Evangelism has always intimidated me. Perhaps it’s because the first thing that comes to mind when I think of evangelism is walking up to a stranger and launching into a gospel presentation. As someone who tends toward shyness and is easily embarrassed, the prospect makes me want to hide. 

So imagine my relief as I read Abigail Thompson’s award-winning article for our young adult essay contest. She describes “the evangelistic approach [her] generation needs most,” and it wasn’t what I expected. “Dear Christian,” Thompson wrote, “Gen Z desperately needs your hospitality.” Wait—hospitality as evangelism? I can do that. 

In fact, I realized I’d already done it many times. When my husband and I invited some friends over for dinner who had grown up in a different religious tradition and one of them asked, “So what’s the difference in how you relate to God and how we do?”—the conversation that followed over dessert was evangelism. 

But hospitality doesn’t merely create occasions for gospel conversations. As Thompson explains, “This is how we make the gospel real to the loneliest generation on earth…Practicing hospitality gives us beautiful opportunities to model Christ’s heart toward the lost and lonely.” So if you want to share the gospel, you don’t necessarily need to strike up a conversation with a stranger in the grocery store parking lot. You could start by inviting a lonely young person in the church parking lot for Sunday lunch.