Does your congregation have a hospitality team?
Question:
I am seeking to better understand whether certain practices are becoming more common among congregations of the Lord’s church.
Would you please reply to the following question:
Does your congregation currently have an organized ‘Hospitality Team’ (or similar group) that is tasked by the church with planning, coordinating, promoting social and/or entertainment activities?”
If not, are you aware of other churches that do?
Thank you for your response.
Answer:
There is a strong tendency for people to push their responsibilities onto an organization. People feel they are doing something, even though they are paying the institution to do it for them.
Hospitality is a command to Christians. "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2). There is no command to a church (an institution created by God) to do this on behalf of its members.
The congregation here has many social activities, organized by various members, even though we are a small group. We invite our brothers and sisters, but it is not done as a work of the church.
Question:
Brother Hamilton,
Thank you for your response. What I am seeing is elders creating a Hospitality Team and then assigning oversight of that team to a deacon. They then define Hospitality as “entertainment” - based on the translation in Hebrews 13:2. The team then organizes, coordinates, and promotes entertainment events for the members. No church treasury funds are directly used. I personally do not see that as a distinction. Most of the arguments supporting it are a rehash of the institutional arguments of the 50s and 60s. (Blurring individual/church and “good works.)
Here is the progression of the logic being used:
- The church is authorized to stimulate good works.
- Hospitality is a commanded good work.
- Hospitality is defined as “entertaining.”
- Therefore: hospitality = entertaining
- Therefore, entertaining is a commanded good work.
- Therefore, the church may establish a team to organize, coordinate, and promote entertaining
- This is claimed to have apostolic command authority.
The Individual/Church distinction is addressed/dismissed by using Acts 8:1. "And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles." Using it to say “they were scattered” still counts as the church, so there is no distinction.
How would you respond to this?
Answer:
In Greek, "the church" is in the accusative, singular, feminine form. "They" is actually translating the Greek word for "all," which is in the nominative, plural, masculine form. If the "all" were closely tied to "the church," they would be in the same form. Thus, the verse is not saying that all churches were scattered. Instead, it says that a persecution arose against the church (there was only one church in Jerusalem at this time). This resulted in all being scattered. The implication is that the Christians making up the church were scattered. This does not prove that individual Christians are the same as the church. All it proves is that those making the argument are poor at grammar.
"[and they were all scattered abroad] Thus the rage of their enemies brought about the dispersion which Christ had foretold (Acts 1:8). By the word all we need not understand every member of the Christian body, but only those who had been most active and so were in special danger from the persecution. We find (Acts 8:3) that there were many left, both men and women, in the city, whom Saul seized upon as “disciples of the Lord” and carried to prison" [Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges].
I Timothy 5:16 shows that individual Christians and the church have different responsibilities. They are not interchangeable terms.
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near" (Hebrews 12:23-25).
This command is not directed to churches. The terms throughout refer to individual Christians. Churches don't make a confession of hope. Churches don't assemble together; instead, Christians assemble together to form a church. I am commanded to encourage my fellow Christians to love and do good deeds by regularly assembling with them. I cannot claim that it is the church's responsibility -- it is my responsibility.
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality" (Romans 12:10-13).
Once again, notice that this command is for every Christian, not for churches. "Hospitality" has the following meaning:
"5381 philoneksía (from 5384 /phílos, "friend" and 3581/xenos, "a stranger") – properly, warmth (friendliness) shown to strangers; (figuratively) the readiness to share hospitality (generosity) by entertaining in one's home, etc." [HELPS Word-studies]
This word was primarily related to kindness shown to strangers, but this group has twisted it to mean entertaining themselves.
Since the premises fail, the conclusion cannot be reached.
Response:
Thank you.
I agree with everything you said. You did a much better job articulating it than I could. I also feel like those making the argument misunderstood or misrepresent the use of hospitality in Hebrews 13:2.
Here is what I understand.
When the King James translators rendered Hebrews 13:2 as “entertain strangers,” they used the word “entertain” in its normal 17th-century sense. At that time, the word did not carry the modern idea of amusement or recreation, but simply meant receiving someone into one’s home, hosting them, and providing for their needs. This accurately reflected the underlying Greek term philoxenia, which literally means “love of strangers” and describes the act of receiving and caring for those who are away from home.
Over time, however, the English language shifted. The word entertain gradually took on its modern sense of providing enjoyment or amusement, and its older meaning of receiving and hosting guests largely fell out of common use. Because of this change, more recent translations of Hebrews 13:2 have moved away from the wording “entertain strangers” and instead render the passage as “show hospitality to strangers,” to preserve the original meaning and avoid misunderstanding.
Recognizing this shift is important. The biblical concept being expressed is not a social or recreational activity, but the receiving and caring for those in the position of strangers. The older wording of the King James Version was accurate in its time, but the change in how the word "entertain" is understood today can easily obscure the passage's intent when read through a modern lens.
Basically, this, along with the Acts 8:1 argument (which always seemed foolish to me), is a classic case of choosing a practice and then attempting to force scripture to defend it.
