5 Creative Ways to Offer Hospitality This Summer
Daylight comes early now. Hummingbirds suck down our sugary syrup before the slow drip of black coffee has even begun. Summer is the season of long, lush days that open wide with possibilities. It’s the season for picnics and bonfires – fireflies and s’mores. Summer is also the perfect season to offer hospitality.
How to Offer Hospitality This Summer
You might think of cookouts and sparklers when you think of summer hospitality. However, hospitality involves more than just opening our homes; it’s about opening our hearts. We can offer hospitality anywhere.
We weren’t made to do life alone. Every time you open your heart and life to someone else, you extend hospitality. This can happen in a coffee shop, grocery store checkout aisle, or office lunchroom. Hospitality is the gift of letting others see our true selves and creating spaces to share life’s ups and downs.
Summer Hospitality Ideas
Let’s look at five creative ways to offer this kind of hospitality this summer:
1. Offer Hospitality by Leading a Hike
I love hiking. I also love connecting with friends as we hike beneath the cool shade of summer’s deciduous canopy. We meet at the local walking path. We find seldom-hiked trails and head to the deep woods. Walking and talking is a healthy and enjoyable way to create space for connection. Beautifully, this activity requires virtually no preparation or clean-up.
2. Plan a Multi-family Campout
Our friends have been known to pitch tents together in a backyard. We enjoy the adventure of a camping trip next to the safety of home. If you feel more adventurous, find a family-friendly campground and hit the road. Plan a camping trip with a few families who love wild places. Friendships exist at different levels. Some of our closest friends are the ones who know what we look like after a night in a tent!
3. Offer Hospitality by Inviting Just One Family to Join You on a Day Trip
Does the idea of camping with your ten closest friends and their 45 children feel like too much? Plan a day trip with just one other family. Head to a local nature conservancy, state forest, or lake. Spend the day fishing, paddling, searching for frogs, or exploring a unique landform near you.
4. Offer to Help a Friend with a Project
Summer is often the season for household projects. Ask your friends if they want to swap hours and spend some time joining forces to complete summer projects. Stain the deck. Mulch the landscaping. Plant flowers. Paint the chicken coup. You’ll have a better time with good help and good conversation.
5. Offer Hospitality by Exploring the Wonders of a State Park or National Park
The State and National Parks systems offer countless opportunities for exploring in most states. Hop online to find the nearest State or National Park, and enjoy exploring a new location. Swim on the public beaches. Make the most of programs regularly offered by park staff. These parks are run by wildlife professionals who often offer guided tours and fun activities.
Above all else, remember this: Hospitality is the gift of welcoming others. Every time you create space where others feel accepted and included, you offer hospitality. For more ideas, join me at the following posts:
Six Outdoor Hospitality Ideas for Pandemic Times
15 Attitudes That Cultivate Biblical Hospitality
How to be Hospitable With Less Stress
Above all else, remember this: Hospitality is the gift of welcoming others. #hospitality #hospitalityideas #Biblicalhospitality Share on XCalling All Parents and Grandparents!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 7, 12, and 16, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or older relatives to read with the children and teens they love. I also recently released a teen devotional called Anchored, designed to help teens learn key biblical narratives and apply them to their lives. You can find these books here or read more below. 
Mother-Daughter Devotionals by a Mom and Daughter
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
Devotions for Boys by Boys
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength helps young boys, ages 5-13, learn what it means to trust God and become strong warriors for his kingdom. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to boldly carry God’s love into the world. I wrote this boys’ devotional book with our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven! You’ll enjoy their honesty as we teach boys how to be strong warriors for the Lord. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
These Books Are Free on Kindle Unlimited: God Wants to Heal, Restore, and Refresh You
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. He also wants to help you establish a rhythm of meeting with him daily as you trust him with the hard parts of your life. Click here to explore two books that will guide you: Be Still and Trust and Lean Into Grace. They are free on the Kindle Unlimited program and for sale in print.
Download Your Free Devotional Here
Set Free: Let God Do What You Cannot explores ten realms in which most of us need God to work in our lives and bring deliverance. We’ll talk about finding freedom from fear, worry, insecurity, bad habits, emotional pain, and more. This short online devotional will bless you as you let God accomplish what you’ve been unable to achieve through willpower. Get your download for free with promo code GRACE or for a donation of 3.99 here. Thank you. This small gift helps keep this ministry running.
I also offer a library of free online devotional eBooks for free. I invite you to explore the collection right here!
A Free Toolkit to Help You Offer Hospitality:
Are you ready to take the leap and offer the gift of hospitality to others? Hospitality Without Perfection: Your Complete Guide is my free guide to inspire and equip you. This kit includes dozens of easy ways to extend hospitality, games, activities, recipes, conversation starters, and more. Click here to receive your toolkit. 
