Having left everything behind, and finally arrived in Washington in January 2013, you might be wondering where we were staying and how it would be possible given the fact we had hardly any money. Well let me introduce to you our dear friend Diane Segars and her son Jo!
Out of the generosity of her heart, Diane took us into her home rent free for what would end up being a six month stay! Diane had recently had her basement remodeled and it was perfect for a family to temporarily live in. We had lovely bedrooms, a huge living room and beautiful views from the deck. Most of all we got blessed with Diane’s amazing cooking!!
This is where God led us as part of his plan to slowly heal and restore us. The funny thing is that Diane had been praying prior to us coming about what the Lord wanted her to do with her open space basement. She had felt for a while that she wanted to use it for retiring pastors who needed a time of healing. But in her own words she never thought it would be a young pastor and his family though!
“Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” (Romans 12:13 ESV)
A hospitable loving church
Living with Diane was just a five minute walk from Faith Community Fellowship church. We had some family links there and it made sense that we would come along to this church in our new season of life. The church in many ways was very different to where we had come from. It wasn’t like the church that we had planted or our previous churches that we had been apart of… but this church excelled in love and in hospitality!
For a relatively small sized church we were showered with people welcoming us, loving us, serving us and providing for us in so many ways. One amazing example would be a future one when we finally moved into our own home. We had literally a few suitcases and that was it. We didn’t even have a fork or a mug for our new home! But the church rallied around us and provided nearly everything we needed for our new home! Sofas, cutlery, TV, food, toiletries, money, ornaments, cushions, chairs, and so much more. I will certainly write about this profound experience another time but I just wanted to get the picture across of what an amazing church we had landed with.
Without love it’s all nothing!
You can have all sorts of great things in a church – powerful ministry, Spirit led worship, anointed preaching, a glorious building, miracles, great publicity, etc. The list can go on and on, but here is something I learnt… in the famous words of the Apostle Paul – if you don’t have love, you really don’t have anything at all! (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
My family and I were in a state of weakness and brokenness and God had placed us in a church that was filled with God’s love and welcomed us with hospitality.
Hospitality is an expression of God’s welcoming heart
Did you know the way we welcome people into our homes and into our lives can be an expression of the gospel and of how God welcomes us into his ‘home’ and world?
God is the most hospitable person in the universe! Through the death of Jesus his Son, he adopted us as his very own children and welcomed us into his family and Heavenly home.
The father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:22-24 ESV)
Through Jesus Christ, God gave us a place in his eternal home! He has clothed us with royal garments. He has killed the fattened calf and put on a party (in his own home!) for us because once we were dead but now we are alive and found in Him!
Jesus shares with us everything that once was only his!
Being adopted into God’s family also means that we are brothers and sisters with God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This means we are ‘co-heirs’ with Christ (Romans 8:16-17). We literally share everything that once only belonged to Jesus! Thats real hospitality – making everything that is yours somebody else’s too! Have you ever thought of the gospel from this angle before? Isn’t our God incredibly generous, unselfish and hospitable?
We share with Jesus his heavenly home. His unique Identity as God’s Son is now shared and given to us too! His royal privileges and so much more that we don’t really know about. But one day when Jesus returns we will discover the extent of His glorious generosity and hospitality to us as we come into the fullness of what it means to be God’s adopted sons and daughters.(Romans 8:23-25).
The gift of hospitality
What does this all mean for us? Just as God has welcomed us right into his life and home we should do the same with one another. Our dear friend Diane Segars and our church have been outstanding examples of this kind of love and hospitality!
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1Peter 4: 8-10 ESV)
You might be reading this and thinking I want to be more hospitable but I don’t think I could do ‘that’ or be like ‘that person’. Well I do believe the above verse indicates that hospitality is a gift and that there are varying degrees of this gift (‘God’s varied grace’) that God has bestowed on each of us. Therefore if you feel a desire to have someone over for a meal… then go for it! Or maybe you feel faith to take someone into your home for 6 months… then go for it! Or perhaps you feel a calling and a desire to literally adopt a child (or more) into your home and family… then go for it! Whatever level of hospitality you feel you have been given, go for it with joy, doing it for the Lord!
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17 ESV)
Christ our Hope 