Date of Award

3-6-2025

Document Type

Project Portfolio

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

David McDonald, DMin

Second Advisor

H. Colleen Butcher, DMin

Third Advisor

Leonard I. Sweet, PhD

Abstract

How can the church effectively disciple career-driven, community-involved, and weekend-traveling individuals? This question shaped the focus of my doctoral project, which explores Christian hospitality as an experiential and flexible approach to discipleship. Traditional, program-based models of discipleship often fail to engage busy individuals because they rely on attendance and intellectual learning rather than practices integrated into everyday life. In contrast, hospitality, modeled by Jesus and the early church, emerges as a transformative and scripturally-rooted method of discipleship that is flexible for busy people, practical in nature, and effective in fostering life transformation.

In my ministry context at Columbia Baptist Church, this project seeks to reframe hospitality as discipleship. Recognizing that even the busiest people must eat, hospitality provides a methodology that can be incorporated into the busiest of lives. Hospitality not only creates space for others but also invites the Spirit to transform both hosts and guests.

This project, the Hospitality Challenge, is designed to guide a church in practicing biblical hospitality. It includes a sermon series outline, sermons, discussion guides, weekly challenges, scripture reflections, and tools like a devotional and coasters to inspire and equip people to develop habits of hospitality. Each element emphasizes small, actionable steps, allowing participants to grow in practicing hospitality as discipleship.

Through prototyping and evaluation, participants demonstrated increased spiritual growth, engagement, and a renewed vision of hospitality as both a personal and communal act of faith. This project offers a replicable framework for churches seeking to disciple busy people in a way that integrates seamlessly into their lives. Ultimately, it reclaims hospitality as a transformative, accessible, and deeply Christian practice that reflects the heart of discipleship: inviting others into the presence and love of Christ.

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