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Just Open the Door - Bible Study Book: A Study of Biblical Hospitality
Hospitality is one of the best ways to live out the two greatest loving God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. But often we get caught up in perfecting our homes and conversations before we open our doors.
Over 7 sessions, look to Jesus as your model for hospitality. Discover how He lived a life full of interruptions, yet always welcomed people and invited them to follow Him. Learn to replace cultural expectations with biblical hospitality to create a legacy of invitation and reflect Jesus through simple acts of service.
Over 7 sessions, look to Jesus as your model for hospitality. Discover how He lived a life full of interruptions, yet always welcomed people and invited them to follow Him. Learn to replace cultural expectations with biblical hospitality to create a legacy of invitation and reflect Jesus through simple acts of service.
160 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2018
13 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Jen Schmidt
9 books26 followersJen Schmidt: As a mom of five blessings and full time family manager, Jen Schmidt has learned to balance and embrace both the beauty and bedlam of every day life. As a speaker, worship leader and writer, Jen shares with humor and authenticity on a myriad of topics, many which fall under her passion for understanding "It's the little things, that are the big things." This suburban girl, turned country mom, lives a Green Acres life on a family homestead with her siblings and their families, along with a few too many dogs and chickens. She considers herself a full time family manager, who now works from home as a blogger, author, and speaker. She writes about her never-ending pursuit of balancing it all at her personal lifestyle blog. You can find her on any given day dreaming about a clean house, chauffeuring, couponing, meal planning, home schooling, thrift store hunting, or quite possibly on a stage sharing both her beauty and bedlam as a daughter of the King.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 4, 2019
Jen Schmidt's Bible study, Just Open the Door, is my new favorite! I discovered it as a sample when I was craving spiritual nourishment while I spent last year as an international worker and English teacher in Turkey. The Turkish people walked out hospitality and essentially taught me how to make friends following your godly principles for loving people. Since returning to the States, I subscribed to Jen's weekly video sessions through Life Way, and I looked forward to each one! I listened to them every Saturday morning on the way to my weekly date with Jesus at my favorite coffee house My Half of the Sky, whose proceeds support women recovering from human trafficking. We NEED this kind of teaching! Hospitality—particularly in our culture—is as rare as a warm March day in the Midwest after the Polar Vortex!
We are all just too busy, with great things, of course, to be concerned about reaching out to others. Cooking a meal, setting the table, opening the door: these ideas are inconceivable with our packed day planners and harried schedules. Jen's concrete teaching guided me in how to be hospitable. I didn’t know how. My mother is a beautiful role model of hospitality. Throughout my life mine are the parents that host the holiday gatherings, they are the ones who invite their neighbors for dinner. In fact, the weekend I left for Turkey, they were hosting our church’s missionary speaker on furlough from Indonesia! However, I let myself off the hook and justified my lack as “not my gift.” I shrugged my shoulders with the excuse gene skipped me. Hospitality was an art lost to me.
I was refreshed to read that you want to re-establish this godly pattern of hospitality. I am a single, 30 something professional. I live in an apartment and am constantly on the go. But I use each of these identities to mask my fear of inviting others over. I don’t want anyone to say “no” because I feel like I’m being rejected. I don’t want anyone to say “yes” because I fear they will judge and condemn. I have come to discover that for me, at least, my lack of hospitality is rooted in selfishness and shame. I need to overcome fear as I have been created for community! I want and need more friends. I also want to my house and home to be an open invitation to people who are not Christians so I might extend a warm welcome as from our Lord. I loved the way in Just Open the Door, Jen address some of my issues:
• “Hospitality for Singles,”
• “Hospitality for the Aging,”
• “Hospitality for the Scaredy-Cat,” or
• “Hospitality for Those on a Limited Budget,”
• And with everyone (almost) on specialized diets in 2019, “Hospitality for those who eat ONLY Vegan, Organic, Dairy-Free, Full Fat, No Fake Butter, Nothing From Outside the USA, Vegetarian, Paleo, Non-GMO, Mediterranean Diet, Free-Range Eggs and Grass-Fed Beef, No Sulfites, Low- or No-Fat, Sugar-Free or No-Fake Sugar.”
