Hospitality is strategic in our ministry to unbelievers, as well as our ministry to fellow believers. It’s a statement of belief in the value and dignity of every person that we welcome into our homes.

It’s there, right in the middle of the character qualifications of eldership:

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable…(1 Timothy 3:2)

He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. (Titus 1:7-8)

The word hospitable isn’t hard to understand. It means “to be disposed to treat guests and strangers with cordiality and generosity.” You can’t pastor if you’re reclusive. Pastoring involves people. Elders—pastors—are meant to open their home and their lives to others. We’re meant to let people in, to see how we live, to get to know people, and to allow them to get to know us.

But hospitality isn’t just the duty of elders. It’s the responsibility of every Christian (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9). And yet I don’t think I’ve ever heard or given a sermon on this topic—although, thankfully, there’s a book on it.

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