Rhythms of Hospitality (and Resources)
We have begun a weekly(ish) habit of praying together about our family rhythms of hospitality, a phrase I learned from the excellent book, The Simplest Way to Change the World." The idea is this: you can't meet with every person you say "lets get together soon!" to if you don't have a plan. But with a plan, you can invest in the relationships you want to, which will result in opportunities to share the Gospel. The plan is to incorporate annual, monthly and weekly rhythms of hospitality that fit into your family's natural rhythms.
I'm still no expert in these areas, just a willing participant and experimenter, and I'm early in my journey. Below I've shared the skeleton of our rhythms of hospitality, and after that some resources that have helped me as I step out in faith to show hospitality to others.
Birthdays and Thanksgiving are annual opportunities we pray about and focus on. It's not that other parties and celebrations don't come up, but these are the 5 days we commit to celebrate intentionally with people we want to share our lives with.
The monthly opportunities usually revolve around church activities, and don't require our home as frequently. We are praying specifically for a core group of people to meet regularly, like a small group, but this hasn't happened yet. It does happen sporadically, though!
Our family's weekly rhythm is school, fútbol, prayer meeting, piano lessons, English exchanges and Club de Tesoro. It's in these weekly areas we need God's help to be creative because it can be easy to get swept up in the activities and lose sight of the goal - starting spiritual conversations. We look for opportunities to bring food to fútbol practice to bring us together, ask for language help telling a Bible story during a language exchange, and be mindful to greet and chat with the parents after Club de Tesoro.
The resources in this list have motivated me or helped me create and prepare for our rhythms of hospitality.
The Simplest Way to Change the World by Dustin Willis
Placemaker by Christie Purifoy
The Gospel Comes with a Housekey by Rosaria Butterfield
@theserviette on Instagram and The Serviette blog
The Next Right Thing podcast with Emily P. Freeman