Opening My Doors
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
This month in focusing on All Nations’s core value “we are servant leaders”, I thought I would share how I have tried to live this out by opening up my home. Previously, I opened my home only to really good friends, always allowing enough time to make a fantastic meal. It felt like such an ordeal. I would only host every few months, claiming that was how often I had the grace to host. I was very protective of my things and it was always under my terms. In the last two months these old rules changed. In that time, about 10 people have come to my place, some for a few minutes, others to spend the night. I have opened the door to close friends, long lost friends, people I disciple, and also to strangers.
In early March, the Pioneer Business Planting team: Elise*, Jonathan, George, Gibson and I had the opportunity to pray and prophesy to one another. Jonathan spoke about me being like Lydia in Acts 16:15. (Lydia, after being baptized, asked Paul to come to her house and stay.) I had shared with a few people that once the Lord gives me a big house I would invite people over. However, I stepped out in faith, determined to open my home though it is small, knowing that if I am faithful now, even then I will be faithful. What an opportunity it has been!
Opening my home has changed my attitude. I’m no longer embarrassed by the smallness of the space or undesirable neighborhood. As people have chosen to come for a visit or spend the night, my house has become a rescue home, a retreat place, an office and a place to hang out and have amazing conversations. I have made wonderful meals for some and offered others only a glass of water. Some visitors just needed conversation.
My journey reminds me of Martha. When we meet her for the first time she is serving, but is distracted. Luke 10:38-42 “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” When we see her after this, it simply says in John 12:2, Martha served: “So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.”
Like Martha, I am learning that that the resources I have are not mine, and that being a servant leader looks different in different circumstances. For me, being a servant leader in this season has meant being generous with my time and resources, occasionally going the extra mile and sometimes simply opening my home to others.
About the Author: Ruth is passionate about helping facilitate healing for people lost in addiction. Through discipleship and counseling, she has seen many individuals in Kenya and elsewhere in the world find freedom in Christ. She is an All Nations field worker based in Nairobi, Kenya under the Kampala hub. Ruth’s testament of Jesus’s victory in her own journey of healing from addiction can be viewed and purchased at https://amzn.to/2YF9ci0.
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Lessons from the Least, the Last, and the Lost, All Nations Weekly Devotion by Blake Staton, M.Div.
All Nations Pocket Guide to Church Planting by Dr. Pam Arlund (in many languages)
All Nations Storytelling Resource
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