THE QUICK SUMMARY 

Through devotionals and practical tips, New York Times bestselling author Karen Ehman will inspire you to put love into action in this 40-day journey of hospitality. Karen will help you with the how to and why of reaching out to others in meaningful ways. 

This book–part devotional, part practical handbook–will help you find loving ways to feed both the bodies and souls of the people whom God has placed in your life. 

This beautiful book highlights the why of hospitality, so that your home and life will grow to be a place where the gospel is displayed, drawing others closer to Christ and making a difference for eternity. 

A SIMPLE SOLUTION 

Author Karen Ehman cautions readers not to spurn the small assignments God drops into your laps during your daily routines. We should perform them with as much vigor as those that are highly visible. 

• Wrap them in love 

• Bathe them in prayer 

God is using ordinary you to assist Him in His high and holy work of drawing all people to Himself. 

We all want to make a difference in other people’s lives – it’s just that we often miss the opportunity right in front of us! 

God can use simple acts of kindness to change a life when we engage with the people who are a part of our every day. 

Are you ready to watch God work, fetching souls and knitting them to himself? If so, then fire up the stove, put the teakettle on, and watch with eager anticipation for whomever God sends your way.

Be hospitable to one another, without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. (1 Peter 4:9-10)

Be hospitable. But it is so much work! And quite a bit of hassle. It interrupts key plans and cramps what little style I may have.

But the Bible is one step ahead of us. As if anticipating the grumbling rolling around in our brains and eventually emitting from our lips, it overlays it with a little caveat: without complaining.

I think the concept of hospitality is often misunderstood. When you think of the word hospitality, what comes to mind?

Entertaining in your perfectly cleaned home, complete with stunning, high-end décor?

A gourmet meal that rivals something straight out of a Food Network special?

A formal invitation with a planned-out menu and carefully thought-out conversation starters?

The biblical concept of hospitality is straightforward in its definition. The original word is philoxenos. It is a combination of two other words: philos and xenos. Philos means love, and xenos means stranger. Hospitality is simply loving strangers and continuing to love them until the strangers become friends. There is no mention of a menu, no talk of home design.

Stranger love isn’t the only aspect of hospitality. Scripture also tethers this topic to loving fellow believers in passages such as Romans 12:13 and Romans 12:23. Hospitality is a tool we can use to serve those we barely know or to minister to our closest friends. And it can be a powerful means of building up those in our local church as we offer our homes as venues where our spiritual community can flourish and care for each other.

Karen Ehman, Reach Out, Gather In

A NEXT STEP

Use the following suggestions from author Karen Ehman to help you think through how the command of offering hospitality fits into your life.

Before reading the section above, how would you have defined the word hospitality?

Knowing now that the chief concept of biblical hospitality is the love of strangers, have you ever been the recipient of such love by someone you barely know welcoming you into their home? Write it down.

What keeps you from opening your home to others, especially those you don’t know very well? List as many reasons as you can.

What other actions can you take to adopt biblical hospitality?

How have you defined and demonstrated hospitality as a church?

What are 2-3 ways you can train and encourage your church members to build homes where hospitality reveals Jesus to their neighbors?