Hospitality is a BLESS-ing​

By CHRIS DRIVER
Baptist Progress Writer

There’s an old saying, “nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” I’ve come to know that statement is more than just a cliché because I’ve seen it proven true over and over again in my church planting journey as our small church has been faithful to practice genuine and intentional hospitality here in west Texas.
 
I’ve been training church planters at BMAT Missions for the last six years and planting Oasis Church in Levelland for the past four.  Over that time, I have come to realize that hospitality is more than just being kind and hosting people in your home because it’s the “Christian” thing to do. Hospitality can be an absolutely beautiful, impactful and intentional way to open the door for the gospel in the lives of lost and broken people.
 
Because the thing is, the world has changed a lot over the years. In our world today, everything moves and changes at the speed of light. And it seems like the more things “progress” the more disconnected and distant we have become from one another. It feels increasingly like what was once a society built on hospitality and community is becoming an isolated, disconnected existence where we pull into our garage, close the door and disappear from the rest of the world. But take heart, the slide away from hospitality has actually created a need that’s shown how hospitality is incredibly powerful in this generation…hospitality offers a genuine opportunity for connection.
 
But in a culture that has all but forgotten how to be hospitable, how can we use this biblical principle and command to effectively open doors for the gospel as families and churches? In the world of BMA of Texas Missions, we have learned that it’s really as simple as learning to be a BLESSing.
 
The B.L.E.S.S. acronym is a tool developed by pastor, church planter, author and leader Dave Ferguson. The missions office discovered it several years ago and quickly made it a primary piece of our church planting training. Ever since its introduction, it has had a major impact on our church planting efforts and the way our missionaries think about hospitality. Here’s our basic breakdown:
 
B – Begin with prayer:   Identify and pray for the people in your life BY NAME who may not know Jesus and pray for ways and opportunities to connect with them. Ask God to begin to draw that person to Himself and present you with meaningful opportunities to connect with them. Don’t be afraid to reach out with a text or call and let them know you are praying for them and even ask for specific needs you can pray for. You will find very few people, no matter where they stand in their view of God, will reject your request to pray for them.
 
L – Listen with care:  Take time to stop and listen to them when the chance arises. Listen to their story. Listen to their pain. Listen to their struggles. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. But take the time to hear their heart and find common ground and connecting points to your own life. But don’t do all the talking. The key is to be genuinely curious about them and their lives. Most people are starving for a chance to genuinely connect to someone and share what’s going on in their lives.
 
E – Engage with them:  Most explanations use the word “eat” here but we have discovered that there are many effective ways to engage people. Eating is definitely one of them and often is very effective, but we have come to understand that sitting in a duck blind, riding in a golf cart, having a cup of coffee or playing a game of pickleball are just as effective in creating genuine moments of connection and opportunities to listen and share. The most important part of this step is your presence, not the place. The key is to just find a place or activity that the person can connect with and invite them to join you.
 
S – Serve with thoughtfulness:  When you take the time to engage and connect with people and take the time to genuinely listen to them, you will discover how to love them through practical and meaningful service. It may be in the form of a specific need that you can meet, remembering their name or special event, sending a thoughtful text, teaching them something they want to learn, or helping them with something their doing. The point is that people begin to trust our love for them when it becomes more than just words.
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S – Share with love: The ultimate goal of hospitality to share the most important part of our lives, Jesus. As we pray, listen, engage, and serve we should be ready for open opportunities to share our story and Jesus’ story. Our story is a powerful part of the process. It may be our full testimony or it may be a major milestone and event in our life that God has brought us through. However, as powerful and useful as our story may be, our story can never save someone. But it is often the bridge God uses to open the door for us to share the story that can, Jesus’! The greatest way we can bless someone is to love them enough to tell them about the God who loves them so much He sent His son to save them.
 
Whether you use the B.L.E.S.S. rhythms or your own ways, I think we can all agree that the world could definitely use a little more hospitality…especially when it breaks down walls and gives us a chance to share the love of Jesus with a world that so desperately needs Him. Let’s go be a BLESSing!

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