Recently, a group of YWAM leaders from this sphere of ministry had a discussion about the greatest obstacles we are facing in seeing Church Planting Movements (CPMs) started among Unreached People Groups (UPGs). (See editorial for definition of these terms). Understanding the obstacles to any goal is key to overcoming them, through prayer, strategic and behaviour changes. This article outlines some of their observations.

Is it possible that YOU can help overcome these obstacles? As a YWAMer, you are committed to the call to make disciples of all people. Your prayers and activities could be part of what it will take for the Kingdom to be established, even in the most remote places. Read on to find out more…

Obstacles to Seeing CPMs among UPGs:

1) Unhelpful Priorities in the Church

The established church largely focuses its resources and time on efforts to strengthen, edify and encourage other believers. Only 5% of cross-cultural workers labour among unreached people groups.

Click here to find out more about the need.

2) Lack of Informed Strategy

Cross cultural efforts can be ineffective if workers are stuck on models and methods of evangelism or church planting which don’t fit the culture they are trying to reach.

Similarly, paternalistic or superior attitudes towards indigenous believers can inhibit or even prevent the growth of a CPM. As movements to faith grow in unreached communities, the role of foreign missionaries could shift in many cases to the role of servant or facilitator.

In addition, few workers employ a strategy that aims toward a movement of churches. Reaching a UPG would be helped greatly by coordinating the efforts of all who are engaging that group. Yet the concept of strategy coordination, while increasingly discussed, is still under-employed.  Implicit in this is the need for on-going evaluation and adjustment to learn from and apply new methods.

Click here to learn more about strategy coordination training.

3) Poor Support of Workers in the Field

Lack of adequate, appropriate training – Quality training has the potential to equip teams and individuals to be more strategic, more enduring, more effective – overall, more fruitful. There is a lack of focused training that identifies a worker’s calling and role, and equips him or her with the knowledge and tools to pursue that calling in the area of cross-cultural church planting among unreached peoples.

Lack of logistical support – Many workers on the frontiers of Christianity do not have adequate supplies of what most would consider every-day necessities, much less the “luxuries” of modern equipment, Internet and phone access, ease of transport, and a ready stock of ministry resources. Compounding this; their needs are often not known simply because they have no way to communicate them.

Lack of adequate leadership – Whether it’s called directing, coaching, mentoring, supervision, or providing accountability, many front-line workers suffer from the lack of leadership. They need a mature, knowledgeable, objective co-worker to whom they can report and from whom they can receive input and guidance. A CPM can depend on the presence of apostolic leaders – those who are able to envision, spark and oversee a mass movement to Christ.

Lack of pastoral support – the distance from the established, healthy Church often means pastoral care is minimal or non-existent for workers among the unreached. There is a shortfall of caregivers who fully understand the challenges faced by these workers and are equipped to minister to them.

Click here to learn more about Church Planting support for YWAMers.

4) Spiritual Challenges

After several thousand years of looking for ways to destroy the Kingdom of God, demonic powers have to be seriously considered as one of the chief obstacles to CPMs. For the few workers who respond to the call to go, extreme pressures can take them out – loss of health, family breakdown, and relationship problems among workers. UPGs live in environments that are tougher physically, spiritually and politically than the places where most reached people groups live – that’s why they are the last to be reached.

Clearly, the answer to such challenge is a foundation of focused prayer. The lack of prayer is a key obstacle to seeing God’s Kingdom established. Prayer leads to miraculous encounters that often spark CPMs. The task of reaching the unreached is enormous and, at times, seemingly impossible. We need to see an increase in power, signs and wonders in our evangelism and church planting efforts.

Click here for information on how to pray for YWAM’s efforts among UPGs!

5) Financial Challenges

Most full time Christian workers face financial challenges, but when you are on your own in a remote location, it can be impossible to continue without risking your life.

Particular pressure comes to those from cultures where the idea of a missionary vocation is unknown and there is pressure to contribute to the financial needs of the family.

Of all funds handled by the Christian Church worldwide, 95% is used for local church expenses; 5% is sent outside the local church; and only 1/10th of that 5% goes to cross-cultural mission work among the unreached.

