The Gospel Comes With a House Key

What did God use to draw a radical, committed unbeliever to himself? Did God take her to an evangelistic rally? Or, since she had her doctorate in literature, did he use something in print? No, God used an invitation to dinner in a modest home, from a humble couple who lived out the gospel daily, simply, and authentically.

With this story of her conversion as a backdrop, Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use this same “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors. Such hospitality sees our homes as not our own, but as God’s tools for the furtherance of his kingdom as we welcome those who look, think, believe, and act differently from us into our everyday, sometimes messy lives—helping them see what true Christian faith really looks like.

Title

The Gospel Comes With a House Key
Author(s)

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
ISBN

9781433557866
Publisher

Crossway
Topic

Hospitality, Evangelism
Audience

Adults
Pages

240
Published

04/01/2018

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Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a former tenured professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University, converted to Christ in 1999 in what she describes as a train wreck. Her memoir The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert chronicles that difficult journey. Rosaria is married to Kent, a Reformed Presbyterian pastor in North Carolina, and is a homeschool mother, author, and speaker.

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Overall rating

5.0 based on 1 review

Challenged and excited me about hospitality

The driving principle of this book is Butterfield’s biblical conviction that as you love your neighbours, and share your life with them, they may well become part of the family of God. In her articulate and unique style, Butterfield holds no punches as she outlines how if we accept the gospel, we should be prepared to practise ‘radically ordinary hospitality’. Throughout the explanations and persuasions she has threaded autobiographical illustrations. As with her previous two books, the springboard of it all is how the God of the Bible has been at work in and through her in remarkable ways. I was struck by the deliberate and devoted way in which Butterfield and her family go about this radical hospitality, and loved the encouraging stories of fruitful results for the Lord’s glory. It really challenged me regarding my own relationships – or lack of –with my neighbours. I love the truth that God works through the mostordinary things of family life, whether it be eating together or walking a dog, for His glory and loves to welcome people into His family. As I began reading the book, I found myself slightly in awe of the life the Butterfields are leading. That kind of awe that made me think I couldn’t possibly do what they are doing. But as I read on, I was relieved to hear her encouragements in the practical out–workings of all this and it began to feel a little more do–able, even just in a few small ways to begin with. As with her previous two books, I found it a little frustrating that Butterfield champions her denominational ways of going about gospel living. I think this book is less dominated by the Presbyterian quirks than others, although it does rear it’s head every now and then. Butterfield’s autobiography is inescapable in all her writing, and that’s true of this book as well. I think her insightful and challenging comments regarding how Christians relate to the gay community were helpful as well as reminding us of the remarkable way in which God worked in her through others offering her radical, loving hospitality. I found this book compelling and I was challenged in so many ways to open up my home and share life, and so share the gospel with people.

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