In preparation for a new writing project that my friend Lance Ford and I are working on, I have been doing some extra study on the topic of biblical hospitality. I use the adjective “biblical” to differentiate the concept of hospitality from the typical American understanding of “entertaining.” When properly understood, and lived out, biblical [...]
Archive for the ‘Hospitality’ Category
The “Casualness” of Hospitality
Posted: 16th December 2011 by Brad Brisco in Hospitality, Incarnational, MissionalDeb Hirsch at Sentralized Conference
Posted: 5th October 2011 by Brad Brisco in Books, Hospitality, MissionalOut of all the speakers that presented at the Sentralized Conference last week, Deb Hirsch’s talk on “Refocusing the Family” received the greatest amount of feedback. Deb asked why so many Christian households remain firmly shut to outsiders? Why is it that we find it so hard to open our homes? She stated that many [...]
Sentralized Missional Church Conference
Posted: 4th September 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Books, Church, Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Forge, Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Justice, Kingdom of God, Michael Frost, Missiology, Missional, Networks, Spiritual Formation, Theology, TrainingThere is less than four two weeks 2 days until the kick off of the Sentralized conference on September 29th. It will begin with a book release party on Thursday night featuring both Michael Frost’s new book, “The Road to Missional” and Hugh Halter’s “Sacrilege.” You can now take a look at the rest of the conference schedule, as well [...]
Biblical Hospitality
Posted: 15th August 2011 by Brad Brisco in Hospitality, Incarnational, MissionalWhen discussing the topic of hospitality from Romans 12:13, John Stott emphasizes that a better rendering of “practice” hospitality would be to use the word “pursue.” Christians were not to simply “practice” hospitality, but were instead to “seek out” or “look for” opportunities to welcome strangers into their homes and lives. To help make his point [...]
Sentralized Missional Conference
Posted: 14th May 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Church, Church Planting, Community Transformation, Forge, Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Justice, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Michael Frost, Missiology, Missional, Networks, TrainingI am very excited to share some details about a conference scheduled for this September here in Kansas City. I believe the Sentralized Conference is going to play a significant role in the ongoing missional conversation in the United States. There were at least two major reasons for organizing a conference like Sentralized. First, we [...]
Making Room for Biblical Hospitality
Posted: 28th February 2011 by Brad Brisco in Books, Hospitality, MissionalHospitality is not so much a task as it is a way of living our lives and sharing ourselves. Although it involves responsibility and faithful performance of duties, hospitality emerges from a grateful heart; it is first a response of love and gratitude for God’s love and welcome to us. Hospitality will not occur in any significant way in [...]
Right Here Right Now: Everyday Mission For Everyday People
Posted: 17th January 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Books, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Missional, Way of JesusI am often asked to recommend a book that does a good job of introducing the missional church conversation. While there are several great resources that deal with missional church issues, I sometimes struggle with recommending the precise book because the majority of books written in the past decade are directed either towards church leaders [...]
Henri Nouwen on Waiting
Posted: 14th December 2010 by Brad Brisco in Books, Hospitality, Missional, Spiritual FormationA waiting person is a patient person. The word “patience” means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go [...]
The Ministry of Presence
Posted: 2nd December 2010 by Brad Brisco in Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Missional, Spiritual FriendshipMore and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not [...]
Tim Keller & Urban Mission
Posted: 25th October 2010 by Brad Brisco in Church, Church Planting, Community Transformation, Ecclesiology, Hospitality, Incarnational, Justice, Missiology, Missional, Networks, VideoThis is an excellent video of Tim Keller from the Cape Town 2010 Lausanne Congress. Keller contends there are two major ways to reach cities with the gospel; planting/renewing contextual churches and city-wide gospel movements. He does a great job in just 18 minutes to unpack each. You can also download a copy of the [...]
Hospitality and Corporate Gatherings
Posted: 8th October 2010 by Brad Brisco in Books, Church, Hospitality, MissionalThis week I had a great conversation with my friend Rustin Smith, who is pastor of Vox Dei Community in Belton, Missouri. Rustin was sharing his concern for the need to give visitors to their Sunday morning gathering (which meets in a rented space) a warm welcome; including good outdoor signage, clear directions to meeting [...]
Simon Carey Holt & God Next Door
Posted: 12th July 2010 by Brad Brisco in Books, Culture, Hospitality, Missiology, Missional, Spiritual Formation, Video, Way of JesusThe videos below include two segments of a conversation between Alan Roxburgh and Simon Carey Holt. The videos are a companion resource to an excellent workbook written by Roxburgh titled “Moving Back into the Neighborhood.” The MBiN workbook can be downloaded here. As mentioned before, I initially thought the $30 price tag for a 77 [...]
Transitioning From Traditional to Missional
Posted: 20th May 2010 by Brad Brisco in Church, Community Transformation, Ecclesiology, Hospitality, Incarnational, Leadership, Missional, Scripture, Spiritual FormationOver the past few months I have had an increasing number of conversations with pastors and church leaders about moving existing churches in a missional direction. I have been asked what key issues or topics need to be considered when attempting to transition a traditional church. The following list is certainly not conclusive or comprehensive, [...]
Michael Frost on Missional Effectiveness
Posted: 3rd May 2010 by Brad Brisco in Church, Gospel, Hospitality, Michael Frost, Missional, VideoIn this latest video clip from Michael Frost he speaks to the self-preserving use of resources by the church in North America and how such use leads to an unbiblical separation from the “world.” In the clip Frost shares a great statement when he contends that, “Your missional effectiveness is directly proportional to your relational [...]