However, money, if not used rightly, can give a short-term boost to the work but hinder the start and growth of a CPM, creating unhealthy dependency, feeding greed, and dividing the church. Outside funding of ministry among the unreached needs to be well informed and done wisely.

6) The need for godly character in the field

Cross-cultural workers themselves, though passionate, can be impatient. Yearning to produce results can lead to shortcutting the process of language and culture learning. Some want instant results. Reaching an unreached people group usually requires a sacrificial lifestyle and years of dedicated labour.

In an isolated area, it is easy for personal spiritual disciplines to falter. Some workers may avoid training or counsel, thinking they already know what to do. Pride is also a key factor behind disunity, lack of effective partnering, and the spirit of superiority and independence that divides and cripples many efforts among the unreached.

Strong discipleship of new believers is also a factor in seeing a CPM develop. Deeper, more thorough discipleship can accelerate the growth of a CPM; whereas half-hearted believers may not contribute much to Kingdom multiplication.

YWAM leaders have identified these 6 obstacles as some of the main reasons we are not seeing more church planting movements started among unreached people groups. Could you, or your YWAM team, help overcome these obstacles? Could you host a training school that would help equip church planters? Could you direct funds to a team or project working among unreached people, provide pastoral care support or commit to pray for them? Could you help a church planting team with their communications or share some discipleship tools?

If you would like to know how you can get more involved in making Christ known in places where He has never been heard, email us at iy@ywam.org and we’ll connect you to experts in your field of interest.

by Tim Heathcote

Thirty-nine men, new disciples of Isa Al Masih (Jesus the Messiah) lined up along the banks of an African river waiting to be baptised. In the same region, sheiks and Imams and other community leaders have come to faith. Muslim-background believers are studying the Injil (New Testament) with friends in their local mosques. Violent men committed to the persecution of believers meet Isa in dreams and begin to follow Him.

Story after story from an African church planter who was teaching on a School of Frontier Mission (SOFM) in southern Europe inspired and encouraged YWAM students who are learning how to be effective at church planting in a cross-cultural environment. The teacher (who is not a YWAMer) has been church planting for ten years in North and West Africa – home to many of the world’s least-reached people groups.

“Our vision was to see 10,000 churches planted in a decade,” he said. “We had no strategy or specific methodology. After four years we had seen 220 churches planted. This was unheard of, but not what we wanted”. At this point in 2005, his network of church planters retreated to evaluate their success and to consider new ideas. Through outside coaching they were exposed to some key church planting principles. They revised their mission and vision, and returned afresh to the task.

In the following year, some 400 churches were started; the next year saw 900 planted, then 1400, and then 1600. Suddenly a dynamic church planting movement was spreading across their region of Africa, with four churches beginning every day.

It is clear that behind these incredible stories of multiplication lies God’s sovereignty. No one can humanly engineer such a church – planting movement. No one thing could guarantee success and many labour for years using the same techniques and see no fruit. However, there are several key principles that are being taught in YWAM FM training schools like this one that any YWAM initiative could apply in their efforts to see more people come to faith, especially among those who have no culture of Christianity. Here are some of them:

There is a strong emphasis on the need to make disciples rather than converts. The aim is not to convert people to a new set of religious practices. Conversion is about beliefs; discipleship is about obedience. Neither is it necessary to only disciple those who have already made a commitment of faith. Instead, spiritually hungry people are being discipled towards faith.

People are coming to faith through discovery-based Bible studies. In these studies, church planters facilitate more than teach. The emphasis is on seekers discovering for themselves what the Bible says, rather than simply being taught it. As they read, or hear stories read, and then discuss and question, they discover truth personally, learning to hear, respond and obey.

Followers are being taught obedience, not knowledge. As they study scripture, they are encouraged to apply what they’re learning. As people follow the little they know – even before they fully believe – more is revealed to them. The emphasis is not ‘what have you been taught?’ or even ‘what have you learned?’ but ‘what have you obeyed?’

