The new President of the Methodist Conference has challenged Methodists to make their Church into a place in which people are welcomed as they are.

The Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury has warned against growing workaholism, and has commended relaxation and hospitality instead.

Hospitality to strangers is a mandate in most non-Western societies and a virtue in most religious and civic traditions, says biblical scholar Deirdre Wood. It is a practice which challenges us spiritually, personally, socially and politically.