This past Sunday, we kicked off 2024 with a new teaching series on sharing your faith called “Informal Missionaries“.

C.H. Spurgeon said that “every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter“…which means that if you’re truly a Christian and have a relationship with God, you will naturally long for everyone around you to experience the abundant life that only Jesus offers!

While the word “missionary” is not exactly in the Bible, the New Testament gives us several metaphors that speak of our missionary calling in this world:

Ambassadors: 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 says that we are ambassadors for Christ! An ambassador is someone who shows up in another kingdom with a message from his home kingdom. As Christians, we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and we proclaim this message to others: “Be reconciled to God!”
Coworkers: Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 that we are God’s coworkers. Someone plants, another waters, but God gives the increase by bringing forth fruit by drawing people to Himself! He’s chosen to involve us in the salvation of others, but to be honest, he’s done most of the work in the group project. We have the way easier job of telling people about what Christ has done for them on the cross.
Multiplying Disciples: Maybe the most famous passage from the New Testament on the subject of missions is the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28. After Jesus gathered up his followers one final time before he ascended back to heaven, he gave them these parting words: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” The word for “all nations” is the greek word “ethnos”, which means all people groups of the world. And this is why Christians have always sought to tell all people everywhere the message of what Jesus has done and how they could be reconciled to God!

For some, this means leaving behind regular life–families and jobs and comforts here in America–to go to the ends of the earth and become full-time missionaries.

However, the main way that the message of Jesus has spread over these last 2000 years is not through the cross-cultural proclamation of a few, but through the faithful obedience of many ordinary Christians to the missionary commands of Christ.

So, what does that actually look like? That’s what we talked about this first week…

And we said that to be an informal missionary, we are to practice hospitality. Because sharing our faith begins with sharing our table!

Hospitality is a Biblical idea

Hospitality is not some cutting edge concept designed by luxury hotels and upscale restaurants. Hospitality isn’t just a nice gesture for extroverted people only. It is a biblical idea. It literally means “loving strangers” and it appears repeatedly in the Bible:

Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. (Romans 15:7)
Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. (Romans 12:13)
Let brotherly love continue. Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:1-2)

The point is this: Informal missionaries practice hospitality by looking to know and love the strangers that God has placed in their life. And by pursuing real relationships and seeing neighbors become friends, we will ultimately be presented with natural opportunities to share our faith with them!

So you might be wondering: what does this look like? How do I get started? Here are a few tips to begin practicing hospitality:

8 Simple Ways to Practice Hospitality

Start with people you know! Hospitality should be something that Christians regularly practice towards one another…let brotherly love continue!
Brainstorm future invites. Think through: who has God placed along my path everyday? Neighbors, coworkers, classmates acquantances? Think, and make a simple invite to catch up outside of work or class sometime by sharing dinner together.
Make it a team sport. Hospitality becomes less daunting when you share responsibilities and remain accountable to a few friends who can help practice hospitality together!
Do what fits you! For some, that may look like dinner parties complete with fancy napkins and candles. For others, it could be a Taco Tuesday or pizza and games. It’s not really about the food as much, so…
Simplify the food. People who practice hospitality regularly often just master a crock pot meal that is easy to prepare, easy to clean, and feeds lots of people! Then, have real conversations and ask good questions!
Don’t mind the mess. Don’t let not having the perfect place or a super clean kitchen a barrier to having people over…
Don’t mind the kids. And don’t let your kids deter you either…in my experience, single or childless people would love to join your family for a night, even if that comes with temper tantrums. (It also teaches your kids that hospitality and loving strangers is what we do!)
Establish sustainable rhythms. Don’t burn yourself out, but start somewhere!

As a church, we are looking to practice hospitality at least monthly by using the last week of the month to invite neighbors and acquaintances over for dinner! In fact, we will take the last week of each month off from midweek activities like groups, and instead devote time that week to practicing hospitality throughout the city! So team up, start practicing with people you know, and get ready to pursue the people that God has placed in your life! Because in our day and age, people are longing for true connection and belonging beyond video calls and edited pictures.

Instead of waiting for them to come to us, hospitality is how we go to strangers and extend a warm invitation to community and to belonging to a family, because in Christ, that is exactly what God did to us!

“You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household”. (Ephesians 2:19)