Church on the Way

The practice of Christian hospitality reaches back to the early centuries of Christian life as well as deep into Jewish history, life, and Scripture. This practice is alive today in Christian churches and in parachurch organizations within the United States, but new contextual realities--in particular twenty-first-century global migration patterns--have altered the conditions under which hospitality is practiced. The reality of migration and its effect on human lives disrupts static conceptions of hospitality and challenges ecclesial communities toward contextual appropriation of hospitality practice.

This volume explores Christian hospitality practice in light of twenty-first-century U.S. Latino/a migration, and it develops the notion of a journeying hospitality of accompaniment with and among persons migrating, which fosters deeper relationships and formation. The shifting identities of persons ""on the move"" challenge assumptions about what it means to welcome another in hospitality and, ultimately, what it means to be church from within these new relationships. In turn, the new conceptions and expressions of hospitality offered in this book press how the nature and mission of the church will be oriented toward new ecclesial patterns and alternative forms of residing on earth.


""Nell Sweeden is one of the few theologians . . . bold enough to join minority and other voices of color to address issues related to immigration that will remain central for the next generation. Her constructive proposal for a hospitable ecclesiology is neither sentimental nor oblivious to the theoretical-theological and practical challenges on the horizon . . . Sweeden's book inspires the evangelical church to press forward in hope.""
--Amos Yong, Professor of Theology and Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary

""In this timely and compelling work, Sweeden sets forth an ecumenical Christian ecclesiology for the twenty-first century. Drawing on the theological riches of the Christian tradition, she convincingly demonstrates how that tradition might itself be developed further when read in the contexts of the borderland and human migration. The result is an exemplary work of practical theology which challenges the reader to think differently and--more importantly--live differently.""
--Roberto S. Goizueta, Margaret O'Brien Flatley Professor of Catholic Theology, Boston College

""Sweeden takes hospitality literature the next step to re-imagine hospitality practices for the twenty-first century. With much of the world's most vulnerable populations 'on the move,' she calls the church to its own mission of hospitality so as to become the church 'on the way.' This book breaks hospitality loose from its warm and fuzzy confines to reveal the risky and transforming practice it is.""
--Amy Oden, Professor of Early Church History and Spirituality, Saint Paul School of Theology @ Oklahoma City University

""Through critical analysis and constructive re-imagining, this book challenges Christians to deepen and expand our understandings and practices of hospitality. Sweeden offers engaging insights regarding the intersections of hospitality, ecclesiology, and migration.""
--Christine D. Pohl, Associate Provost and Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Asbury Theological Seminary


Nell Becker Sweeden (PhD Boston University) is Assistant Professor of Theology and Richard B. Parker Co-chair in Wesleyan Theology at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon.