The Mennonite Worker has been getting a lot more requests for housing lately. Unfortunately, we’ve had to turn many away. Our existing housing is over-capacity and our
fundraising campaign for a new house
is behind schedule.
Throughout Christian history, hospitality—welcoming the stranger—has been a central practice of the Church—and it still is in much of the world. In modern America, Christians have largely outsourced a practice that should still inform our way of life together.
In the midst of the Great Depression, Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, urged faithful households to recover the lost practice of hospitality by maintaining “Christ rooms” where those in need may come, find rest, and be refreshed.
We live in a time of deep inhospitality and economic uncertainty. Hundreds of children, women, and men in the Twin Cities need housing in a safe and loving environment. Shelters are rarely loving and seldom safe. Therefore, we are urging Christians to remember the practice of hospitality. A weakened economy, continued job losses, and falling home values continue to push an increasing number of families out onto the streets. People who have never experienced homelessness are ending up at shelters and are finding themselves lost in a confusing network of agencies and organizations as they struggle to get back on their feet.
So what are we, the Church, to do about it? Our first of many responses should be to practice hospitality–to welcome those who have recently lost their homes into our homes until they are able to gain access to the support and services they need to be back on their feet. This is our opportunity for us to be show Christ to the world.
The Christ Rooms Project —a ministry of the Mennonite Worker—exists to foster and support a network of hospitality rooms throughout the Twin Cities for those who are facing homeless through eviction, foreclosure, or economic hardship.
Towards that end:
- The Mennonite Worker will provide hospitality training to congregations and families. If you’d like to host a workshop on Christian hospitality, contact us .
- We will build a network of Christ Rooms throughout the Twin Cities. If you have a spare room you’d like to make available to someone in need of housing, contact us .
- We will offer ongoing support to those offering Christ Rooms.
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“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” Matthew 25:35
“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
Romans 12:13
“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
Hebrews 13:1-2
