{"id":716731,"date":"2020-07-22T20:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=716731"},"modified":"2020-07-22T20:52:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T00:52:44","slug":"hospitality-is-the-new-apologetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/hospitality-is-the-new-apologetic\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospitality is the New Apologetic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe you\u2019ve noticed that our society is just a bit divided.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s political persuasions, social justice issues, or even the dreaded <\/span>Starbucks vs. Dunkin\u2019<\/span><\/i> debate, we\u2019ve all become experts in drawing a line in the sand, circling our wagons with those who agree with us, and villainizing those who oppose us. <\/span>Social media has produced social pariahs.<\/b> Twitter has made us loud-mouthed twits. Facebook has become our platform to save face and refuse grace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if we\u2019re not overt about it \u2026 even if we keep our opinions to ourselves and only use Facebook for pictures of puppies \u2026 <\/span>we can confess that we <\/b>do <\/i><\/b>tend to hold tightly to our stance on political persuasions, social justice issues<\/b>, or even the dreaded <\/span>Starbucks vs. Dunkin\u2019 <\/span><\/i>debate. And that means we occasionally pray our own version of Luke 18:11: \u201cGod, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers \u2026 <\/span>or even like those who enjoy burnt coffee.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Our Dilemma<\/b><\/p>\n

In the church world, we\u2019ve all heard the adage and accusation that we\u2019re too often known by what we\u2019re against rather than what we\u2019re for. But what if we could change that? <\/span>What if we were known as a people more interested in compassion than coercion?<\/b> More interested in winning a friendship rather than winning an argument?<\/span><\/p>\n

A New Way<\/b><\/p>\n

I believe that in our incredibly divided society, kindness and hospitality can serve as a new apologetic.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

My generation grew up with youth pastors who taught us to defend our faith, argue from Scripture, and convince people why the way of the cross was the best way. And to be clear: I absolutely believe that Scripture should drive us and the cross should compel us. I believe that sin is real and salvation is provided through Jesus and Jesus alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

But our unbelieving community doesn\u2019t necessarily believe that.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so beginning with \u201cThus saith the Lord\u201d may not carry the weight that it used to.<\/span><\/p>\n

But beginning with \u201cHow can I befriend this person?\u201d just might.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 Example\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As I read the gospels, I find it fascinating that people who were nothing like Jesus really liked Jesus. He drew others in through dialogue instead of debate. He had dinner with sinners and gave grace to the broken. In fact, Luke 7:34 labels Jesus as a \u201cfriend of sinners.\u201d That\u2019s an incredible, nonsensical, counter-intuitive statement. Jesus was nothing like a sinner. He was 100% sin-free. Yet He befriended those at the opposite end of the spectrum.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Response\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

For those of us in church leadership, re-discovering Jesus as \u201cfriend of sinners\u201d leads to staggering implications.<\/span> It means that our weekend services need to be planned – at least partially – through the filter of unbelieving guests: will they find judgment or grace?<\/b> Systems to keep them out or processes to draw them in?<\/span><\/p>\n

And it means that our weekday lives have to be lived with intentionality towards our unbelieving community, asking the question \u201cHow can I befriend this person?\u201d rather than \u201cHow can I convince this person I\u2019m right?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Our society might well be divided, but let\u2019s count ourselves among those who stand in the gap for others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether it\u2019s political persuasions, social justice issues, or even the dreaded Starbucks vs. Dunkin\u2019 debate, we\u2019ve all become experts in drawing a line in the sand, circling our wagons with those who agree with us, and villainizing those who oppose us.","protected":false},"author":8242,"featured_media":716732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[179,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-impressions","category-grow"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHospitality is the New Apologetic | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether it\u2019s political persuasions, social justice issues, or even the dreaded Starbucks vs. Dunkin\u2019 debate, we\u2019ve all become experts in drawing a line in the sand, circling our wagons with those who agree with 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