Outreach is not an optional extra. In places seeing movements of churches planted, people growing in understanding of Jesus are encouraged to consider who else might appreciate learning these new things and to share their discoveries with them. Often participants begin leading Bible studies with their friends and relatives; this often happens before participants come to full faith. As they share, they reinforce what they are learning, and grow in their own walk.

Finally, prayer is playing a central part in all such movements. Often there is corporate, sustained prayer for many months before people begin sharing their faith in particular tribes or villages. For example, miracles and dreams are central to many Muslim people who are coming to faith in Jesus and much prayer is focused on seeking the Holy Spirit to move like this, supernaturally opening closed and resistant areas.

If our aim is for the whole world to have the opportunity to experience the life Jesus offers, we have to work out how to make disciples the way He did – What do you think of these principles? What principles are you finding helpful? Join the conversation at www.internationalywamer.org

Recommended Reading :

From Seed to Fruit (edited by Dudley Woodberry) and Where There Was No Church (edited by EJ Martin). Brand new editions of each explore the practices God is blessing today in places where He is raising up groups of Jesus followers among Muslims. Available at www.worldchristian.com

YWAM teams working among unreached people groups often can’t share the details of their names or locations because of restrictions on religious freedom but here are a few brief stories from church planting teams in remote locations…

From South Asia…”As we arrived the old part of the city, crowds filled the narrow lanes. We were sitting in our three wheeler rickshaws when the police stopped us and confiscated all 750 copies of the Jesus film we had and took us to the police headquarters to scan the DVDs and check for anti-national or anti-Islamic propaganda. After checking through the DVDs, the policeman turned to me and said, “This film is good only for my people. You must give all of these DVDs out and you have our permission and protection, now go!” That was a great commission!”

From the Middle East… “As Imran and his team prayed that God would give them clues to lead them to people He had prepared to hear the gospel, He gave them the name “Ahmed” and the impression that Ahmed had a sick son. They searched for “Ahmed” for some time, without success and found themselves near a police station, where Imran asked an officer for directions.  The officer was named Ahmed!

When asked if his son was sick, he said, “Yes; how did you know?” Imran responded, “God told us.” Ahmed expressed suspicion at the team’s knowledge. Imran offered to go home with him in order to talk more and to pray for his son, but Ahmed refused. So the team prayed there and gave Ahmed a contact number, and left. The next day, Ahmed phoned Imran and said, “My son was healed just after you prayed. Who told you about my son and me?” Then he told Imran that two years ago he had received a Bible. He said he didn’t understand it, but when he would open it, he felt electricity going through his body. He had been praying for two years that God would send someone to explain the Word to him.

From South East Asia…Over 1000 inhabitants live in an island village that practices Islam mixed with witchcraft. Two YWAM workers recently visited a family who have been open to hearing of Isa (Jesus), but were not yet followers, and on this day the grandmother, who had been blind for 3 years, decided to place her faith in Isa. Following this, the workers prayed for her sight to be restored, and instantly she began to say, “I can see you! I can see you!” For the first time, she could see her newest grandchildren. She was also physically strengthened and began to walk around, rejoicing with her family and neighbours.

Want more news from YWAM’s teams working among UPGs? Click here to subscribe to the YWAM Frontier Missions newsletter.

25 years have passed since God first challenged YWAM to embrace the Muslim world and commit to lovingly and respectfully sharing Jesus with them.

That small movement launched in the Middle East has grown to over 100 teams with more than 800 workers serving among Muslims across the globe, with thousands of stories of how God is revealing Himself to all people. Some of the stories that appear in this IY were first shared around the fire at a recent gathering of YWAMers working in Muslim communities that took place in India.

For a full report from this gathering, please email : muslimministries@ywam.org

Did you understand the title? The picture is a clue. Actually, most of the pictures in this issue include people from ethno-linguistic groups where less than 2% of the population has the kind of faith in Jesus that compels them to tell others about Him. That means they don’t have enough believers, or resources to effectively share the message of Christ with their community without outside assistance. We call these “unreached people groups” (UPGs) and they are the last people on earth to hear about Jesus.

