Editor’s note: This article is part three of a four-part series. Access the full series here.
I suggested in the first entry in this series that a covenantal framework can be identified in the Lord’s hospitality in Exodus 24. Though Jesus’s hospitality to the eleven in John 21 does not have the same covenantal framework, in both passages, God effectively hosts a select figure to train him for ministry leadership: Moses for Israel and Peter for the apostles.
In the second entry, I noted that hospitality is a ministry of all kinds of leaders in Scripture. And they undertake this ministry with urgency. Abraham (Gen. 19), David (2 Sam. 9), and the public official Publius of Malta (Acts 28:1–10) extend hospitality with respect to their leadership positions.
In this third entry, I want to explore Paul’s statement that pastors must be hospitable. In the local church, pastoral hospitality reflects God’s care for the needy and establishes an environment for supplying and training ministry leaders. The qualifications for pastoral leadership express a man’s relational aptitude for leading a local church. Whether we consider the list Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 or Titus 1:5–9, each quality more or less has in view a man’s ability to reflect God’s character as he relates with people inside and outside the church.
The pastor must reflect God in his closest relationships. He must husband his wife (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6a) and manage his household well (1 Tim. 3:4–5; Titus 1:6b). The pastor must also display God’s character in the more extended relationships of his life. He must be hospitable, a lover of strangers and outsiders (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8).
When studying the pastoral qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 or Titus 1:5–9, we must recognize two ways they might become fodder for eisegesis. First, we must remember that no one pastoral qualification functions in isolation. Relational aptitude functions as the hub into which these qualities fit as spokes. In aggregate, these features of a man’s life position him to reflect God as he leads the church. Second, the lists of qualifications should not be isolated from Paul’s flow of thought in 1 Timothy and Titus. These qualifications for pastors contribute to Paul’s broader portrait of beliefs and behaviors the church must embrace in light of Jesus’s death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return. These qualifications signify the pastor’s character in relation to God and the ministry of the new covenant.
Having identified the conceptual framework of these pastoral qualifications and pitfalls to avoid when interpreting them, we can consider Paul’s statement that the pastor must be hospitable. I identify two reasons why Paul lists hospitality as a qualification for pastoral ministry.
Hospitality Enacts God’s Care to the Needy
In Titus, Paul repeatedly notes the importance of good works. The opponents of the gospel lack good works (1:16). Titus is to be an example of good works (2:7). Believers are to reflect their redemption by being eager to do good works (2:14), ready to do good works in the public sphere as they relate to governing authorities (3:1). Believers are to be careful to devote themselves to good works (3:8). Paul concludes the letter saying, “Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14, CSB).
The good works Paul has in mind would doubtless include caring for one’s own needy family, especially widows (1 Tim. 5:3–16). If a believing widow has no family and finds herself without the means for independent living, to whom might she look for assistance? A pastor’s hospitality and leadership would prove invaluable. Paul’s concern in 1 Timothy 5:3–16 that widows be taken care of reflects God’s demand that His people care for the widow and orphan, stated throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deut. 24:10–22; Ps. 68:4–6; Jer. 7:3–8) and in James 1:27.
Hospitality is Necessary for Multiplying Ministry Leadership
Hospitality in the local church features prominently in 2 and 3 John. Believers show their faith by welcoming into their homes brothers and sisters who confess Christ, to refresh them and share in their ministries (2 John 9–11; 3 John 5–8). In 3 John 9–10, John condemns Diotrephes for refusing to be hospitable and forbidding believers to host ministers as they travel. Pastors who welcome those who go out to spread the gospel of Jesus’s death and resurrection have the dual effect of meeting the immediate needs of those ministers and modeling hospitality for the church. It may be this kind of ministry that Jesus has in view when He describes hospitality as the fulcrum of judgment in the analogy of the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31–46).
I noted that pastoral hospitality should not be understood in isolation from Paul’s broader portrait of ministry in the Pastoral Epistles. One pastoral task Paul notes repeatedly is training leaders who will join in and carry out new covenant ministry. Timothy is to labor in training those who will lead the church (1 Tim. 4:11–16). He is to deal with church elders justly, patiently affirming them to the pastoral office (1 Tim. 5:17–22). Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” One unique feature of pastoral hospitality is that it provides a relational atmosphere for training those who will join in ministry leadership. Pastoral hospitality thus reflects the Lord’s hospitality to Moses and Israel’s leaders in Exodus 24 and Jesus’s hospitality to Peter and the disciples in John 21.
Hope for Those Hesitant to Host
We should recognize that pastors are not the only church members who strengthen the church through hospitality. Paul urges the Romans to pursue hospitality (Rom. 12:13), and Peter commands the churches in view in 1 Peter to be hospitable without complaining (1 Pet. 4:9).
While the lists of qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:5–9 filter those who are not called, they also guide men who are. And every man called to shepherd God’s people is growing on a spectrum of consistency in these characteristics. If you need to grow in hospitality, I first suggest lowering your expectations regarding the formal details of the event itself. The meal and setting need not be extravagant. Simple, moderate food, drink, and environment foster the best atmosphere for pastoral hospitality. Second, develop a specific prayer list for those you want to host. Who around you is needy? Who in your sphere of influence does God seem to be calling to leadership? Pray for them daily for a week and then make the invite. God will give you courage and prepare them to hear from you. Finally, chat with other leaders about your need to grow as a host. Heed their counsel on how to be a hospitable man, not just a meal or event host. Let them prune away selfishness and broaden your love for God and the Church.