The Iona House Hospitality Model

Iona House operates by faith

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there, like, a wealthy donor that has endowed iOna house or something? How are you able to operate?

No. Better yet, we are supported by a broad, growing community of generous givers who believe in the vision and mission of Iona House enough to put “skin in the game” and become partners in this ministry. The community is diverse: different church backgrounds, different life stages, different cultural backgrounds, etc. A few folks likely have significant financial means, but most do not (i.e. people in ministry, students, those living on a fixed income, as well as those working several jobs to make ends meet). We have people give from all parts of the country and even some international folks who joyfully contribute. Truly, the whole vision of Iona House works only if a Holy Spirit-led community of generosity sustains it. We’ve grown confident in this way of operating because we’ve already seen it at work.

What does sustainability look like?

We would like, graciously, to question the question. Sustainability often assumes the goal of autonomy or self-sufficiency. It is certainly possible to operate Iona House toward this goal, but that is not a particularly inspiring vision to us; nor does it accomplish what we are after with “reimagining all of life in reference to Christ”. We are not looking to operate as yet another cog in the broader market economy, relying on a fee-for-service model and carving out our market niche. To be clear, we’re not opposed to businesses operating as businesses. It’s just that we’re not interested in being a business. Instead, we want to build a gospel-shaped movement of generosity, where people are woven together into a connected, joyful community of gift giving that necessitates trust and vulnerability. This is vital to our mission. Truthfully, this will be hard for some to grasp. It will feel backwards or naive. One of the most difficult parts of life to reimagine is economics, provision, and security. Yet, this is precisely what the Holy Spirit set about doing in the stories we read about in the early pages of Acts. And contrary to what some believe, it didn’t end in that era. There is an abundance of evidence that Christians throughout the past two millennia in many places and at various times have lived into a model of vulnerable, dependent, relational generosity that didn’t operate according to assumptions of scarcity and self-provision that most often shape our economic imagination. Anyway, all of this to say that we’re not striving for sustainability. We ARE, however, very much committed to living into responsible, wisdom-guided, and fully accountable ways of operating our finances. This is foundational to the trust necessary to operate a community dependent on generosity.

What happens if Iona House runs out of money?

We don’t know and we hope not to find out. Truthfully, the first thing to probably be impacted would be staff salaries, which means we as co-founders probably bear the greatest risks. We’re gripped enough by the vision of generosity and its vital centrality to Iona House that we’re willing to hold that risk. It should be clear to everyone: this is truly a faith-based organization. If the Lord doesn’t sustain us, we have no clever back-up plan.