Your Trinity House—your “domestic church,” “little church,” the home in which the Lord dwells with your family—is a great paradox. A strange calculus is at work in it. Surrounded by a toxic culture, we might think that our task as Christian parents is to bunker down, raise the ramparts, lock the doors, and distance ourselves from the world. 

And yet—while we must take reasonable measures to protect our families from the toxic culture—our homes, our Trinity Houses, are meant to be on mission. Called to love our neighbors and even welcome strangers, our homes are meant to be beacons of light. In fact, if we do Levels 1-4 right, in a way that makes God’s life overflow, we won’t be able to hide the light. So, in months when we have a 5th Tuesday, we turn our focus to the “crown” of a Trinity House: Hospitality & Service (Level 5).  

To share the Gospel such that more and more people come to worship God and live with Him in heaven is the ultimate task of the Christian. And if it stops with our children, we are surely giving them a faulty message. Because, in the case of the Gospel, we must share it in order to keep it and grow in it. If we’re not hosting, serving, evangelizing…then arguably, we are not living out our faith in its fullness; we are not taking up the Great Commission. Or as Jesus taught, “Give, and it will be given to you…For the measure you use will be measured back to you.” (Lk. 6:38)

A Barna Group study (Households of Faith) underscores the truth of this paradox: Children brought up in Christian homes that host frequently and serve the community together are more likely to hold on to their faith in adulthood. In addition to other key qualities, the “spiritually vibrant household” is one that “welcomes non-family guests regularly.”

The Barna findings make great sense because children in homes that host and serve have the priceless opportunity of seeing the faith take on relevance in the world outside their family and close friends. Their family’s faith does not hide from the world’s brokenness, but it instead offers and applies healing. It is a great satisfaction for children to see that what their family most values “works” to solve problems in the real world.

And so as we enter into Advent—a time of heightened prayer, penance, and charitable works—we encourage you to embrace this paradox of your Trinity House:

“Come, Lord Jesus.” Maranatha. As we journey to encounter the Christ Child with renewed and open hearts, may we also embrace the paradox of our homes, our Trinity Houses: that in giving, we receive.