Reflect on a time when you experienced exceptional hospitality — perhaps it was a dinner invitation from a friend or a stay at a hotel when you were traveling. How did they make you feel? What were the gestures or thoughtful actions that made the experience stand out?

When we think of hospitality, we often imagine high-end customer service or elegant meals at lavish homes. While these certainly fall under the hospitality umbrella, there’s something deeper at its core. True hospitality isn’t just about the setting or the service — it’s about the heart behind it. And at the heart of hospitality is Jesus.

Author Adele Calhoun says hospitality is the act of creating a safe, open space where a friend or stranger can enter and experience the warm, welcoming spirit of Christ.¹ This space can be physical or emotional. Regardless, it is intentionally and uniquely demonstrating the love and care of God to others. 

Hospitality can include but is not limited to:

• Sharing your resources (home, food, car, etc.)
• Welcoming the lonely into your circle
• Random acts of kindness
• Thoughtful gifts
• Fulfilling someone’s need

Hospitality is not about impressing others or making yourself stand out — rather, it is organically loving your neighbors and welcoming them into the kingdom of God that you, too, were invited into.

In Will Guidara’s book,"Unreasonable Hospitality," he describes how we often serve people in a very “black and white” way by completing tasks with competence and efficiency² — whether it's tidying our home for guests, listening to a friend’s struggles or picking someone up from the airport. But imagine for a moment: What if we approached these everyday moments with deeper intention? What if we infused them with color — making others feel truly seen, heard, known and loved beyond what they could imagine?

Calhoun says being hospitable can produce the following God-given fruit:¹

• Keeping close company with Jesus
• Living the truth that all you have belongs to God
• Providing safe spaces for others
• Loving others rather than impressing them
• Developing conversational and listening skills
• Expressing your love for God in a way that celebrates others

In the early church, we see individuals continually practicing hospitality. “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people,” (Acts 2:46-47, ESV).

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, this spiritual practice has the power to counteract the selfishness, isolation, judgment, apathy and hostility in our hearts. Practicing hospitality can help us form into more compassionate, generous, curious, attentive, loving and grateful followers of Christ. If you desire to become more hospitable, allow me to encourage and challenge you with this guide:

1. Pause and center yourself for a moment. Ask for God’s guidance and creativity.

2. Think of one person you can be hospitable to in the upcoming week. Who do you know that needs to be radically welcomed? What events or circumstances are happening in the lives of those you know?

3. Spend time actively listening and paying attention when you’re around this person. What is their current emotional state? What are their interests? What beverage are they drinking? Listen and look for things you can act upon later.

4. Write down a few ideas, such as an event you can welcome them to, a gift you can give them or a way you can encourage or pray for them. 

5. Set a goal. Plan a time to see this person, send them an encouragement or execute an act of hospitality toward them.

If you want to learn more about hospitality, consider earning your Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management. To learn about other spiritual practices, consider adding a Spiritual Formation and Discipleship minor to your degree or attending GCU’s Spiritual Formation workshops.