In the New Testament, hospitality or literally ‘a lover of strangers’ (filocenos), and ‘love of strangers’ (filocenia), comes from two Greek words: filos (love or friend) and xenos (foreign or alien) (The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary 1988), and is a central theme running throughout the Bible. In this section I will explain the Biblical reasons for conducting this ministry in our home rather than in a more traditional church building setting.

Throughout the scriptures we are exhorted to love one another. Statistical research done over the past two decades by the George Barna Research Group and the George Gallup Polls has indicated that relationship oriented ministry is the most effective method of reaching people in our society for Jesus Christ. This is especially true in the military. As Christians our initial and primary relationship is with Jesus Christ; our relationships with others, Christian and non-Christian, then flow out of that relationship. Isolation and loneliness have always been significant problems in the military. Young servicemen and women who are far away from home and family for the first time, search for meaningful relationships and friendships and ‘fun activities to alleviate their boredom and homesickness. Hospitality oriented ministry provides a Biblical alternative to the negative relational and behavioral temptations young military people face.

For decades churches have been told by church growth experts that if they were not growing at a prescribed percentage every year they were in decline and ineffective in the kingdom of God. Focus was turned to church growth – numerical growth; and churches grew, sometimes exponentially! Now these large churches are struggling with the lack of intimacy and are creating small group ministries, or cell groups, to address feelings of isolation and disconnectedness among parishioners. The focus turned from the ‘one’ to the ‘many’. Our efforts are designed to focus on the individual and their needs rather than increasing to an ever larger number of people and losing the personal and intimate nature of ministry.

The concept of hospitality in the Bible began in the Pentateuch when the Israelites were prohibited by the Law from mistreating the aliens or strangers living among them; this prohibition was based on Israel’s own experiences as strangers in Egypt. They knew how it felt to be mistreated and oppressed; and that collective memory was to impact their ethical treatment of strangers in the land (Exodus 22:21, 23:9). However, the Israelites were not merely to refrain from negative behavior toward the stranger, they were also to be proactive in their positive treatment of them. Strangers were to be treated as ‘native born’ and were to be ‘loved’ by the children of Israel. This requirement would be difficult to implement and necessitated the punctuation and added weight of the phrase, ‘I am the Lord your God’ (Leviticus 19:34) reminding the people that it was God who was requiring this of them.

The prohibition against mistreatment of the stranger and the proactive principle of loving them instead was further developed and intrinsically linked to the Israelites’ relationship with God in Deuteronomy 10:12-22. It was not enough for the Israelites to simply ‘believe’ in God; they were to ‘love’ God with all their hearts and souls because He first loved them. Out of this divine-human love relationship would grow their love for, and ethical treatment of, the stranger in Israel. God predicated His mandate of hospitality on the Israelites’ relationship with Him: His character, His love for the Israelites, and His ethical treatment of the stranger. He was also expecting the Israelites’ memories of past experiences as a mistreated and oppressed people to play a significant role in their hospitality.

In the law of the tithes and first fruits the Israelites were to take a portion (ten percent) of the produce from their land and bring it before the priests as a thanksgiving to God for His provision for them. This tithe was to be distributed among several groups of people: the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and widows. This tithe was not just for the needs of the priests and Levites, but for the provision of food for the aliens in the land (Deuteronomy 26:12-13).

Many examples of hospitality to strangers exist in the Old Testament; but here only two will be cited: Abraham and Job. Abraham’s exercise of hospitality toward three strangers in Genesis 18 resulted in the entertainment of two angels and a Theophany of Jesus Christ; it produced a confirmation of the arrival of the promised baby the following year; and the deliverance of his nephew Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Job’s autobiographical statement in Job 31:32 is an early example of the importance placed on hospitality. Job based his claim to having lived a ‘proper life’ on the fact that he had never allowed a stranger to sleep in the street; his doors had always been open to them.

In the prophets - Isaiah addressed the mandate for exercising hospitality and concern for others. Israel had institutionalized its religious practices by this time and prided itself in its ritualized fasting. Chastising them concerning their concept of fasting, Isaiah detailed the elements of a proper fast: loosing chains of injustice, untying the chords of the yoke, freeing the oppressed, sharing their food with the hungry, providing the wanderer with shelter, clothing the naked, all the while staying engaged with ones own family (Isaiah 58:6-7). It is interesting to observe that Isaiah found it necessary to acknowledge that practicing hospitality did not mean one had to deny ones family in the process.

In the New Testament the disciples and the people to whom they ministered were familiar with the concept of hospitality developed throughout Israel’s history. When Jesus’ ministry is examined in the Gospels it can be seen that much of Jesus’ ministry was conducted in people’s homes. In Matthew 9:10 Jesus ate dinner with Matthew the tax collector and was criticized for eating with a ‘sinner’. In Mark 5:38 He went to the home of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, and raised his daughter from the dead. In Luke 5:18 Jesus was in a house teaching and four men lowered a paralyzed man on a mat through the roof of the house for Jesus to heal. In Luke 19:5-9 Jesus went to Zachaeus’ home and ate with him. The outcome of this was that Zachaeus became a believer.