This post is part of my ongoing series on hospitality.

Today we’re talking about lots of different ways we can show hospitality to others!

In Practicing Hospitality, Ennis and Tatlock write:

Practicing hospitality can be experienced during every season of life. However, it may not always be implemented in the same manner.  We may need to invite people for dessert rather than a full meal, or meet them for breakfast rather than lunch.  Our commitment to hospitality should motivate us to be flexible and resourceful during each season of life.

Here is my list of ways to show hospitality that go beyond just having friends over for a dinner (the point isn’t to discount that, but to help you be creative in your particular season).

40+ “Unconventional” Ways of Showing Hospitality

• Host a ladies’ Bible study in your home
• Invite friends over for ice cream in your front/back porch, and ask them all to bring their favorite topping
• Host a potluck meal at a local park with several other families
• Take a meal to someone in need (illness, new baby, recent move, loss of a loved one, etc.)
• Invite someone out to eat at a restaurant
• Have a friend and her child(ren) over for a playdate
• Invite a friend to go strawberry/blueberry/apple picking with you
• Invite a visiting pastor/missionary to your church to stay at your home overnight
• Have some friends over for popcorn and a movie
• Invite another family over to make s’mores in the back yard
• Have some girlfriends over for dessert
• Have another couple over to play board/card games after your kids are in bed
• Offer to keep a friend’s children for her while she runs some errands
• Invite your church small group to meet in your home
• Have a “cook off” or “bake off” with a little friendly competition where your friends all bring their favorite chili or pizza or cake or… anything, really!
• Host a morning coffee group for other young moms
• In the holiday season, invite friends to come over and work on projects together (gift wrapping, addressing cards) while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate/cider
• Invite a college student or single adult from your church over for lunch after Sunday services
• Contact the foreign exchange student organization at your local college/university for a list of international students you might invite to your home for a meal
• Include widows in your family’s holiday celebrations and everyday life
• Encourage your older children’s friends to come over and/or spend the night
• Host a bridal/baby shower at your church or in your home
• Take a basket of breakfast and/or healthy snack foods to a friend who recently had a baby
• Have a group of teenagers from your church (and their un-churched friends) over for snacks/games
• Allow your home to be used for small church gatherings (new member classes, leadership dinners, etc.)
• As your kids get older and if you choose to homeschool, allow clubs (yearbook, chess club, newspaper) to meet in your home
• Invite your neighbors over for a potluck “block party”
• Host family birthday celebrations in your home instead of at a restaurant
• Take a meal to a shut-in or elderly friend (or even a few pieces of sliced watermelon)
• Participate in the hospitality ministry of your local church: greeting visitors, serving coffee or breakfast before services, writing notes to visitors, caring for the needs of the body, decorating the church, etc.
• Be welcoming to overnight guests and make their stay comfortable
• Invite new friends to join your family in specific holiday traditions: attending parades, watching fireworks, hunting for Easter eggs, decorating the Christmas tree, going caroling, etc.
• Host a cookie or soup exchange in the late fall
• Invite people to join you on a hike and a picnic
• Mail homemade goodies to a college student away at school
• Send breakfast foods (muffins, etc.) or desserts (cookies, etc.) to work with your husband to share with his coworkers
• Invite a friend over for a walk in your neighborhood
• Share part of your garden with a friend who doesn’t have the space to have a garden of her own
• Prepare cookies, ornaments, cards, and/or small gifts for the residents of a nursing home, then deliver the cards/gifts personally
• After moving into a new house, host an open house so friends can stop by for cookies and lemonade and see your new home

This post is part of my ongoing series on hospitality.

One of the biggest lies we believe as women is that everyone else “has it all together.”  Everyone else’s homes are always clean, everyone else cooks amazing meals every night, everyone else’s kids never throw tantrums, and everyone else has time to read, paint their toenails, do craft projects, and redecorate their home.

As I’ve talked to women about showing hospitality, one of the big things that came up was a feeling of insecurity based on their perception about how “together” everyone else seems to be.  I’m sure women throughout history have dealt with this, but I think our social-media-saturated culture today adds its own challenges.  As we scroll through Facebook feeds, Pinterest, Instagram, and blogs, we’re only seeing “the good stuff” that people choose to share with the world.

When we invite people into our homes, we invite them into our “mess”… our paper piles, our un-swept bathrooms, and our imperfect children.  This actually brings us closer, because we realize that no one has it all together like we’ve imagined they do.  It frees us to extend grace to one another and to be real in sharing our struggles.  As we practice hospitality, it opens us up to share more of ourselves with one another.

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The way you practice hospitality will look different from your friends.  I love to set a pretty table and present food with flair, but my house will never be as clean as some of my friends’ homes.  That’s okay!  We need to evaluate ourselves as God sees us, and stop expecting that we have to be the best of what we see in each of our friends (real or virtual).