I could use lessons on all the above situations! Here’s how hospitality seemed to me: serving a pre-baked rotisserie chicken, string beans from a can with a glob of butter on top, and fake mashed potatoes. Times and tastes have REALLY changed! Help!!
I am a first grade teacher at a public elementary school, and one of my student’s mothers is a masterpiece in hospitality. She and her husband lived in Italy, have two children of their own and adopted a little boy with special needs from China and are now living the suburbian dream here in Chicago. She found that her church hosted a women’s Bible study but that it was led and attended by a lot of older women, involved homework and praying out loud, etc. This mom realized that many of her young friends were not attending. She wanted to create somewhere they could come and share life together and be encouraged during the week, without feeling pressured to pray in front of people or know how to quickly find the books of the Bible. It was important for her to welcome nonbelievers and make them feel encouraged and loved, without being judged, so she “opened the door” to her home and started a book club. It’s been amazing! Recently, one of the non-church attenders confided in her afterwards, “I came for the wine, but now I feel, like, inspired.” This is hospitality, broken and poured out, in the books and bread, tears and laughter, of an open table, an open door, open hands and an open heart! In Just Open the Door, Jen serves as God’s pen in mentoring women! A must-read!
We are all just too busy, with great things, of course, to be concerned about reaching out to others. Cooking a meal, setting the table, opening the door: these ideas are inconceivable with our packed day planners and harried schedules. Jen's concrete teaching guided me in how to be hospitable. I didn’t know how. My mother is a beautiful role model of hospitality. Throughout my life mine are the parents that host the holiday gatherings, they are the ones who invite their neighbors for dinner. In fact, the weekend I left for Turkey, they were hosting our church’s missionary speaker on furlough from Indonesia! However, I let myself off the hook and justified my lack as “not my gift.” I shrugged my shoulders with the excuse gene skipped me. Hospitality was an art lost to me.
I was refreshed to read that you want to re-establish this godly pattern of hospitality. I am a single, 30 something professional. I live in an apartment and am constantly on the go. But I use each of these identities to mask my fear of inviting others over. I don’t want anyone to say “no” because I feel like I’m being rejected. I don’t want anyone to say “yes” because I fear they will judge and condemn. I have come to discover that for me, at least, my lack of hospitality is rooted in selfishness and shame. I need to overcome fear as I have been created for community! I want and need more friends. I also want to my house and home to be an open invitation to people who are not Christians so I might extend a warm welcome as from our Lord. I loved the way in Just Open the Door, Jen address some of my issues:
• “Hospitality for Singles,”
• “Hospitality for the Aging,”
• “Hospitality for the Scaredy-Cat,” or
• “Hospitality for Those on a Limited Budget,”
• And with everyone (almost) on specialized diets in 2019, “Hospitality for those who eat ONLY Vegan, Organic, Dairy-Free, Full Fat, No Fake Butter, Nothing From Outside the USA, Vegetarian, Paleo, Non-GMO, Mediterranean Diet, Free-Range Eggs and Grass-Fed Beef, No Sulfites, Low- or No-Fat, Sugar-Free or No-Fake Sugar.”
I could use lessons on all the above situations! Here’s how hospitality seemed to me: serving a pre-baked rotisserie chicken, string beans from a can with a glob of butter on top, and fake mashed potatoes. Times and tastes have REALLY changed! Help!!
I am a first grade teacher at a public elementary school, and one of my student’s mothers is a masterpiece in hospitality. She and her husband lived in Italy, have two children of their own and adopted a little boy with special needs from China and are now living the suburbian dream here in Chicago. She found that her church hosted a women’s Bible study but that it was led and attended by a lot of older women, involved homework and praying out loud, etc. This mom realized that many of her young friends were not attending. She wanted to create somewhere they could come and share life together and be encouraged during the week, without feeling pressured to pray in front of people or know how to quickly find the books of the Bible. It was important for her to welcome nonbelievers and make them feel encouraged and loved, without being judged, so she “opened the door” to her home and started a book club. It’s been amazing! Recently, one of the non-church attenders confided in her afterwards, “I came for the wine, but now I feel, like, inspired.” This is hospitality, broken and poured out, in the books and bread, tears and laughter, of an open table, an open door, open hands and an open heart! In Just Open the Door, Jen serves as God’s pen in mentoring women! A must-read!
