Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Summary: Butterfield presents the idea of radical ordinary hospitality which is an oxymoronic play on words that presents the entire life of the believer as a tool in the hands of God that He uses to further His kingdom. This includes our homes, our energy, our time, our money, everything. She develops this idea through stories of her own experience including her difficult neighbor and the adoption of her children.

Radical ordinary hospitality draws strangers into friendship and friends into show more saving faith in Jesus Christ which inevitably brings them into the church. This is a pattern found in the ministry of Jesus Himself. This process starts with a transparently open and welcoming life. It recognizes that this hospitality is one part of a complete devotion to the call of God in our lives. It is both necessary and good for us and for others. Fundamentally, radical ordinary hospitality gives life, both to those who receive and those who give.

Butterfield shares her own story of transformation from finding identity in lesbianism to finding identity in Christ. From this experience, she offers counsel as to how to relate to those who are unbridgeably separated from Christ. She suggests a blend of respect, love, acceptance, and hopefulness which is the heart behind radical ordinary hospitality. Jesus loved not as a form of approval or to allow people to continue in their sins but to be close enough to transform them.

Table fellowship also offers a necessary call to be open to repentance. Sin is an inevitable part of the believer's life. Some will not repent. The solution there is church discipline which has impact upon hospitality and fellowship. That discipline is meant to call the believer back to fellowship through repentance and to warn others to aware of their own sins.

Though hospitality is a powerful call to the gospel, it works on God's terms. Not everyone will believe. Old wounds can be hard to heal. Some will resist even unto the end. Yet God in grace has ordained that for some, radical hospitality will be the way that they are ushered to saving faith. Everyone has some opening that hospitality can enter.

Radical hospitality is not for the well; it is for the sinful and hurting. To practice generosity as God intended will certainly lead to hard and messy places without easy answers and filled with hard nights.

Pros: I am not sure I have ever encountered this idea of hospitality so powerfully and coherently tied to the committed Christian life. It is stirring and challenging. Everything gets tied to the clear proclamation of the gospel. The priorities are well-defined and Biblical.

Cons: The book was written in 2018, and in places, it shows. The feelings of goodwill that she advocates towards those who identities are found in sex seem different in light of transgenderism and its now obvious assault on children. At times, she binds the conscience on matters that are definitely beyond Scriptural authority.

Evaluation: This book is a plea/instruction/biography. The stories are not illustrations; they are the lesson. I think this is essentially a call to apologetics through hospitality and love. By committing to radical hospitality as God expects, we provide the answers that our communities need. Radically Christian homes will love sin-damaged people to Christ. They will then feed those people into churches where they will continue to receive love and where they will grow. Then they too will become a radically Christian home. This is a powerful book that, while I certainly disagree with parts, I profited from.

Quote: Faith is resting in assurance on a promise of God that has yet to be materialized. show less

I never thought I’d enjoy reading a book about hospitality, but here I am after finishing this book, and I found it quite enjoyable! It was also quite challenging—I came away from this book saying, “Ouch! That might be hard to put into practice!” But the thing is…what Christ calls us to do is hard at times, but it’s in pushing through that and surrendering to His plan that we can touch others.

I loved Rosaria’s approach to hospitality, as far as the food side of things is show more concerned. If I were her family, I might get tired of the same meals over and over, but I love that she doesn’t over-complicate things when it comes to serving guests. That’s a much-needed message, in my opinion, and one I intend to take to heart!

If you desire to grow in reaching out to others, or just want to grow in being more hospitable, I’d highly recommend you check out this book. It was a good read, and now, several months after finishing it, I’m still mulling over the lessons I learned in its pages. show less

I especially enjoyed the first three chapters of this book, and bits and pieces of the final two chapters. Her writing is excellent, skillful, honest, and inspiring.

For me some of the focus in the final two chapters was too much on her denomination’s beliefs and some other things related to adopting, fostering, and homeschooling children. I would’ve loved to hear a bit more of the personal things with her family rather than more informational things in these chapters.

Aside from some show more nuggets I underlined here and there in those latter chapters, I wasn’t a fan of this because—though it was informative and would be helpful if I wanted to study these subjects—I wanted to read a memoir, not information about her denomination, marriage theology, etc.

TL,DR; I really enjoyed the first three chapters and was even moved to tears a few times and I’m glad to have finally gotten to read this book, but the final two chapters were disappointing. show less

Rosaria's book is one of those stories that at first glance, seems impossibly exhausting. How could someone open their home to dozens of people each week, prepare food and worship together, and love seemingly unlovable people by giving away everything they have(including cars!)

The answer? It is impossibly exhausting, and Butterfield makes no qualms about the difficulties of true hospitality. But the payoff for such a life is the overwhelming joy that results; one that is rooted in the love show more that Christ has for us and what he has called us to live to all.

The challenge of such a book begs for a response for the reader; one that could possibly transform the way that you think about the space of your dinner table, strenuous family relationships(the chapter on her mother left me in tears), and the methhead next door. Reader beware. show less