Ministers Desk 16 October 2011

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the biblical basis of welcoming and including new people into the congregation.  God’s very nature is that of someone who radically, decisively and continually seeks to draw people into an ever deepening relationship with him, through his church.  As his disciples we are committed to growing into the character and nature of God and reflecting his life in the world.  Welcoming and including new comers points to the life of Christ in us and demonstrates our love for him and others.  Yet there are other reasons why welcoming and including new comers is an important task for each one of us.

First, it is important that we think about others.  Anyone going into a new and unfamiliar situation will feel anxious and they need to be put at ease.  By the time a guest walks through our doors they have already committed themselves to going to an unfamiliar place and encountering and speaking to unfamiliar people.  They have done more than half the work.  We can respond to their efforts by engaging them in conversation, and helping them feel welcome and included.

Second, our society is becoming increasingly mobile.  Just about every guest we have welcomed in church over the past couple of years has come here because they have moved house.  The disruption in their lives from moving house means that they are open to new ideas, and equally so, are very susceptible to abandon patterns of past behaviour.  We have the opportunity to engage and reengage them in the life of God’s church.

Third, our society is post-denominational.  When people look for a new church they are not committed to staying with their denomination.  They look for a church that appeals to them.  This includes  factors such as warmth, friendliness, cultural relevance, style and commitment to the mission of God.  We cannot assume that people will join us just because we are a Uniting Church, and they’ve come from a Uniting Church.

Fourth, many people are starved of community.  Our neighbourhoods are becoming increasingly impersonal.  People are looking for ways to encounter and experience healthy relationships and genuine community.  Most of the New Testament images for the church are communal or community ones, the family, the flock, the household, the nation, the body.  The church is meant to be the type of community that people are looking for.  We need to ask and challenge ourselves as to how we are showing this to the guests who are our guests.  When they find a congregation that is caring, loving, open, welcoming and inclusive, they will want to belong. 

Please consider your behaviours and think how you are and can express the including and  welcoming character of God in the way you approach guests.