February 1, 2019
I really enjoyed the videos each week in Sunday School and the discussion we had afterwards. Biblical hospitality is important and an act of worship. I would definitely recommend this for a group study so long as you watched the accompanying videos.
That being said, I had difficulty going through the study book on my own after we went through the videos in class. I should have done it alongside, but I didn't. I am not sure why I struggled so much. The message was good. It took me all over the Bible and didn't just stay in one place and repeat over and over again. I think it was just the structure of the study that caused me to not engage as deeply as I was hoping or expecting.
Each week is split into three days of study. Some study days are 3 pages long, others are 6 pages long. My schedule does not allow for unlimited time for study (it'd be nice if it did) so some study days I had to split across two weekdays. And maybe I am just not great at critical thinking, but some questions left me puzzled and unsure how to answer. I just wasn't sure where the questions were leading or how I was to approach them.
That being said, I had difficulty going through the study book on my own after we went through the videos in class. I should have done it alongside, but I didn't. I am not sure why I struggled so much. The message was good. It took me all over the Bible and didn't just stay in one place and repeat over and over again. I think it was just the structure of the study that caused me to not engage as deeply as I was hoping or expecting.
Each week is split into three days of study. Some study days are 3 pages long, others are 6 pages long. My schedule does not allow for unlimited time for study (it'd be nice if it did) so some study days I had to split across two weekdays. And maybe I am just not great at critical thinking, but some questions left me puzzled and unsure how to answer. I just wasn't sure where the questions were leading or how I was to approach them.
May 18, 2019
Great ideas and encouragement to open the door of your home and be more hospitable.
August 17, 2019
Loved this book! So inspiring, practical, and timely.
March 20, 2020
My women's bible study group at church has been using this as a monthly study for the last half a year or so. This was the first Jen Schmidt study I've ever done, and I would consider looking into other studies by her.
The study took an in depth look at biblical hospitality and what makes that so difficult in our modern day lives. Jen talks about a lot of the fears we women frequently face regarding opening up our homes and she shows us how Jesus modeled hospitality. The study guides us to consider a new view of hospitality, to think of it as an act of worship as well as an opportunity to glorify God.
Personally, hospitality is something I'm passionate about. I dream of one day building a home with several guest rooms available and a kitchen large enough to entertain as many people as I can dream of having over at once. This is something that's important to me because I didn't have that option growing up. My childhood home was not an open door home, and I have vowed that my home will have a place for someone to stay and a meal for them to eat. I want to be someone who welcomes others, regardless of who they are, provides for them, and meets more than physical needs. Fellowship is such an amazing gift we are given and I'm determined to make my home a biblically hospitable one. Not only was it really neat to see hospitality through the life of Jesus--to learn from it, to grow in it, and to take away ways I can expand my understanding of true hospitality--but it was also really comforting to have that desire within me validated and to see that this is an atmosphere I can cultivate in my own home, no matter what stage of life I'm in, how big or small my house is, or how clean or dirty or wealthy or poor my circumstances.
I enjoyed both the video sessions and the "homework" between each video session. There are three days and a hospitality challenge for each week's lesson (which my group expanded to a monthly lesson, but you can do it however works best for you). The videos were full of inspirational testimonies from those within the author's life and each showcased another truly beautiful aspect of living out hospitality. These were just casual conversations around her table and I really looked forward to her guests a lot. The homework sections dug in deep and did a really good job of showing the correlation between true hospitality and the traps we often fall into, our misconceptions and how we perceive hospitality today. They looked to the life of Christ for example and bridged the gap between where we currently stand and where we desire to stand. The study provided small steps, practical challenges to motivate readers to grow and become even more hospitable in their lives.
The study took an in depth look at biblical hospitality and what makes that so difficult in our modern day lives. Jen talks about a lot of the fears we women frequently face regarding opening up our homes and she shows us how Jesus modeled hospitality. The study guides us to consider a new view of hospitality, to think of it as an act of worship as well as an opportunity to glorify God.