Challenge for this week:  Identify how you tend to compare yourself with others (your cooking vs. theirs, your home vs. hers, etc.).  Pray that God would set you free from the trap of comparison so that you can be free to serve Him through hospitality!

This post is part of my ongoing series on hospitality.

I’m learning I’m not alone in making excuses to exercising hospitality!  All of my friends (and many of my readers) struggle with this as well.

I’ve compiled a list of common excuses we tend to make, as well as the truth to combat those excuses!  God wants us to exercise hospitality, so join me in removing all the excuses that keep us from it!

Home Cleanliness
(this is the #1 thing I hear from other women)
Excuses we tell ourselves:
“My house is not clean enough.”
“I feel like my house is never clean and I worry people will talk about me (i.e. say I’m a bad housekeeper).”
“I want everything to be clean and perfect before people come over.”
“I feel overwhelmed with unexpected visitors because my house isn’t picked up.”
The truth:
The fact that I am having people in my home is more important than having a perfectly clean house.  As long as I expect perfection, I probably won’t be able to minister through hospitality.  True friends will care about the fellowship and not about whether the shower has been scrubbed or the fridge has been cleaned out.
Practical help:
Lightly clean just the main rooms that will be seen by guests (living room, dining room, kitchen), close the doors to the rest of the rooms, and don’t give a house tour!  I’ll be sharing much more on this point in a future post.

Space
Excuses we tell ourselves:
“We live in a small apartment and don’t have a lot of room to host get togethers.”
“I don’t have a big enough table or enough chairs or enough glasses or…”
The truth:
My home is exactly the size God wants it to be and He will give me the creativity to find ways of showing hospitality in the home He has given me.
Practical help:
Be creative in utilizing your space.  Example: invite people over for ice cream (you can sit on the floor around your coffee table) and card games.  You don’t have to have a huge dinner party.  Maybe just have a friend over for coffee!  I’ll share more ideas for this issue in a future post.

Busyness/Time
Excuses we tell ourselves:
“We are always on the go and feel exhausted with the idea of having people over.”
“We stay pretty busy that sometimes when we have a night at home I just want to be together as a family instead of showing hospitality.”
The truth:
Busyness does not equal godliness.  If we’re too busy to open our homes up to one another, we might be too busy.  While family time is vitally important, it is also important to stretch ourselves out of our (sometimes selfish) comfort zone and show love towards people who don’t live inside the four walls of our home.
Practical help:
Prioritize scheduling get togethers.  Get a date written on the calendar before it fills up.

Children
Excuses we tell ourselves:
“I have small children so it makes hospitality challenging.  I can’t get the house picked up AND have a meal ready at the same time! Maybe I should wait until my kids are older to start having people over.”
The truth:
Now is the time!  There will always be something challenging about the season you are in at present (nap schedules, early bedtimes, extracurricular activities, etc.).
Practical help:
Keep it simple.  Don’t expect to be able to cook fancy meals at this season.  Don’t expect your house to be perfectly spotless.  Say “yes” when your guest offers to bring something!  I’ll be expounding on this issue in a future post.

Not Martha (Stewart)
Excuses we tell ourselves:
“I can’t even set a table “right,” much less cook amazing company-worthy meals.”
“I feel like I don’t measure up to magazines or ideas I see on Pinterest.”
The truth:
God expects us to be faithful to show hospitality, not that we use linen tablecloths, serve meals in silver dishes, or have fresh flowers on our mantle.  We are not seeking to impress others; we are seeking to serve and build relationships.
Practical help:
Don’t compare yourself or your home with what you see in magazines, on blogs, or on Pinterest.  Use the gifts God has given you to make your guests as welcome as possible.  Make a meal your family loves… don’t try some fancy new recipe that might flop.  Release yourself to eat on paper plates or serve hot dogs to guests.  It’s okay!  (If you’re looking for simple ideas, I’m pinning some to my hospitality board on Pinterest.)

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Money
Excuses we tell ourselves:
“Our budget is so tight we can hardly feed our family on $__/week, and I don’t know how we could possibly feed more people.”
“Our guests probably expect steak, and I just can’t afford to serve that.”
The truth:
Our guests don’t expect steak.  God will provide for our family’s needs AND give us the ability to give to others.  We can’t out-give God!
Practical help: 
Serve simple meals that your family loves.  Stretch meals with inexpensive ingredients (rice, bread, etc.) so that no one leaves hungry.  Say “yes” when a guest offers to bring something to contribute to the meal!  I’ll share some great (frugal) menu ideas in an upcoming post.

In the next post in this series, we’ll talk about the danger of comparison!