I am coming to realise that the genuine openess and friendlyness of the assembly of people in a “church meeting” will probably do more for the sake of the gospel and the Kingdom than anything else that happens that morning. Perhaps an over statement, but I think the challenge is to have both an open community and a tight community. The trouble is, they can often be mutually exclusive.

What do I mean? For example, some churches emphasis welcoming etc, and everyone has a big smile and is very friendly to newcomers. But beyond that veneer, often community can be quite shallow. So you might feel very welcome the first week or so, but after the first month or so, after you are no longer “new”, perhaps all you can see is multiple cliques of friends.

Alternatively, some churches have a great community once you are in, but are poor at actually welcoming the newcomer.

So there are at least two dimensions to welcoming:

– What’s it like to get in?
– What’s it like once you’re in?

Given how many commandments (yes, commandments) the NT has on hospitality, fellowship, loving one another, etc, if we took this seriously we should probably make it an issue of church discipline for those that persistently ignored others. Yet for some reason I am not aware of any church that takes this that seriously. Probably because the elders would have to fire themselves…

Personally, I believe that if someone new came comes to a worship meeting and leaves without being invited to someone’s house for dinner, a movie, or a to go out for a coffee, we have failed. We should set our standards at least that high.

Actually, I think the reason Western churches fail in this area is because we do not take seriously the teaching of the NT that the church is our family, a tradition that started with teaching and life of Jesus, and continued through Paul’s era and beyond. Do we look upon newcomers and strangers as potential members of our own family, and welcome them with that attitude?

Well done, CCE, for looking at this important issue. I hope it continues to gather momentum and support.

Agree very much with Kate’s comment too.

very encouraged to read all about this. it occurs to me that if we try to make hospitality/warmth an integral part of the whole of our church life, then any new people will be drawn into fellowwhip much more easily – rather than, trying extra hard for the new people…
otherwise, great job guys.

Having thought about it more should this even be a challenge!? Why is this not in our DNA as those who love Jesus?