up at churches, and what might it involve? Perhaps the Biblical phrase “practise hospitality” is closer to what we need.

We wouldn’t invite people into our homes and just assume they knew whether food was included in the invitation, or not tell them what time to arrive, or whether their children were welcome too. We certainly wouldn’t rudely ignore anyone who arrived in our homes! We’d instinctively make it as easy for the guests as we could. Yet this isn’t always the case at church.