Personally, hospitality is something I'm passionate about. I dream of one day building a home with several guest rooms available and a kitchen large enough to entertain as many people as I can dream of having over at once. This is something that's important to me because I didn't have that option growing up. My childhood home was not an open door home, and I have vowed that my home will have a place for someone to stay and a meal for them to eat. I want to be someone who welcomes others, regardless of who they are, provides for them, and meets more than physical needs. Fellowship is such an amazing gift we are given and I'm determined to make my home a biblically hospitable one. Not only was it really neat to see hospitality through the life of Jesus--to learn from it, to grow in it, and to take away ways I can expand my understanding of true hospitality--but it was also really comforting to have that desire within me validated and to see that this is an atmosphere I can cultivate in my own home, no matter what stage of life I'm in, how big or small my house is, or how clean or dirty or wealthy or poor my circumstances.
I enjoyed both the video sessions and the "homework" between each video session. There are three days and a hospitality challenge for each week's lesson (which my group expanded to a monthly lesson, but you can do it however works best for you). The videos were full of inspirational testimonies from those within the author's life and each showcased another truly beautiful aspect of living out hospitality. These were just casual conversations around her table and I really looked forward to her guests a lot. The homework sections dug in deep and did a really good job of showing the correlation between true hospitality and the traps we often fall into, our misconceptions and how we perceive hospitality today. They looked to the life of Christ for example and bridged the gap between where we currently stand and where we desire to stand. The study provided small steps, practical challenges to motivate readers to grow and become even more hospitable in their lives.
March 31, 2020
Just Open the Door is a study on Biblical Hospitality that uses the Bible as our study guide for why we should open our door to the others. I did this study with some of our women from Smyrna First and it was a blessing to learn more about hospitality from Jen Schmidt and encourage each other in this Biblical command.
While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, there was nothing surprising in it. For me, it was a timely reminder of what it means to be hospitable and why it's important to open our door to anyone and everyone who is in need. It was also a great reminder to look to Jesus who, though He did not have a home, was the perfect example of hospitality and He should be our example as we seek to show hospitality to those around us. I was reminded of what it means to show hospitality to those in my home as well so that I can teach them to be hospitable.
Jen also challenges us to say yes when it's uncomfortable. This is the epitome of what it means to be like Jesus. We're to invite in the lost, lonely, poor, widowed, orphan, homeless. I really want our family to grow in this.
Though this study is meant to be a video study, this book can stand on it's own.
I highly recommend this book for all who call themselves Christian!
4.5 Stars
While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, there was nothing surprising in it. For me, it was a timely reminder of what it means to be hospitable and why it's important to open our door to anyone and everyone who is in need. It was also a great reminder to look to Jesus who, though He did not have a home, was the perfect example of hospitality and He should be our example as we seek to show hospitality to those around us. I was reminded of what it means to show hospitality to those in my home as well so that I can teach them to be hospitable.
Jen also challenges us to say yes when it's uncomfortable. This is the epitome of what it means to be like Jesus. We're to invite in the lost, lonely, poor, widowed, orphan, homeless. I really want our family to grow in this.
Though this study is meant to be a video study, this book can stand on it's own.
I highly recommend this book for all who call themselves Christian!
4.5 Stars
May 8, 2019
This was a wonderful Bible Study for anyone struggling with biblical hospitality. Jen Schmidt made you feel right at home in her video presentations and she included several sessions with friends who talked about the importance in being open to hospitality to all.
January 29, 2019
So many beneficial ideas that I'm taking with me from this book. The concept of changing my thoughts from "I have to" to "I get to" is so simple and yet radical.
April 29, 2019
Love that she reminds me to love like Jesus did - all people - whether I want to or not. Great book.
May 24, 2019
This book is one of the best Bible studies I’ve ever done! My views on hospitality have changed immensely. ❤️
May 31, 2019
I couldn't finish it.
May 18, 2022
I feel like I’ve read so many books on the topic of hospitality that this felt repetitive to me.
But the group i did it with absolutely loved it
But the group i did it with absolutely loved it
April 6, 2019
Really changes thinking on what hospitality can be...whether it’s in a line at the grocery store, sitting on the front porch or throwing a frozen pizza in the oven and inviting people to come. Hospitality is engaging everyone encountered in your day.
December 28, 2020
Jen did a great job of tying scripture to hospitality and what God really wants us to be hospitable. We were made to be social and accepting people. We need to lean into that!
February 11, 2023
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