Author Rosaria Butterfield provides definition of Christian hospitality during COVID-19

As locations around the United States are gradually reopening their doors and starting to get back to a normal life after COVID-19 quarantining, author Rosaria Butterfield provided advice on how Christians can share hospitality and the Gospel with their neighbors during Liberty University’s Convocation, streamed online Wednesday morning.

Senior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser opened the session by emphasizing the value in spending time in the presence of one another and the opportunity that Christians will soon have to minister to their reappearing communities.

“People miss being with people; we’re made for community and, in due time, once we begin to do so, we’ll get to gather together,” Nasser said. “This moment will be a great opportunity for us in the Church to invite people to our community groups and home groups like never before. Hospitality is an extension of kindness; it’s also a divine expectation and not a suggestion.”

Butterfield began the conversation by noting that the current time the world is in has the potential to spark revival in households and countries, and she encouraged those watching the event to not let this time go to waste.

“This is an opportunity to pour into your children what it means to be a Christian in days where we know we need to fear God, not men,” Butterfield said. “Your work in front of you, whether you’re 2 or 92, is to share the Gospel with your neighbors who don’t yet know the Lord.”

She explained that our neighbors need to become aware of God’s power and love beyond the immediate fears and confusion brought about by the pandemic and that Christians have the responsibility to help them find it.

“We’re seeing a lot of concerned and frightened neighbors who need to know that there is a sovereign God who is not surprised by this,” she said. “There has not been a revival in the history of the world that was not martialed in with the sincere heartfelt repentance of both our private sins and our nation’s sins. Our neighbors need to know that we have a God who cares and that as Christians we’re here to share our food, resources, prayers, and the Gospel message.”

Along with many other people around the world, Butterfield and her more active and able neighbors have been buying groceries for those who are elderly and immune-compromised, and with this act of service comes an outreach opportunity.

“Christians need to remember that people don’t just need toilet paper and whole chickens, they need Jesus,” Butterfield said.

Every Christian household needs to be a place that attracts those who are in need, Butterfield said, and believers need to be prepared to welcome these guests regardless of what their politics or lifestyle might be at the time.

“Another (encouragement) is to treat all human beings as image bearers of the holy God and not get tripped up in the identity politics that (some people) want you to believe,” she said. “Community is not found in LGBTQ rights, dignity is found in what it means to reflect Jesus Christ in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.”

This led to Butterfield reflecting on her own experience as the non-believer on the other side of the dinner table. As a former gay rights activist and English professor at Syracuse University, all while living a lesbian lifestyle, Butterfield began working on a book about the Religious Right. Around that time, she was contacted by a pastor named Ken Smith who had read some of her writing and wanted to provide a friendly and intelligent Christian voice in her life. Smith and his wife invited Butterfield to have dinner with them, and this relationship encouraged her to read the Bible and eventually turn to God.

“They had me in their home, they treated me like their daughter … we talked as friends, they accepted me but didn’t approve of (my lifestyle),” she said. “They treated me with respect. They asked people to pray for me but they didn’t exploit me or act as if I was a project. I started reading the Bible for research, but then at a certain point it was no longer research.”

In closing, Butterfield cited Matthew 25:35-40, in which Jesus says that serving those in need is the same as serving Him, as Scripture that is particularly relevant to Christians at this time.