
Hospitality is the New Apologetics // January 23, 2025
Hospitality is the New Apologetics
Dear Church Family,
My friend Gary Stidham was in the Baptist Student Ministry at UTA for many years and is now a professor at Southwestern Seminary. He led his students to lead hundreds if not thousands to Christ. So, when he posted the following on Facebook, I paid attention. Hope it blesses you in your journey of evangelism:
HOSPITALITY IS THE NEW APOLOGETICS
In the past, people skeptical of Christianity felt that intellectual questions were their biggest barrier to faith. They needed a patient, intelligent defense of the Christian faith to overcome those barriers. They needed apologetics.
TIMES HAVE CHANGED.
Of course, there are still intellectual barriers to faith. However, those are not the most significant barriers for young non-Christian adults. In post-Christian America, many young adults were raised with no religious belief. They don’t have INTELLECTUAL questions about Christianity because they don’t have ANY questions about Christianity. What they do crave, however, is genuine belonging. Not a friendly group, but genuine friends.
In my college ministry, I saw it countless times. Someone visits our Christian fellowship because a believing friend invites them. They’re skeptical about faith but intrigued by people’s sincere devotion and moved by the kindness and hospitality they receive. After being accepted by the community, over time they adopt that community’s commitments, beliefs, and values. They start following Jesus!
Of course, they need discipleship and a steady diet of God’s Word. But it was the LOVE and FELLOWSHIP of Christians, guided by the Holy Spirit, that melted their objections, not the IDEAS and ARGUMENTS of Christians.
Some call this method, the “Celtic method of Evangelism.” When evangelizing the pagans of Ireland, Saint Patrick took an opposite approach from the typical Roman method. The Roman method required people to believe in Jesus as Lord before they gained access to Christian community.
Patrick contended that people wanted to belong before they believed. Patrick invited pagans to Christian fellowship and community where they could observe genuine faith, love, and worship. Instead of individual Christians sharing with individual people, people were invited into Christian groups. These groups (often in a monastery) let the Pagan Irish see how the Gospel transforms people. And this process led to much of Ireland becoming Christian over time.
What’s the practical application? Evangelism is more than inviting people to church… but that is part of it! But not just, “Meet me at the 11 o’clock service.” It means first that you have real friendships, accountability, and service alongside other believers, and then you invite non-Christian friends in for a look. It means having non-Christian friends in your home or apartment to enjoy a meal and watch how you pray and talk about the Lord.
It means that our close Christian circles shouldn’t be closed circles, but open like a horseshoe, always ready to show hospitality to a newcomer. America today may look, in some ways, like Pagan Ireland did back then. And that gives us hope that God can do it again!
Press On!