The power of 'welcome'

Baptisms are always a special time in any church but on this occasion my wife and I had special reason to rejoice. As Min shared her testimony before the congregation we found out that we had been a very small part of her journey to Christ.

Min (not her real name) came to the UK as a student with her young family and moved into some apartments near our inner city church. She comes from a country where there is no religious freedom and had never encountered Christianity before.

Min noticed that there was a stay and play playgroup for mums and tots at the church and she started to attend regularly with her daughter. She was then invited to an English class and then after several months visited our Sunday service; she then started to attend regularly, taking a keen interest in the Bible teaching.

Eventually she decided to follow Jesus for herself.

What astounded my wife and I was that a significant part of Min’s journey to Christ was simply that my wife and I greeted Min when she arrived as a stranger at the church, made her feel welcome and took an interest in her life. 

Hospitality

In Titus 1v8, being hospitable is one of the key requirements of an elder in the church. Hebrews 13v2 exhorts us not to neglect showing hospitality to strangers, reminding us that some have inadvertently entertained angels.

The Greek word we translate as hospitality, Philoxenia, has a much more specific meaning than the English word. It is a combination of the word "love" and the word "other". It means, then, specifically love for those from a different nationality or people group than our own.

Obviously we are called to love, and witness to those of our own culture, but the Bible also issues a specific call to reach out beyond the bounds of our own culture and background.

One of WEC International’s core values is to “Love to welcome”. As an international mission organisation, WEC International sends many workers overseas but we also send individuals to work alongside churches in the UK because many of our cities have a growing number of people who have never heard the gospel and come from countries where there is no church.

In each location, sharing the gospel will look very different - it may mean learning a different language or adapting to different cultural practices; it may involve hardships and difficulties. 

Hospitality isn’t an end in itself. We welcome people because, ultimately, we want them to know the life-transforming, saving power of the gospel - but if we are going to reach people for Christ, we need to start somewhere, and for Min, the journey to Christ began when she was welcomed by members of our church.

Paul, Peter, and the Gentile believers

In Galatians 2, Paul confronted Peter, to his face, because he refused to eat with Gentile believers.

It is because of Paul’s fierce determination that all people in all places should get the opportunity to hear the gospel, that the gospel ever reached these shores.

Remembering the courage of those in the past who showed true Biblical hospitality should spur us on to do likewise and love to welcome those of different languages and cultures.

I spoke to Min again recently. It was friendship and hospitality that first drew her to us but the love of Christ that found her. When Min spoke at her baptism, her love of the Lord and the joy in her heart was tangible - no one who was present could deny that.