Matthew 10:11
Matthew 10:1111Whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy there and stay at his house until you move on.
is sometimes cited by JW publications to ground the door-to-door ministry — Jesus sent his disciples into villages to "search out who in it is deserving" before staying there. The Watchtower reads "search out" as canvassing every household to identify receptive ones, mirroring the JW practice of door-to-door witnessing.
Read the verse alongside — "do not keep transferring from house to house." Jesus's instruction in is to "search out who in it is deserving and stay there until you leave" — find one receptive household, stay there, and use it as a base for ministry. The instruction is the opposite of modern JW canvassing: identify a worthy host and remain rather than moving from door to door through an entire neighbourhood. Pair with and the kat' oikon / ex oikias eis oikian distinction ( / vs. ) — Luke uses different Greek phrasing for "in homes" (where teaching happened in house churches) versus "out of house into house" (the prohibited movement). The door-to-door pattern the Watchtower made the signature of true Christianity is precisely the pattern Jesus instructed his disciples to avoid.