9Marks Ministries is a helpful and biblical ministry lead Mark Dever and focused on Church reform. They put out a monthly newsletter online and it is ussually packed full of good articles on theology, church life, and leadership. Their most recent issue contains a collection of articles on friendship, hospitality and small groups. Below I have listed the title of several of the articles with a quote from each one.
Befriending Timothy
The universe operates according to a cause-and-effect framework. When matter is acted upon, change happens. When a match is struck, fire flares. When food cooks, hungry stomachs grumble. And when a pastor befriends a young man, the kingdom advances.
This last equation might seem simplistic. But God doesn’t need us to conduct mass evangelistic rallies or dream up growth plans with S-curves. He simply calls wise men of God to befriend young men and disciple them for ministry. When God’s shepherds invest in young Christian men by befriending them, the young men will be transformed. When they are transformed, they are hungry to minister to others.
Using Small Groups to Cultivate Fellowship
We view small groups as a means of allowing the congregation to shepherd and disciple each other, within the bounds of pastoral oversight (Eph. 4:f11-13). They facilitate relationships for mutual edification.
They are not support or counseling groups, and they are not pure study groups. Rather, they are used to cultivate spiritual fellowship together, a fellowship informed by Scripture and pursued through prayer, study, and interpersonal reflection.
We take care to ensure that small groups are neither a substitute nor a competitor with the church as a whole. Rather, they are an extension of it, a particularization of the whole community. This is particularly important in today’s church culture, where many Christians are accustomed to thinking of the small group, rather than the church, as their primary spiritual community. It’s possible to be a biblical Christian without
A Meal Says More Than You Think
So here I was, tasked with giving a three minute devotion on hospitality, but finding myself overwhelmed not by the number of times the word is used, but by the contexts in which it is located: Romans 12 and the basics of the Christian life; 1 Timothy and a necessary attribute of church leaders, male and female; 1 Peter 4 and how to prepare for the end times. Amazing.
By practicing hospitality, especially among non-Christians, we demonstrate the very character of the God who has invited deeply-indebted sinners to the eternal feast of salvation. In that sense, we provide a living picture of the gospel. No, it is not the gospel. It is a small picture that both points toward, and draws the heart of the recipient toward, the gospel of God’s un-repayable work of salvation for us in Christ. Hospitality communicates, and entices non-Christians and weaker Christians toward the gospel! And doing this should be understood as a basic of the Christian life.
It might be beneificial to pick just one of the articles to read and in that case I would recommend “A Meal Says More than You Think.” The area of hospitality is one we can certainly grow in both as a church and as individuals. Enjoy.