This issue is about what it’s like to be the first Christians to work among the last people to be reached with the gospel. YWAM’s second value states that we are committed to make God known throughout the whole world. The Christian Magna Carta identifies the right to hear and understand the message of Jesus and have a Christian fellowship nearby as implicit in the gospel. Recent partnerships with movements such as Call2All have reaffirmed this focus of our efforts, and reaching the unreached is firmly on YWAM’s agenda.

In creating this issue, we found that YWAM teams don’t dream small, they dream big, and the dream God has given us for UPGs is not for one or two new believers, or even one or two new churches, in places where He is not known – but for movements (we like that word!) of churches in regions where there has been no church! A Church Planting Movement (CPM) is the rapid multiplication of indigenous churches that plant more churches throughout a people group or population segment. It’s what happened commonly in the Book of Acts, and it is still happening!

In our first article, you’ll find out what obstacles prevent CPMs from happening, and how you (yes, you!) can help overcome them. In the second article, we’re looking at principles that YWAMers are applying in order to see CPMs begin. We finish up with some inspirational stories from remote locations where people are hearing about Jesus for the first time. Imagine a community hearing about Jesus for the first time!

Imagine them never hearing.

Stories

• Overcoming the Obstacles to Freedom!
• Pursuing Abundant Fruit – Principles for the Multiplication of Believers
• Postcards from the Ends of the Earth…
• A Moment in YWAM – Fire!

Your feedback, ideas and offers of assistance are always welcome here

Find more YWAM stuff at our Facebook Page or visit our website: www.ywam.org or our staff page at: www.ywamlife.com

Thanks for reading the International YWAMer!

Tamara, for the IY team

It seemed appropriate, at the start of a new academic quarter when many YWAM centres start to fill up with students, speakers and guests, to produce an International YWAMer on the topic of Hospitality. I considered taking an extensive tour of YWAM bases for the purpose of evaluating their hospitality, but the budget didn’t allow it!

Is hospitality really valued in YWAM? Certainly, it seems that it is a part of our character, something that we are known for. But it’s not an area that we can be lazy about – each new generation has to be taught what it looks like to value hospitality and how to make it a part of your YWAM life. Hopefully this issue will be a reminder to consider how your team is doing in living out this YWAM value. (Here’s a hint : if you find that Rita’s tips in the article “Fit for a King” about caring for guest speakers are being left behind in conspicuous places by your visitors, you may have some work to do!)

September is also the time when YWAM’s global database is updated and posted to www.ywam.org and the new Go Manual is put together, making it possible for thousands of people every month to find the YWAM ministry they are looking for. If you neglected to update your details this year, send an email to the gracious and servant-hearted people at : survey@ywam.org .

We are pleased to be featuring video content on the International YWAMer web-site from www.ywamorganic.org to satisfy your desire for even more YWAM news. You can leave comments on the IY articles to tell us where you have experienced great YWAM hospitality!

Stories

• Entertaining Angels
• Hospitality – Fit for a King!
• The Adventure of Cross Cultural Hospitality!
• A Moment in YWAM

Your feedback, ideas and offers of assistance are always welcome here

Find more YWAM stuff at our Facebook Page or visit our website: www.ywam.org or our staff page at: www.ywamlife.com

Thanks for reading the International YWAMer!

Tamara, for the IY team

On a recent trip to London with the usual delays and missing passengers, the cabin crew exemplified the heart of hospitality. We received a warm welcome, there was attentive care in helping the elderly with their hand luggage and they created an environment with their open body language that communicated value to each individual. Though I purchased nothing from the drinks trolley, one of the crew gave me a glass with ice and lemon so that I could cool off my warm bottled water! (I know you are all wondering what airline this was!)

Of course the crew were being paid to offer such service but it felt genuine and despite the delay they created a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere. That crew fulfilled one of the definitions of hospitality which states, “Gladly received, as one whose coming gives pleasure”

Hospitality was once a central part of the Christian community and living as a Christian. Before inns, hotels and restaurants, travelers were dependent on the kindness and generosity of others who very often were strangers to them. Many biblical texts reflect this understanding. For instance, the wonderful account of Abraham and Sarah offering hospitality from their home to three strangers who turned out to be angels (Gen.18). This story must provide the background for the Christian instruction on hospitality from Hebrews 13: 1-2 :“Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it.”

