Loving the unloved

At Lighthouse last night we spent some time thinking about who in society feels they cannot come to church.  In fact they assume they will be judged and not welcome should they come, therefore they will not respond to invitations and will feel it is not for them.  This isn't an exclusive list, in fact far from it I'm just going to suggest 3 groups, but it may just get us thinking.  It is tempting to think of the obvious e.g. the homeless, and then excuse ourselves if we find our church is not located where the homeless reside (e.g. in suburbs or rural area), but actually it doesn't take much to see that we are surrounded by those who feel excluded from God's community.

1. Single Parents
Most single parents seem to fear that they will be judged or looked down upon should they go to church.  After all the evidence of sex outside of marriage is out there for all to see.  The question is how do our church cultures exacerbate this sense of exclusion?  How is our welcome?  How do we speak to the children?  What presumptions lie behind the questions we ask or the way we welcome someone?

2. Co-habiting Couples
Again the issues here are often built up by assumptions about how people will treat them rather than reality, they fear that they will be judged and looked down upon.  And our church culture will either welcome them or exclude them.

3. Young People
If you read the statistics it is predominantly young people 18-24 who are leaving the church because the church is not perceived as having a youth culture, in fact it is perceived as being anti-youth culture.  That is the default assumption we as churches have to overcome if we want young people to feel welcomed and able to come to church.

We need to be showing people that as followers of Jesus we are like Jesus, Jesus welcomed outsiders, in Matthew 8 a Leper and a Gentile Centurion both feel able to come to Jesus without fear of being judged and sent away.  In Luke 5 Levi meets Jesus and instantly knows he will welcome his other money worshipping Roman colluding Tax Collecting friends.  So why oh why does the church have a reputation for being judgemental and unwelcoming?  It is because you and I are judgemental and unwelcoming.  It is because we can tend more towards Phariseeism than Jesus-ism.

How do we break through the barriers there are to enable such people to feel they can come and be welcomed among God's people and hear the gospel as they watch it in action.  We have to preach preach preach and not moralism, not rules, but the glorious free saving grace of God which saves sinners and is available by faith in Christ.  We need to teach against Phariseeism showing how incompatible it is with grace to look down on rather than reach out to others equally as lost as we were and equally as undeserving of salvation as we were.  We need to get out there and get to know people, share our lives with them, share their lives with them, love them and introduce them to our family of faith.