for their hospitality. So servants in a congregation should reflect an inn-like, hospitable spirit. So important is this hospitable spirit that without it one is not qualified to be appointed a servant. At 1 Timothy 3:2 (NW) the apostle explains that everyone who would be an overseer must be “a lover of strangers,” or, as the footnote says, “hospitable.”

¹⁶ What is it that gives a congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses a warmth not found in the world? Is it the Kingdom Hall? No, a Kingdom Hall may be the most beautiful and the newest in the country and still contain the coldest, iciest congregation. Rather, what makes a congregation warm is all the brothers’, especially the servants’, following the course of hospitality.

17. At the Kingdom Hall how can brothers manifest hospitality?

¹⁷ Servants, does an atmosphere of welcome prevail at your Kingdom Hall? Are strangers made to feel right at home? Are they taken on a tour of the hall and the charts, convention pictures, etc., explained? Is the Kingdom Hall opened far enough in advance of a public meeting so that a stranger never has to wait outside? Do the brothers readily share their songbooks and The Watchtower with a stranger? In congregations where the servants make it an unfailing point to welcome all, strangers and brothers alike, there is such a glowing warmth that brothers are reluctant to leave the Kingdom Hall after a meeting.

18, 19. (a) What happens when servants forget to follow the course of hospitality? (b) Without introductions how can reserved brothers find an easy approach to strangers?

¹⁸ But sometimes servants forget the course of hospitality. Then the whole congregation does. And what happens? Instead of the warm, inn-like atmosphere, a Kingdom Hall gets the railroad-station atmosphere. Do you know what that is? You walk into a railroad station. No one pays any attention to you. No one talks to you. You walk near people but no one looks at you or cares that you are there. You sit next to people; they never so much as lift their heads up from what they are reading. If they do and you smile, they do not smile back. It is just a place to sit and wait; and you are always glad when the waiting is over and you can get out. This is a railroad station. Now what would happen if servants ever allowed a Kingdom Hall to get that railroad-station atmosphere—and a stranger walked in?

¹⁹ Why, the stranger would say to himself: ‘Some hospitality! They are kind to me when I talk to them on the street corner or when they come to my door. Now that I’m here in their own midst they don’t even notice me. Maybe they don’t want me. I wonder if I should come back again.’ Yes, that can happen. It has happened. Never let it happen in your congregation. Be on the alert to welcome strangers. If some brothers are naturally reserved, they can find an easy approach to strangers by using questions, such as: “How did you like the talk?” or, “Our meetings are different from those of other religious organizations, aren’t they?” And, of course, there need never be any hesitancy about speaking of the obvious—the weather. After one visit to the Kingdom Hall, a stranger should no longer be a stranger, but welcomed in a warm way, as if he were a brother. “Welcome one another, just as the Christ also welcomed us.”—Rom. 15:7, NW.

20. What does it mean to “follow the course of hospitality”?

²⁰ So we shall indeed do as the apostle commanded: “Follow the course of hospitality.” To “follow” the course of hospitality means more than just having the desire to be hospitable; it means to make a practice of it, to seek after the course, to be ever alert to exercise kindness and to use every opportunity to pour “oil and wine” on the spiritual wounds of strangers. But never think that this enriching course of hospitality is something reserved for strangers. For it is by our kindness and hospitality that we can also show convincing evidence of our brotherly love. “With reference to brotherly love, you do not need us to be writing you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another . . . But we exhort you, brothers, to go on doing it in fuller measure.” By following the course of hospitality toward our brothers, yes, by sharing “with the holy ones according to their needs,” we can show our love “in fuller measure.”—Rom. 12:13; 1 Thess. 4:9, 10, NW.

Sharing Things with Others

1. Explain the difference between worldly and Christian hospitality.

Christian hospitality expresses love; worldly hospitality expresses pride. There is a vast difference between the two. One is prompted by love and kindness, the other by pride and selfishness. Worldlings practice hospitality “in front of men in order to be observed by them.” They often expect recipients to make repayment. ‘I will share a dinner with you, if you will share a dinner with me’ is the essence of the world’s hollowhearted hospitality. But how different the Christian! He shares things with others not because of pride or a desire for repayment but out of deep love for God and man. So while the worldling gives to a man for what he has, the Christian gives to a man for what he is—his neighbor, his brother. The time is soon coming when every living human will follow this Christian course of hospitality and thus be like his Father in heaven.—Matt. 6:1, NW.

2, 3. (a) What feeling manifests itself when one receives the truth? (b) To what full extent have the sheep, in contrast with the goats, responded to the message of the King’s brothers?

² Having received Jehovah’s bountiful spiritual provisions, the right-hearted person feels the urge to be hospitable and to share his material things with others—all for the end result of sharing the good news with others. Was it not the sheep in Jesus’ parable who shared things with the King? Said the King to the sheep: “I became hungry and you gave me something to eat, I got thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you received me hospitably; naked, and you clothed me. I fell sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to me.” How could the sheep do all this for a heavenly King? “Truly I say to you,” said Jesus, “To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”—Matt. 25:35, 36, 40, NW.

³ In the parable’s fulfillment, during this