Much of Jesus’ life and many of His significant conversations took place in homes informally sharing in food and drink. The purpose of meeting was not primarily to accomplish a task but to deepen the friendships growing closer together, sharing their lives and passion for God. No one did hospitality better than Jesus. And no one did more to bring equality between host and stranger than Jesus.

Some years ago I was travelling with a team to a gypsy village and we found ourselves as strangers, in need of a coffee. We were 7 foreigners in a tiny room and our host, a dear woman, sent her son out into the neighborhood to retrieve chairs, cups and extra water! We gratefully received her generous kindness and this enabled her to bless us with the little she had. Hospitality establishes an interdependent and reciprocal relationship that requires us, whether we are the host or guest, to view the stranger as a valuable child of God.

Jesus’ first miracle takes place while He is a guest at a wedding feast and He miraculously provides expensive wine from huge jars filled with water. Jesus can certainly never be accused of being stingy! His hospitality is extravagantly generous. Even though He possesses no home, He provides meals for over 5000 people in the country, uses an upper room in the city and cooks fish on a beach. He takes initiative and invites Himself to others homes where, as a guest, He underlines the heartbeat of hospitality: “You are of value and of inestimable worth not because of your status, class, race or education but because you have been created in the image of God.”

A couple of years ago our daughter brought a friend from college to our house in Spain for a holiday. He had never been on a plane or out of the country and his background was marked with incredible challenges and disappointments. She showed him his room upstairs and minutes later he came running down holding a welcome card in his hand. He asked me if I had written the card and put the basket by his bed. When I responded positively, he threw his arms around me with gratitude, being so touched by the thoughtfulness of a welcome card and gifts. He had no Christian background and over the days together, as we enjoyed meals and conversation, played games and swam together, he blurted out to my daughter “What is your Mum like?…is she like, Jesus?” (He caught me on a good week!) But haven’t we all been inhabited by the hospitable Christ? This young man was experiencing God’s unconditional love through our family. As Paul says in Romans 12, “…don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.”

For Christians, hospitality is not to be an occasional gesture but a whole way of being. It’s an overflow of God’s goodness to us that enables us to reach out and love others with His generosity. Opportunities for hospitality frequently come to us as ‘interruptions’ in our task orientated culture. The challenge of being hospitable is to be able to set self aside and make room for another by having the attitude of Christ. Paul reminds us of this in Philippians 2: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”

This is true servant leadership. In our communities, how are we cultivating the kind of welcoming spirit Jesus personifies? Do we have open hearts and open homes that provide places of calm and rest in the midst of the storms of life? Do we leave space in our diaries for the unexpected opportunities to extend a meal to a stranger or neighbor or a discouraged teammate? Celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and achievements together can deepen our friendships and cause genuine love to flourish.

One of the Desert Fathers used to say, “There are three things we honor: the fellowship of Holy Communion, the hospitality of meals, and the washing of one another’s feet.”

This autumn, let us creatively find a way we can put at least one of these honorable expressions into practice on a weekly basis and expect our communities to grow in their love for one another. Who knows we may even entertain angels!

Rite Mayers has been in YWAM for 34 years.  She is involved, alongside her husband Stephe with the Leadership Development Courses in Spain where together they “entertain angels”!

A few months ago half the world were glued to the television watching the British Royal wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton. I was at the Borgen base in Norway, teaching for a week on hospitality and the practice of honouring others. We baked scones, whipped cream, and gathered in front of the TV. Catherine’s brother did a very short scripture reading. To our surprise he read Romans 12:13 “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Wow! We all cheered! What a wonderful way for millions of people to hear this message!

The Value of Hospitality

We, as YWAM, were given this Royal command from the King of Kings at our beginning and it has become one of our foundational values. Hospitality might be last on the list of the values but it doesn’t mean it is the least important value. (Oh yes, I have heard few people honestly believed that.) Personally I believe that this value is like the golden thread that goes through our mission to touch every department, every campus. It connects us as a family nationally and internationally. It is the value that helps us to stay a community and not become an institution.

