Hospitality and Doing Church in "The Overnighters"

The town of Williston, ND has experienced an influx of new people and new money in the last decade. The fracking industry has turned towns like Williston into boomtowns, while all over the United States people struggle to find work. The result? Migration.

Men from all over migrate to North Dakota in search of work, good wages, or a fresh start. Some have done time in prison and can’t get hired elsewhere; others have been sent out by their families to make a better life for the whole family.

But reality can never live up to the dream. The boom has created massive increases in the cost of living, and housing at any cost is in short supply. One pastor’s response to the need is the subject of the documentary, The Overnighters.

Jay Reinke, the pastor at the Lutheran church in Williston, sees the arrival of strangers in need as an opportunity to practice hospitality and grace. After one person needed a place for the night and stayed at the church, a new ministry began. The church welcomed people to sleep in the church itself or in their vehicles in the church parking lot while they searched for work and housing.

The pastor, who speaks eloquently for the need to help our fellow human beings and to resist the temptation to live in fear, makes some mistakes along the way, mistakes that you may have seen at any given church in any given situation. The program is never formally voted on or created—it just happens. So some people never buy in. He is also not entirely upfront with the elders about some issues because he is concerned that they will throw in the towel.

Most of the film, I sat there astounded at the way the good and the ugly of being part of a church family was so well represented here. I kept thinking “Everyone in every church should see this movie and be part of a discussion group about it.”

But there is a twist close to the end of the movie that could easily change the conversation. It left me dumbfounded that people would choose to have these particular conversations on camera. Still, if you like documentaries that make you think, and particularly if you are in a movie group, I would recommend this fascinating and sad portrait of our times.