Philo: the Story Behind The name

Naming matters.

It gives purpose and identity. So when we considered what to name this place, we wanted to be intentional. Eventually, we settled on Philo (fy-lo) which stems from the Greek word philoxenos which is translated in English as hospitality. While studying hospitality throughout the Bible, I discovered that philoxenos, pronounced ‘fil-ox-en-os’, means love to stranger or love of stranger. And it is this Love that shapes my family’s understanding of hospitality personally and is the motivation and heart behind our purchasing this property in this specific location.

For simplicity, we shortened the name to Philo which in the Greek means “beloved” or “someone dearly loved”, and this is exactly what we pray each person who enters our doors experiences. There are many ways we can, and plan to, use this land. But our greatest endeavor is to demonstrate with our words and in our actions just how beloved each person truly is.