Most of us have traveled the world and have stories to tell about moments of incredible hospitality – and a few horror stories where hospitality was clearly not so valued. Christian hospitality reflects God’s heart. When it fails it is especially devastating. We can become so involved in taking care of things that we find no time to be a caretaker of people. Essential to hospitality is an open heart, which results in an open house. These two elements are potential in every YWAMer – if you are male or female, married or single, leader or no leader.

When we hear the word hospitality on a YWAM campus we automatically think of the Hospitality Department and it is kind of easy to point guests in that direction instead of getting involved ourselves. Another common misconception is that hospitality means napkin folding. Very often when I talk on the subject of hospitality I begin by giving everyone a napkin to fold and it never fail to bring a smile to my face when I see the men looking at each other and say, “I told you so.” But my point is that hospitality is not about that at all!

(Hospitality is not about napkin folding, but how cool would it be if you did this: Origami Resource Centre – Toilet Paper Origami Book – Ed.)

Hospitality really begins in our own homes, and for some ‘home’ can mean a dorm room shared by 2 or 3 others. The golden threads of kindness, respect and generosity should be part of our lives as a wider community. YWAM speaker, Dale Garrett, from New Zealand once said that hospitality is as powerful in releasing the Holy Spirit as praise and worship are. We create the atmosphere to release the Holy Spirit.

We are taking a risk by allowing strangers to stay with us, but we never know how we invest in their lives. I have heard many stories of people whose lives were dramatically impacted by an expression of sincere hospitality.

Glad to Get out of Here?

A particular part of hospitality in YWAM, which is strongly on my heart at present, is the way we treat our school speakers. No, we do not put them on a pedestal, but we do honour them for bringing God’s word to us. If we invite someone to speak at our campus, we accept responsibility to take good care of them while they are with us. This is where the heart of hospitality has to be expressed practically.

How can we honour and take good care of our speakers? Here are a few things I have learned will make all the difference:

1. Provide good communication before the speaker arrives. Share the school’s expectations clearly. Include a schedule so that they know when they have free time. Ask if they have special needs. Make sure they know who will meet them at the airport or where they should go.
2. If the school leader is not the one that meets the speaker at the airport, he or she needs to welcome the speaker soon after arrival.
3. Do the school leader and school staff know what the guestroom looks like? It is your responsibility to make sure your speaker is comfortable. If possible, it is well worth to invest in a good mattress and good pillows. Is it warm/cool enough? Another must is a good reading light – the older you get the more light you need to read! Check if the lights work.
   
   Other things to look at are: sufficient clothes hangers, enough towels, waste paper basket, and a mirror. An added bonus is supplies to make a hot drink and toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hand cream, shavers, toothbrush (a new one!) and toothpaste. If you really want to make sure what the room is like – stay in it for a night or two!
   
   Having internet available is a big plus, and my experience is that it is usually the first thing guests ask for.
4. This sound ridiculous, but I know of speakers who arrived at a YWAM base over a weekend and no meals were served and there was no food left in the fridge for them. Make sure this is taken care of.
5. Honour your speaker in the classroom by introducing and welcoming him or her in an appropriate manner. Do your homework to know a little bit of their background and to help the students know what they can expect. Don’t overdo it to embarrass the speaker, but don’t act like everyone knows who he or she is either. This applies even if the speaker is someone from your own campus.
6. Make sure there is water to drink – the speaker might even want a cup of coffee or tea while speaking. You can even be extravagant and put a few slices of fruit on the side for them to nibble on. Nuts are good idea too.
7. Honour your speaker by starting class on time and giving them the full time allocated to them.
8. Offer the speaker a drink at break time. Take it to them. Very often they get held up talking to someone and miss out on getting a drink or the treats.
9. Accompany them to mealtimes – even if they have been at your campus many times before. Make sure they don’t have to be the last one to get their food.
10. Offer to do their laundry – often the speaker is coming from another speaking engagement, or on their way to another campus or conference and it is a very helpful gesture to do that.
11. Offer to take the speaker into town, or do some sightseeing with them. Often they will not ask for it, but will be grateful when it is offered. Budget for it.

