My wife and I have been thinking about hospitality a lot lately. Is there a "biblical" way to do it? How much of how we do hospitality is affected by how we've seen it done? How much of the way we do hospitality is a reflection of our own personal makeup? And so on . . .
One of the other more specific questions we've batted around has to do with our attitude toward guests. Should our hospitality be guest-centered or family-centered? Guest-centered hospitality says you stop what you are doing to make sure that your guest feels welcome, you do all you can to serve them, you treat them like visiting angels! A more family-centered approach says you let them come in and participate in what your family is doing. They are welcome to stay, or not stay, they are welcome to be a part of the "family" at least as long as you are in your home.
There are advantages to both approaches. There are times, I believe, for both approaches.
But I was really pleased to be forwarded a link to this post by Thomas Brown. He notes that our approach to evangelism is hugely dictated by our culture. If I'm understanding him rightly, he'd say that most Westerners lean towards what I'm calling a family-centered approach while most Easterners (Middle East) would lean toward being guest-centered.
You can read his post here.
I'd love your thoughts!
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