Come One, Come All!
So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory. –Romans 15:7
Are all people welcome at your church? When a gay couple shows up for worship, how far does the welcome extend? When a wheelchair-bound visitor comes to your door, are there spaces he or she is unable to get to? How are women included in the welcome? What about people of color? It’s not unusual for seekers to try on a new church, to feel drawn into the worship and the community, only to find out years later that the church doesn’t allow women in leadership, or has an anti-affirming stance on LGBTQ+ issues.
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You may not even know what denomination your church is affiliated with unless you do some deep digging. You may be surprised to find that the Southern Baptist Convention (the largest Protestant denomination) has controversially rejected critical race theory, causing several of its leading black pastors to leave the denomination. You may be surprised that your affirming United Methodist Church belongs to a denomination on the cusp of splitting over LGBTQ+ inclusion. Or maybe you won’t be surprised at all. Maybe you’ve given up on the possibility of the existence of a community where all are truly both welcome and included.
“All are welcome,” but we expect you to play by our house rules. “God loves you just the way you are, but He’s not going to leave you that way.” The Jesus I read about in scripture opened wide the invitation to all, but he also made sure that it was the marginalized who felt like they belonged … and this often left the religiously privileged feeling uncomfortable.
Jesus didn’t set conditions for participation in the kingdom … the kingdom was already within and among the people. The good news is that God is incredibly for you, that God has fearfully and wonderfully made you and me and all the diversity of the world. The Holy Spirit is unlocked and unleashed into men and women and trans and non-binary and intersex people so that anyone can proclaim the good news. The kingdom is at work in people of all abilities and disabilities, so that anyone can proclaim the good news. And the kingdom is at work across skin color and cultures, and that means the breaking down of establishments that have marginalized and pushed aside people of color.
If a church truly wants to be inclusive, there’s a lot of hard work that needs to take place behind the scenes. I commend you to this work, to educating your congregation, to being candid and upfront about inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community on your website and church signs, to putting women and minorities in important leadership positions so all voices are included at the table. And if that’s not you, if your church doesn’t believe in that type of community, maybe you shouldn’t try to trick people into joining your community through false messages that all are welcome. Because if I’m not fully included at your table, I’m not truly welcome.