The One at the Door Might Be the Lord
This Sunday, Blessed Ministry Community Church (BMCC) welcomed a number of new friends. Ken Hui — known affectionately as Ken Ken — has quietly carried the work of welcoming newcomers in this community for many years. In a sharing titled “Welcoming Strangers Is Meeting Christ at the Door,” he led the congregation to ask: when a stranger walks into our lives, do we truly see them? Ken Ken’s words were simple and earnest, drawing from Scripture an invitation: go out, open yourself, because the one standing at the door might just be the Lord.
The Hebrew Meaning of “Hospitality”
The sharing was anchored in Hebrews 13:1–3: “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.” (NRSV)
Ken Ken began by unpacking the Hebrew root of the word for “hospitality.” It is not the love between family members, but a love extended to those one does not know — love for the stranger, for the person whose identity you do not yet understand. He observed that in real life, we tend to first assess whether someone is “worth it” or “too much trouble” before deciding whether to help. But the biblical call is different: open the door before you even know who is on the other side.
Abraham’s Example — Unconditional Welcome
Ken Ken then walked the congregation through the story of Abraham welcoming three strangers in Genesis 18. At noon on a sweltering day, Abraham looked up from the entrance of his tent and saw three men approaching from a distance. The Bible records no questions about their names, origins, or background. Abraham simply ran to them, invited them to stay, brought water for their feet, and prepared a meal. Everything he had, he offered.
“You will never know who is really standing there,” Ken Ken said. Abraham modeled a hospitality that asked no questions and expected nothing in return. Those three strangers turned out to be divine messengers. The story reminds us: every person who steps through the door might be the Lord arriving.
Leviticus and the Empathy of Memory
The sharing then turned to Leviticus 19: “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Ken Ken drew out two layers of meaning: first, the stranger is not second-class, not a permanent outsider, but “one of us” — someone to be loved as we love ourselves; second, the reason we can welcome others is that we ourselves were once strangers, once dependent on the grace of others to survive. For many in BMCC’s congregation, this rings especially true — many found their way here precisely because they had been turned away, labelled, or marginalised by other faith communities. It is because we have tasted rejection that we truly understand what real welcome looks like.
Jesus’ Hospitality — Seek Those Who Cannot Repay You
Ken Ken moved to the New Testament, looking at how Jesus himself defined hospitality. He cited Luke 14:12–14: “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.”
Jesus exposed the “social transaction” logic hidden in so many of our interactions — we invite people because we expect something back. True hospitality, Jesus says, is welcoming those who have nothing to give you in return. Only then is love genuinely without conditions.
Even more striking is the parable in Matthew 25:34–40: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me… Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Jesus equates welcoming the stranger — especially the most overlooked and forgotten — with welcoming the Lord himself.
Ken Ken also drew on examples from Acts and beyond: Barnabas welcomed Saul when everyone else was afraid and refused to believe in his conversion, taking him to the apostles and vouching for him. David welcomed Mephibosheth — Jonathan’s only surviving descendant, disabled and living forgotten in a remote place — inviting him to eat at the king’s table and restoring his dignity. And in 1 Kings 19, when Elijah was utterly exhausted and wanted to die, God did not scold him or rush him back to work; instead, God let him sleep, twice provided food, and in the sound of a gentle whisper spoke with him deeply, accompanying him through his most vulnerable moment.
BMCC’s Calling — Go Out
Ken Ken reflected on BMCC’s particular calling as Asia’s earliest LGBTQ-welcoming church. Many in this community carry wounds: some were expelled from their home churches; others have been labelled and excluded by the broader society. When we welcome a stranger, we are not merely performing a good deed — we are continuing the original mission on which this church was founded: to let every person know that there is a place here for them.
He cited research suggesting that among LGBTQ people with religious faith, close to half have left their faith communities because of negative treatment from those communities. “We cannot simply stand at the door and wait,” Ken Ken said. “We need to go out and find them.”
Luke 15 gives us the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one lost sheep. John 1:14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us” — God himself is the ultimate model of hospitality. He did not wait for us to climb up to heaven; he came down and dwelt among us. This is incarnational theology: to go out is to truly be present.
Five Practical Steps
To close, Ken Ken offered five concrete steps: First, remember the names of new friends — the moment you call someone by name, they are no longer a stranger. Second, notice those who may have difficulty getting around or who need help; walk over, sit down, and simply ask, “How are you doing today?” Third, resist the urge to fix people or offer immediate solutions or spiritual explanations — just be present, be alongside them. Fourth, remember that you yourself were once a stranger, once the person who needed to be welcomed. Fifth, go out proactively: invite those who have been hurt by the church and who no longer feel they belong — a single message, a shared meal, a visit — to let them know they are remembered.
Hebrews says to remember those in chains “as though you yourselves were in chains.” Ken Ken explained that this is not mere sympathy — saying “how terrible for you” — but genuine empathy: stepping into another person’s situation, letting their pain become your pain. That is what the Bible means by hospitality.
There Are Still People Waiting Outside
“That door is open for everyone. And outside, there are still people waiting.” These were Ken Ken’s final words. For every person at BMCC, this is not merely a call to action — it is an affirmation of identity: we were once strangers; we were welcomed; and so we go and welcome others.
Blessed Ministry Community Church is a home that welcomes everyone, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, faith background, or personal story. If you have been turned away by a church before, or if you are simply looking for a place to breathe, we invite you to come in. The door is open.
