Welcome!

It’s been a week of deep conversations, with folks who don’t often attend church. One comment from someone who attended a special service was “I’ve never felt so comfortable or welcomed in a church before.”

What a gift it is to be a place of welcome, wherever folks are on their journey.

What a gift it was, that this person’s comfort was such that they made a special point to tell me as much.

Sometimes, we’re so busy trying to stay as the church that we already are, that we can miss out on the opportunities to reach out as the church we’re called to be. Our focus can be limited to attendance numbers or budget numbers or COVID numbers or… instead of doing our best to see the world as Jesus would.

Sometimes, society has presented an understanding of the church that is not accurate; but for someone on the outside, this misperception may be all that they have experienced.

And then sometimes, someone who has either had a misperception or bad experience of church finds themselves in the midst of a community that extends comfort and welcome: not by any extravagant campaign or big-budget event, but by being the authentic community that God has called them to be.

It’s the church being the church; a place where the afflicted can feel comfort. A place where the guest can feel welcomed. A place where the stranger becomes friend. A place where the people of God can live out the mission of God, that is the mission of love.

It can happen at the least likely of times, but what a gift when we can see *that* it has happened. We don’t need to force or cajole or demand, we can just invite and extend warmth and kindness. We can be the church that follows Jesus in all that we do, and find new ways to connect with future friends we encounter.