The Importance of Hospitality

What would you do today if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?

Probably spend time with family, make sure your will is in order, communicate any final messages of love and appreciation, settle your accounts, and get ready to meet the Lord, right?

Here’s a related question: What would you do today if you knew the Lord was returning tomorrow? I’m guessing you would do a lot of the same things. Jesus’ return isn’t the same as death, but it has a similar feeling of finality, inevitability, and, we are told repeatedly in Scripture, imminence.

The reason I bring this up today, and the reason I’ve been thinking about it, is that the apostle Peter actually answers this question from his perspective in 1 Peter 4:7-9, and his answer is, “I would practice hospitality.”

He writes, “The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.” Since Peter frequently uses climactic progression in his writing and speaking—rhetorically building from important to more important to most important—it’s reasonable to surmise that the item mentioned last in this list of activities is the most critical.

How important is hospitality? It’s important enough that if you only had time to do one thing before the end of the world or before death, inviting someone into your home would be a good option—even the best option, according to Peter.

I’ve had several opportunities lately to reflect on hospitality as I’ve been repeatedly welcomed by international THF partners when traveling. When someone comes to Tyndale to visit me and other foundation staff, we will carve out an hour or two to spend time with them, maybe share a meal, ask lots of questions, and pray together. Contrast that with my recent experience in Albania, when Efrim Karoshi spent two whole days showing me around Tirana, introducing me to friends and partners, answering every question I could think of about his ministry and culture, driving me to and from the airport, and more. I think it’s fair to say he’s a much better host than I am! Yes, the roles are different, and there’s more of a cultural expectation of hospitality in Albania (and elsewhere) than there is in the US, but still, the example so often shown to me by those I’m visiting is compelling when I think about how to show hospitality, especially given the relative biblical importance of this particular virtue.

The Bible has quite a lot to say about hospitality. Not only are there many examples of people showing hospitality to others, the apostle Paul lists a love for hospitality among the requirements for a church leader or elder (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8). And Hebrews 13:2 says that by practicing hospitality toward strangers, we will increase the likelihood of entertaining angels without even realizing it. Jesus rebuked a Pharisee named Simon who showed him insufficient hospitality by neglecting to wash his feet. And the famous “sheep and goats” passage in Matthew 25 contrasts those who show compassion and hospitality with those who do not, and the fate of the second group is, shall we say, not desirable.

The bottom line is that hospitality is critically important, and all of us would do well to reflect on ways we can up our hospitality game. Tyndale founders Ken and Margaret Taylor were well known for their hospitable spirit; as we continue their legacy of generosity all these years later, I’m reminded to look for opportunities to build on their legacy of hospitality as well.

Here’s what’s happening.

Showing Hospitality to Refugees
Several weeks ago, leaders from World Relief visited Tyndale and spoke to a group of more than 50 employees in person and online about ways the church can fill the hospitality gap in the wake of the federal government’s shutdown of the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Today, while some resettlement agencies have begun to receive reimbursements for money expended helping refugees, the USRAP remains indefinitely suspended. Terra Vincent and Susan Sperry suggested multiple ways people who are concerned about refugees can help. For one thing, you can call your representatives in Congress or sign a petition to the White House and advocate for resumption of federal funding to help those in need. If you’re not inclined to get involved politically, you can befriend an immigrant family, make a financial donation to an organization that works with refugees, and of course pray. Tyndale House Foundation has been supporting World Relief’s work in the Chicago area since 1989, with total giving approaching $700,000. And Tyndale House Ministries departments allocated an additional $91,000 to World Relief out of our year-end departmental giving this year. Terra called me late last week to express her gratitude for Tyndale’s partnership and asked me to share how encouraged she is to know that Tyndale is committed to practicing biblical hospitality.

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Praying for Revival
J. Edwin Orr, a 20th-century evangelist and historian, is noted for saying, “No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer—Christians persistently praying for revival.” This has proven to be true time and time again throughout history. For example, the 1857 revival that started in New York City and spread throughout the US was initiated by Jeremiah Lanphier’s noon prayer meetings that started with just a few participants and rapidly grew to involve thousands. One THF partner that understands this dynamic very well is Revive Europe, an organization dedicated to preparing the way for a movement of God among students and young adults in Europe. Founder and director Sarah Breuel believes that through fervent prayer, evangelistic outreach, solid theological training, dedication to God’s Word, and attention to the movement of the Holy Spirit, believers can prepare the soil for seeds of revival to grow. Right now, the US is experiencing a massive boom in Bible sales, and many are speculating about whether this may be an indication of revival. If so, one thing is certain—it’s happening because God is responding to the prayers of his people. Let’s continue to pray that God will use the church’s witness to draw many to himself and that we will indeed see revival in our time—in Europe, in the US, and around the world.

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Showing Hospitality to Displaced People
In 2023, in celebration of THF’s 60th anniversary, the foundation’s board allocated grants of $60,000 to several of our closest and most strategic ministry partners. One of them was the International Association for Refugees, an organization that works around the world to help people survive and recover from forced displacement. Over the past ten years of our partnership with IAFR, we’ve participated in a church development project in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi, helped build a school in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, and funded Ebenezer Academy, a refugee-led initiative to help meet the needs of displaced people in Africa. Last month, I received a letter from Tom Albinson, IAFR’s president, in which he detailed all the ways THF’s special anniversary grant was used to help refugees. Funds were allocated to an asylum-seeker ministry in France, relief work in Ukraine, educational solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, and more. A percentage of the grant was also used to support IAFR’s short-term housing ministry in the Twin Cities. Please pray for this strategic partner that is showing biblical hospitality to the tragically growing number of displaced people all over the world.

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Celebrating Iranian New Year
You probably know that last Thursday, March 20, was the Spring Equinox—the official first day of spring (which we celebrated with snow in the Chicago area). But did you know that March 20 was also the first year of Nowruz, the Persian observation of the new year in Iran? Nowruz is a 13-day celebration of renewal, hope, and the arrival of spring. The word Nowruz (pronounced “no-rooz”) literally means “new day,” and it marks the first day of the Iranian new year. The annual celebration is notable for the ceremonial display of the haft-sin, a collection of seven symbolic objects beginning with the Persian letter S that represent the seven eternal laws from the teaching of Zoroastrianism, which predated Islam in Iran. The items are set on a special piece of fabric called a “sofreh” and will remain there throughout the 13 days of Nowruz. The seven traditional items are Sabzeh (sprouts grown in a dish, symbolizing rebirth), Samanu (wheat germ pudding, symbolizing fertility), Senjed (lotus flower, symbolizing love), Serkeh (vinegar, a replacement for wine, which is outlawed in Islam, symbolizing age and patience), Seed (apples, symbolizing beauty), Seer (garlic, symbolizing health), and Somagh (sumac berries, symbolizing new beginnings). Nowruz is a great opportunity to pray for the people of Iran to find a new beginning in Christ!

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That’s it for this week’s briefing. Please send any questions, comments, and Nowruz items to [email protected]. I send out this email resource most weeks primarily for a Tyndale audience, but you should feel free to share it with others who may be interested, inside or outside of Tyndale. Thanks for continuing to pray for and support our partners around the world.

Jeremy Taylor
President | Tyndale House Foundation

The THF Weekly Briefing provides information about significant events happening in the wide universe of Tyndale House Foundation partner organizations as well as an occasional peek behind the scenes of THF’s operations. It is available to anyone at Tyndale who’s interested in learning more about the Foundation side of the organization. Was this email forwarded to you? Contact [email protected] to be added to (or removed from) the distribution list.