It’s hard to believe, but Lent will begin three weeks from tomorrow. That means the next few weeks are the perfect time to reflect on how your family’s hospitality and service—Level 5, the “crown” of your Trinity House—might bless others in that sacred season.  

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 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 should 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. 

To share the Gospel such that more and more people come to worship God and eventually 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 we must share the Gospel 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. Their faith does not hide from the world’s brokenness, but it instead offers 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 draw closer to Lent—a time of heightened prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—we encourage you to embrace this paradox of your Trinity House:

• In your own interior life of prayer, give more generously to the Lord: of your time, your attention, your acts of service. 
• As a family, look for opportunities to host and serve your neighbors and community together in Lent.  
• Give generously to ministries, worthy causes, and of course, your church.  

We are preparing ourselves and our families for a journey with Jesus into the desert, into a time focused on giving Him more of our hearts. As we approach this sacred Lenten season, may we also embrace the paradox of our homes, our Trinity Houses: that in giving, we receive.

This Heaven in Your Home Letter was based on a previous post. To see more ideas for renewing Hospitality & Service (Level 5 of your Trinity House), check out our posts here and the tools here.