Does someone need to invite people into their homes to practice hospitality? I know this is not the only way to serve.<\/p>\n\t
The word “hospitality” can translate the Greek word\u00a0philoxenia<\/em>. It is a compound word of “love” (philo<\/em>) and “guest room or lodging” (xenia<\/em>). This word is used in Romans 12:13 and Hebrews 13:2 and refers to the enjoyment of having people stay with you.<\/p>\n The word “hospitality” can also translate a related Greek word\u00a0philoxenos<\/em>. This is a compound word of “love” (philo<\/em>) and “stranger or guest” (xenos<\/em>). This word is used in I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; and I Peter 4:9.<\/p>\n Hospitality is about sharing the things that I have with others — my home, my food, my time, etc. It is about getting to know people on a personal level. Putting someone up in a hotel and buying them breakfast has as little to do with hospitality as sending money to an orphan’s home has to do with visiting orphans (James 1:27).<\/p>\n When I think of hospitality, I am reminded of a family up in Anchorage whom I recently met. Knowing that we were up there to see our son, they ask if they might be able to intrude and have us all over for dinner one night. We had a wonderful time and a wonderful meal and as we were leaving they were profuse in thanking us for taking the time to come to their house — it was hard to get a word in to say that we were honored that they asked us in. That is a love of strangers! We left knowing we made the acquaintance of new friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Does someone need to invite people into their homes to practice hospitality? I know this is not the only way to serve. Answer: The word “hospitality” can translate the Greek word\u00a0philoxenia. It is a compound word of “love” (philo) and “guest room or lodging” (xenia). This word is used in Romans 12:13 and Hebrews…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1149],"class_list":["post-19051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-hospitality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40602,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hospitality\/","url_meta":{"origin":19051,"position":0},"title":"Hospitality (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: III John 3-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes you are so familiar with a term that you never stop to examine whether your use of the term is actually correct \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Years ago, I was studying about hospitality. There are several passages in the New Testament that tells us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56957,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hospitality-why-bother\/","url_meta":{"origin":19051,"position":1},"title":"Hospitality — Why Bother?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Julie Adams via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 7, No. 5, May 2007 Why is it that the very idea of hospitality conjures up thoughts of fine china, matching napkins and a five-course meal? Perhaps it is our \"Martha\" mind that causes us to dread all that we think we have to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95004,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-your-congregation-have-a-hospitality-team\/","url_meta":{"origin":19051,"position":2},"title":"Does your congregation have a hospitality team?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59342,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-richly-blessed-family\/","url_meta":{"origin":19051,"position":3},"title":"A Richly Blessed Family","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall via\u00a0Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 15, April 13, 2008. \"Pity the Smith family. Poor things, they have to keep the preacher every time the church plans a gospel meeting. And Christians are always stopping in at their place. And they are about the only people in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/hospitality.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38331,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-romans-1213-talking-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":19051,"position":4},"title":"Who is Romans 12:13 talking about?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, I came across a comment that was made on a particular verse: Romans 12:13, \"Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.\" Could you please comment on who it is that is distributing the needs of the saints? And that of given to hospitality. In Greek,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/courtesy\/","url_meta":{"origin":19051,"position":5},"title":"Courtesy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Morris D. Norman Whatever happened to old-fashioned courtesy? Oh, it's still around, but it is becoming rarer and rarer, even among those who call themselves the children of God. The English word means, \"courtly politeness, graceful and considerate behavior toward others.\" Refined people are courteous. They have respect for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}