Sanctuaries for Good News
Watch how welcome ripples.
Acts 16:13-15
On the Sabbath we went along the river outside the gates, thinking we might find a place of prayer. We sat down and preached to the women who had come to the gathering. One of them was named Lydia, a devout woman from the town of Thyatira who was in the purple-dye trade. As she listened to us, Christ opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. After she and her household were baptized, she extended us an invitation: “If you are convinced that I am a believer in Christ, please come and stay with us.” We accepted.
Lydia’s riverside prayer circle becomes the first church on European soil, not in a grand basilica but in a merchant’s living room. Her purple-cloth profits turn into kingdom capital as she opens her home to Paul and Silas—even after they emerge bruised from prison. Their instinct was to find the places others were already seeking wisdom, truth and connection. Hospitality here is resistance: a woman of means leveraging space, resources, and tenderness for the gospel’s wild advance.
Where are the thresholds you control—your calendar, kitchen table, inbox—waiting to become sanctuaries for good news?
Today, name one “room” (literal or digital) you steward. Invite someone into it with intentional encouragement—an email, a meal, a shared project. Watch how welcome ripples.
—Libby Tedder Hugus