Hospitality Defined: Practical Love in Service to GodNäide

Hospitality and Leadership

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach . . . sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable. (v. 2)

What would you include in your list of important qualities of a good church leader? Would hospitality be on that list?

Hospitality made Paul’s list! Here in 1 Timothy 3, Paul discusses the qualifications for “overseers,” or pastors and elders, in the early church. Paul gives an impressive list of qualities needed in an overseer—among them are the traits of being sober-minded, self-controlled, able to teach, and gentle. Overseers must not be drunkards or lovers of money, but they are to manage their households well. In this list, Paul tells us that these leaders are also to be hospitable. A church leader needs to be an example to other believers. Their home is open, their children are well-disciplined, and their lives are living examples of the Christian life. Hospitality allows them to demonstrate how believers live and love others practically.

Many of us have been blessed with such elders, and their influence can be profound. It is one thing to read or hear about what it means to follow Christ; it is even better when we see it lived out before us. Thank God for your church leaders who have allowed their lives to be such “open books” and have demonstrated hospitality to you and others in your congregation.

As you pray, thank God for your church’s leaders and pray for them.