While hospitality may sometimes be perceived as a unique gifting for some people, Scripture is clear that loving strangers is a biblical mandate to anyone who follows Jesus.

Andy Stanley writes,“We must remove every possible obstacle from the path of the disinterested, suspicious, here-against-my-will, would-rather-be-somewhere-else, unchurched guests. The parking lot, hallways, auditorium, and stage must be obstacle-free zones.”5 I.

When the two terms and their definitions are combined into one term, translated philoxenia, we see that hospitality literally means “showing brotherly love to strangers.