L'Abri

Review of: L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer

I picked this book up because it was a suggested read on the subject of hospitality. However, the book actually is the biography of a ministry. Edith Schaffer tells the story of how the Lord formed L'Abri in Switzerland. This ministry still exists today, and now has grown far and beyond it’s humble beginnings. Though this is not a book written on the topic of hospitality, is certainly speaks to the subject in a powerful way.

Edith covers the period of time from when the Schaeffers first arrived in Switzerland up to the ministry of L'Abri becoming well established. Edith describes the journey of faith, obedience, and trust that the Lord led the family on as He shaped and formed a unique community where there were answers for questions of life, meaning, and God. This book describes what the L’Abri ministry started as, and how it grew and changed over the years.

L’Abri was able to provide answers to though questions about life and God, but also was able to serve and love the people asking those questions. Francis Shaeffer took guests on long walks in the Alps, while Edith prepared them meals. Guests stayed up till 2 A.M. in conversation with the family, and helped weed the garden the next day. The hospitality that the Schaeffers showed gave their words credibility. Guest showed up without reservation, were not expected to pay for their stay, and were treated as family. Edith’s hospitality clearly shaped and served the ministry of L’Abri. Simply by reading about the day to day and year to year life of the Schaeffers, Edith speaks volumes about being hospitable, being a servant, and welcoming the stranger in the name of Christ. The book also shows that the clear undergirding of the ministry was a wholehearted reliance on prayer. There simply would not have been a ministry but for the answered prayers that surrounded each step of the journey.

My one criticism is that Edith spends almost all her time on the blessing, the answered prayer, the sweet fruit of their labor, and leaves out the challenges. Edith alludes to the difficulties, but leaves out much of the details. For example, Andrew told me that Francis Schaeffer supposedly had a temper. Edith doesn't say a word about this. There is so much good to write about, and that’s what the book contains. I wanted to read about more of the hardship, the struggles, and the irritations. God uses broken people, and it is helpful to read about that process especially in such a unique and effective ministry.

This book is a testimony to the God who is there in the lives of the Shaeffers. It shows what true community, hospitality, and commitment to the God of the Word can produce in the world by God’s grace.

Review: Hospitality Commands

Review: The Hospitality Commands by Alexander Strauch

I’ll be honest, Andrew is the one who suggested getting this book. Being the MDiv student that he is, he was drawn to a book on hospitality that was based in the exegesis of scripture related to the subject. And praise God that he is my husband, because this book is incredibly valuable and helpful.

In a mere 59 pages, Strauch deals with the main passages of scripture that command hospitality, and even manages to give practical tips for putting hospitality into practice. Strauch sets up the need for his book by pointing out how Christians have become lax in the practice of hospitality. He then places it within the rich historical background of the early church and Christian family where sharing your home and resources with brothers and sisters was commonplace and integral in building up love and unity in the early church. He also describes how the home was the place that evangelism took place before the time of church buildings. He then addresses the passages of scripture that command (yep, it’s a command) the practice of hospitality. And, as if all this were not enough, he provides tips as to how to practice hospitality, that are terribly practical and approachable.

What was most helpful about this book was the understanding it gave to the context biblical hospitality. In the early church, the home was a place where the believer could display love to brothers and sisters in Christ. The main texts that command hospitality are within the context of showing love and unity within the body of Christ. The home was also a place where friends and strangers would see displayed in the day to day and ordinary lives of those who are becoming like Christ. The gospel is adorned with the obedience of compassion, and sacrifice displayed in opening the home to others. The unbelieving world saw the faith of early believers displayed in the way that they welcomed one another and strangers into their houses.

Strauch does not make hospitality out to be the chief of all Christian virtues, but rather holds up a virtue that has become lost. While not making too much of hospitality itself, Strauch shows how this practice will cast vivid light onto the love of God in the lives of His people. This book is an approachable, clear admonition to the church to take up again this mark of brotherhood and love.

Book Reviews

By the encouragement of my husband, I will now be posting book reviews for the books that I pick up in an effort to think about them well and discerningly. I hope you enjoy them!

Review: Practicing Hospitality

Review of: Practicing Hospitality by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock

I saw this book sitting out when I visited Mars Hill Albuquerque with my brother. I saw it and thought, “Great, a book on hospitality being promoted by these Acts 29 types.” And following that thought, I immediately formed some ideas about what the book would be like, in it’s theology, it’s practicality, and so on.


Ennis and Tatlock collaborated to provide, in one book, a biblical basis for hospitality, insight into various aspects of hospitality, and some very practical tips such as recipes and ideas for gatherings. It is organized in a topical manner, each chapter addressing “Hospitality and…”. Though not the systematic, expositional treatment of hospitality that I was hoping for when I first saw the book, there is some valuable and helpful content to be had.


This book addresses the Biblical mandate to be hospitable, and the manner in which our hospitality reflects the character of God. Chapter 2, Hospitality and Strangers, describes how our love for strangers displays the love of God in a very practical and tangible way. We are to pursue it as if we are chasing it down, not just tack it on to our lives. Ennis and Tatlock provide some much needed guidance for those who desire to be hospitable, in reminding readers not to neglect family in the midst of company, and including singles, widows, and the needy who are easily over looked. The book is full of examples, and even recipes to use, but these are paired with an emphasis on the attitudes and motives of biblical hospitality. It is both a “how to” and “how come” book. Scripture is cited through out the book, build up and fleshing out the material. This book is also the Type A personality’s dream in that it includes charts, tables, and the instructions for how to make a personal hospitality notebook. Each chapter concludes with questions to help the reader apply the information in the chapter.


There are two critiques of the book that I would offer. The first is that this book, which contains Biblical substance and wisdom, is not organized in a way that best displays what it has to offer. For example, the first chapter contains a “word collage” that also happens to be an acrostic, which also happens to contain another acrostic within the first acrostic. Triple woman cliché. For this reader, that’s the equivalent of having a bunch of flower shaped confetti come showering out of the pages. It might look nice, but it’s messy, and distracting. Second, while there is an emphasis explicitly placed on defining hospitality outside of dinner parties and good table decorations, this standard still lingers in the background. The examples provided, and even some of the content, hold up the slightly formal, aesthetic, image of hospitality. Being the wife of a grad school student, I would have appreciated some more “war time” hospitality examples.


I would recommend this book for someone who understands biblical hospitality and wants to read a book that will reinforce that idea and provoke thought as to how to make that happen.