by Journalism student Jynessa Hughes
Biblical Hospitality is the newest Bible elective taught by Ms. Jacque Olson. Even though it is in its first year, it is becoming one of the most popular Bible elective choices among many students.Â
Ms. Olson has been teaching at New Life Academy for ten years and has been a Bible teacher for five of those years. In 2022 Olson felt the calling to start an elective dedicated to teaching students the importance of hospitality according to biblical scripture. Ms. Olson proposed the idea of the class in 2022, but approval was postponed until this year.Â
In the spring of 2023, New Life’s Upper School principal Jed Moseman reached out to Ms. Olson wondering if she was still interested in teaching Biblical Hospitality. New Life had experienced a growth in enrollment. Moseman also hired two new Bible teachers and the department was able to add another elective.Â
Ms. Olson was originally inspired to start this class in 2022 when she started noticing the effect of the pandemic on students at New Life. Olson says, “Coming out of the pandemic, I started to wonder if this was something that would meet the needs of our current student body in the future.”Â
The Biblical Hospitality class is described as different from all of the other Bible classes offered at New Life Academy.
Course Description:
Biblical Hospitality focuses on practical ways to express care for one’s neighbor and stewardship of our resources and time. In a fast-paced world, hospitality is often left behind. The goal of this course is to help students define and identify what biblical hospitality can look like in their lives, to give them experience leading meaningful conversations, and to explore various expressions of hospitality. The course will primarily use Margaret Feinberg’s Taste and See as well as select chapters from Rosaria Butterfield’s The Gospel Comes with a Housekey and other select texts.
When asked about the specializations of the content in hospitality, Olson says, “The delivery is almost more like facilitating a conversation as opposed to telling students what to think. It’s kind of coaching them about how to think in these contexts.”
Ms. Olson wanted to make her Bible class special and different compared to other Bible classes offered at New Life.Â
I want to create a space for them to have sabbath and to see the value in being able to slow down and enjoy every moment that God gives you, even if it wasn’t the moment you were planning on having.
Ms. Olson