Open Heart, Open Home: The Hospitable Way to Make Others Feel Welcome and Wanted [Paperback]

Karen Burton Mains (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998 | ISBN-10: 1578490367 | ISBN-13: 978-1578490363 | Edition: Revised

In Open Heart, Open Home Karen Mains steps far beyond how-to-entertain hints to explore the deeper concepts of Christian hospitality--the biblical way to use your home and an open heart to care for others. Countless pastors have recommended this classic resource as the meaningful example of how the Holy Spirit ministers to and through us to make others feel truly welcome and deeply wanted. Wherever you live, you'll appreciate the life-changing principles of this timeless book which has sold over 500,000 copies. You'll be freed from the burdensome aspects of cultural entertaining when you learn how to welcome others into your house as if they were Christ himself. Along the way, you will discover how to become a Christian lighthouse within your community. This newest edition contains 54 helpful ways to make hospitality work. It also covers the happiness and hazards of an open home in a growing family, explorations of hospitality in the business world, and soul-searching discoveries of God's hospitality to us all. Check out its brand new bible-study companion, Opening Our Hearts & Homes.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In this inhospitable world, a Christian home is a miracle to be shared. With over 400,000 copies sold, Open Heart, Open Home has become the definitive classic on Christian hospitality. Karen Mains steps far beyond women's how-to-entertain hints to explore the deeper biblical and theological foundation for using your home to care for others.

If you're looking for a spiritual boost, here is a life-changing guidebook that gives you:

--Release from feeling you must be the perfect host or hostess

--The sure cure to loneliness and isolation

--Help in making connections with others

--Encouragement to form a new view of ministry

--guidance for simple, natural evangelism

This new edition of Open Heart, Open Home will give you a peek into Karen's past and present life, including explorations of hospitality in the business world and soul-searching discoveries of God's hospitality to us all. You'll also find new "Opening the Door" activities to help you implement each chapter in your everyday situations.

Open Heart, Open Home is valuable reading for:

--Men and women

--Professional ministers and people in the pews

--Marrieds and singles

--The "social butterfly" or the home-bound

--Seasoned entertainers and hospitality klutzes

Countless pastors have recommended this most meaningful resource on the essential way the Holy Spirit ministers to and through us to make people feel welcome and wanted.

About the Author

Karen Mains is a prolific author and an articulate communicator whose national prizewinning books address deep spiritual issues. Most of her creative works have been birthed out of personal experience as a pastor's wife and her many active years in radio and television broadcasting with The Chapel of the Air Ministries.

Her travels through barrios and refugee camps in Central America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa resulted in her book The Fragile Curtain, which won the 1982 Christopher Award given to writers, producers, and directors whose works affirm the highest values of the human spirit and are representative of the best achievements in their fields. Since then, in the publishing of more than a dozen books, Karen has been the recipient of many other awards, including three Christian Booksellers' Gold Medallions. Open Heart, Open Home is her first and best-selling classic, which in its several printings has sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

Widely experienced in administrative leadership, Karen is now a member of the executive team of The Chapel Ministries, and her eight-year service on the board of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship culminated in being elected the first woman chairperson of that committee (1993-1995).

The Mainses have been married for 36 years and live in the western suburbs of Chicago. As the parents of four grown children, Karen and David are highly committed to Christian family values and are eagerly sharing their invaluable experience with the next generation, their growing clan of grandchildren.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Mainstay Church Resources; Revised edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578490367
• ISBN-13: 978-1578490363
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #928,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend this wonderful book on hospitality!, October 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Open Heart, Open Home: The Hospitable Way to Make Others Feel Welcome and Wanted (Paperback)

This is one of my favorite books. It is a WONDERFUL book on hospitality. A few years ago I ran a Ladies' Christian Book Club and tried to order copies of this book for it. I was very upset to be told it was no longer in print and none of my local Christian bookstores had any in stock. I found it "by accident" when I went to see Emilie Barnes and I was so thrilled to see that it is available again as a revised 1998 edition! I wish all women would read this book - it would make such a difference in the world!!! Please buy a copy and finish it in time for the upcoming holidays - I'm sure you'll be glad you did! (Oct. 25, 1998)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, explores the real reasons hospitality is a blessing, February 7, 2009

By 

Her Royal Motherliness "Nana" (Nampa Idaho) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Open Heart, Open Home: The Hospitable Way to Make Others Feel Welcome and Wanted (Paperback)

This book is amazing! I am not much into entertaining so when our ladies group decided on this book to study, i was not real excited. God really used this to give me a deeper understanding of the biblical principle of hospitality. Karen Mains writes with a transparency that is refreshing. It is more than a How TO book; it is a book that will deepen one's relationship with God.