How welcoming is your church? I just heard of a person who visited another congregation while on holidays. He went in with a happy spirit and came out rejected for not one person in the building spoke to him.
We are in danger of being churchified. Churchified congregations turn in on themselves. They worry more about the cost of keeping the church open then they do about sharing Jesus with others. Their love is stilted and small for it only covers them.
The following verse will explain these thoughts more clearly. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was the Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and these words are credited to him.
We are God’s chosen few,
May all the rest be damned.
Hell’s good enough for you,
We won’t have heaven crammed.
Is that what your church is like? What can you do to change that? Why not be that person who welcomes another, or includes someone in the downstairs fellowship or even asks someone to join your safe little circle.
“It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God – but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people – and this is not learned in five minutes.” Oswald Chambers
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, (Matthew 25:35, NIV)
Prayer- Lord, give us eyes to see those on the outside of our little group, and spirits to welcome them in. Amen.
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