Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock  has been one of the most influencial books that I have ever read.

In the days of the New Testament, churches were started and functioned out of the home. The home was the central hub of the New Testament church. It was the tool of evangelism, the facliator of fellowship within the body, and the central place for believers to gather on Sunday and throughout the week.

There are countless stories in both the Old and New Testament on the importance of hospitality (but that is a post for a different day). And yet in our individualistic fast paced American society we have all but lost the beautiful practice of hospitality.

Ennis and Tatlock paint a beatuiful picture of what it means to practice hospitality. They show that you don’t have to have a big house or vast resources to open up your home to those within and outside the church.

Hospitality is about a heart for service, the creativity to stretch whatever we do have available, and the energy to give the time necessary to add a flourish to ordinary events of life. Pg 15

Living in an apartment and trying to save every penny that we have, I never thought about my responsibility in extending hospitality. It seemed like something we would do one day when we had a big house and plenty of money to spend on entertaining.

But Practicing Hospitality showed me that hospitality is so much more than entertaining. It’s an attitude of love that we extend to those we invite into our home.It’s a warm place to invite a new couple from church or get to know a family with little kids when you are looking to  have children yourself.

With dozens of recipes and great tips throughout the book, Practicing Hospitality is really a workbook and a guide on how to really practice hospitality. It’s written in such a way that you can connect with the women’s stories that are strewn throughout the chapters.

They have great, practical advice in every chapter such as a section on preparing “portable” meals that you can deliver full of recipes and delivery ideas. Another idea they share is when teaching your family about hospitality to have a Bible lesson from the  early church and then to have a meal similar to what they would have eaten during the Bible times. This section is complete with an entire meal plan of recipes and dinner talking points!

I recommend this in my top five books to read in your lifetime! It’s really that good and helpful. Do you feel lost and don’t know where to start with hospitality? Maybe you have never invited anyone outside your family over, let alone almost complete strangers, and the idea terrifies you. Read their book and pray that the Lord gives you courage in this area.

It can be a hard thing to meet someone and invite them over after chuch for lunch. But it is such a vital thing that the church should practice today, and so many are not. Maybe you will start a movement in your church by inviting people over and encouraging them to do the same.

{Contains affiliate links, but I 100% completely endorse this book. I would not have posted this glowing review otherwise. Everything I said above is 100% true, I love this book!}

Do you want to learn more about hospitality?

You can sign up for my FREE 3-part video series on hospitality. We begin by first starting where any Gospel-Centered discussion should start: with the Bible! We then take that Biblical definition of hospitality and practically apply it with a beginner’s guide to hospitality – everything you need to know to have the confidence to start extending hospitality – today! Sign up HERE for free!