Let us, as YWAM be known for our generosity and give double honour to those who bring God’s word to us. Warm hospitality is a reflection of God’s heart! Our speakers should look forward to coming to us again.

Proverbs 11:24, 25 says: “ Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Rita Pretorius has been serving YWAM in the area of Hospitality for over 30 years. She is a popular speaker on the topic, and can even teach you how to fold napkins! You can contact her here.

“Cross cultural hospitality is an adventure!” my friend boldly commented.

Real memories of myself in the kitchen with dishtowels catching fire as I nervously tried to make the perfect cup of tea or unexpectedly falling over the tortoise that snuck in our front door, flashed through my mind. These are the kinds of incidents that add to the fun of trying to be hospitable in a different culture! The adventure calls for a heart always ready to accept and hands ready to serve.

One hectic morning, while home schooling my two girls, two traditional Muslim grandmothers knocked on the gate of our home in Central Asia. They wanted to come and pray in our home as a close relative of theirs had died there a few years ago. My husband and I invited them in and as I began putting the tea on and setting the table with the traditional nuts, fruit and cookies, I thought, "Well, they will probably stay for lunch too!" After politely pouring the tea in the traditional manner, I studied their sombre sad faces and I felt the Lord speak to my distracted heart: “I have a plan for them being here today, Karin,” I quickly repented, and set myself out to be a vessel of what God wanted to do. They left that day with smiles, a Bible and as they walked off I noticed a spring in their step.

I do not always feel like being hospitable. Making yet another cup of tea, coffee or plate of food, hoping that today will be the day our dear guest’s heart might be receptive to the message of the Gospel.  I have often had to change my expectations and perspective on what my hospitality should look like and be open to the fact that my guests might struggle with the way I would naturally do things. One time we had a family over for a meal while we were living in a remote location and after much effort I came up with pizza for supper. Our guest, unimpressed, looked at me over the low set table and said politely, "We do not eat cooked tomatoes”.

Love and Respect

In every culture the art of hospitality looks different but the heart of this wonderful gift comes from the same source: love and respect. Through trial and error and constant study of the culture I live in, hospitality has become easier. It seems overwhelming at times when I do not understand my guests, but the most important lesson I have learned is to be myself. If I give generously of what I have with love and joy, I will represent Jesus to my guests.

A Few Things I Have Learned

Living and working cross culturally can be very confusing and demanding but I have discovered that there are a few things I can do to help myself be more prepared.

• My neighbour will most likely not want to come for tea again if my home is regularly dirty and untidy.
• In many cultures, I have never received a “dry” cup of tea – there has always been something served with the drink.  At times in our home it has been nuts and raisins, a packet of cookies whipped out with a smile or a chocolate bar broken into a cute little bowl or something from the basket I keep up in the cupboard for hospitality emergencies.
• Trying to understand and express what good hospitality looks like in the culture I am in helps to create an atmosphere where my guest feels comfortable, accepted and able to be who they are in my home. Even if I don’t do everything perfectly, if they sense that I am seeking to build friendship with them, they graciously overlook my mistakes.
• I know that I will never be fully able to host someone from another culture in the way a native can naturally, but out of respect for my guest, I will serve them in the manner that I know will bless them. A dear guest might not remember my gourmet meal (sad but true) but I believe they will forever remember how our family made them feel.

In this great adventure, I believe there are very few wrongs and rights, but a willing heart and an open door have won many hearts towards Jesus. He is the one who uses hospitality as one of the most powerful instruments in ministering cross culturally. Through a cup of green tea, a glass of water, or a mug of coffee served with love, despite language barriers and cultural differences, many hearts have been touched, softened and won to Him.

Karin has been living the cross-cultural adventure in Central Asia since 1997.

Jolanda from the Netherlands drinking coffee (Bosanska kahva) with friends in a Muslim village in Bosnia.