Hospitality: The Convivial Mission of God
Americans have plenty of food and drink but have forgotten how to feast. Our poor love of God and neighbor is reflected in our aversion to the real-world cost, tedium, labor and inconveniences of being hospitable.
But, as the first host, God makes room for us, welcoming us, and inviting us into His life. Thus, wherever the church practices hospitality and festivity, the kingdom of God follows.
In this book, Mark Brians II and Drew A. Knowles Jr. call for a corporate return to the regular practice of biblical hospitality and festivity within the church. In an age of loneliness and isolation and food-porn, an age in which feasting and hospitality are largely absent from the human experience, we must be real-life, bread-breaking people.
What Others are Saying:
“When we live as the Father’s hospitality, we imitate the eternal Son, carry on His mission, and prove ourselves to be sons and daughters of a heavenly Father. When we live as the Father’s house of hospitality, we become the human image of the living God, whose very life is joyful welcome. This is the theology Drew Knowles and Mark Brians work out in this splendid book. As pastors, Drew and Mark aren’t mere theoreticians, but practitioners who have inspired their churches to embody the hospitality of God. Read this book, but don’t stop with reading. Study in order to do, so your church might become an earthly outpost of the Triune life of the welcoming God.”
Peter J. Leithart, President of Theopolis Institute in Birmingham, Alabama.
About Theopolis Explorations
The Theopolis Explorations Series builds on the four volumes of the Theopolis Fundamentals Series. Each Explorations volume brings the Theopolitan vision to bear on a particular biblical, liturgical, cultural, or missional topic. Theopolis Explorations are well-researched but not academic, elegantly but not popularly written, thorough but not exhaustive. The authors do not claim to speak the final word on the issues they examine, but aspire to offer a helpful word to strengthen and embolden the church as she carries on the mission of King Jesus in today’s world. For more information about Theopolis, visit our website, TheopolisInstitute.com.
About the Authors
Mark Brians II is the rector of All Saints Anglican Church in urban Honolulu, and a Theopolis Fellow. He lives in Liliha with his wife, six children, and a hive of honey bees.
Drew A. Knowles Jr. is a Theopolis Fellow and rector of Oak Forest Anglican Church (ACNA). He lives with his wife and four children in Houston, TX.