Mission as Hospitality: Imitating the Hospitable God in Mission

God is a missionary God. God is also hospitable in his nature. He makes his enemies friends and invites them to intimate communion. The mission of God in Scripture often occurs through hospitality when God’s people encounter the not-yet people of God at table or in hospitable environments and invite them to believe. This motif of mission as hospitality plays out through the Old and New Testament Scriptures, and through the Eucharist. It can also be observed through the witness of monks and contemporary missionaries who embraced a hospitable approach to mission. For the church to participate in God’s mission today, a vision to win, conquer, or change the world should be exchanged for a conviction to welcome the stranger and make room for others while proclaiming the gospel—that is, to imitate the hospitable God in mission.

Edward L. Smither is professor of intercultural studies and history of global Christianity and dean of the College of Intercultural Studies at Columbia International University. His previous books include Christian Mission: A Concise Global History and Mission in the Early Church: Themes and Reflections.