“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:1-2
Dear Disciples of Christ,
Do you notice the distinction between those two verses? The first verse (of Hebrews 13) describes the care we should have for members of the body of Christ. This should be distinctive and a reflection of the love we receive from God. Surely, we love because He has first loved us. How joyous it is when brothers and sisters gather and care for one another. It reminds me of the earliest church when people sold their property to make sure they could support the needs of others in the community and, because of that, there were none in need. That is the ideal and distinctively Christian community that shines with the love and light of Christ.
The second verse points us to people who are NOT part of the community. These are the strangers, ones who visit one or more times at church. It is such an important part of evangelism that we welcome others that I actually did my dissertation for my Doctor of Ministry program on the “Welcoming Congregation.” I know that almost every church thinks they are very welcoming and friendly but many times that is more about how they welcome those they know, their family and friends and NOT the stranger. It is understandable but not one of the church’s best practices.
The difficulty for many (disciples) is that we don’t really “see ourselves” very well (or at least the way others see us). After all, we are not coming to church for the first time this weekend (and it may well have been decades earlier (or more) when we made our first visit). Now we know most, if not all the members and every bit of the facilities. But, because of that, we have lost something over the years and that is we no longer have the eyes of visitors. We don’t see what they see in the way they see it.
As I ended my service in Brooklyn and pastoral ministry in Queens, I was in the midst of studies at Drew University for a doctoral program for pastors. My focus of study and reflection was on evangelism and my dissertation, as I’ve mentioned, was on “The Welcoming Congregation”. The program included the development of a group of members to work with and they assisted in the direction of the program. I sent them to visit other churches, giving them a brand new set of eyes” – those of a visitor. It was my hope that, having seen another church as “visitors”), they might be able to see what people see when they visit our church, especially for the first time.
The discussions we had were not easy and honestly, some were pretty self-defensive. They discussed for a while their challenges in visiting another church (from finding the time of worship, to the style of worship, to the ease or difficulty of participating. I then asked them to think about our church with the same pointedness. “What were we doing that made our church less than overtly welcoming?” We talked about the handicap IN-accessible steps at the front entrance, the lack of signage to indicate times of worship and lack of answering machine to even let callers know those times.
To indicate just how difficult it was for them to see their own church with “visitor eyes,” not one participant mentioned the biggest and most obvious symbol of lack of welcome and invitation to join us. It was our eight foot high chain link fence that surrounded our property. If that wasn’t enough, it was topped of with barbed wire! True, we were in NYC and people have seen that elsewhere, but still it shouted “Stay Out!” much louder than, “Please, join us today!” The fence was not really protecting the parking lot (which it surrounded, covering 2/3rds of our property and which said parking lot seldom had anything in it). The fence said, “Don’t touch our stuff!
It would have been inappropriate to take the fence away (since it also corralled our school children), but it could have been lowered by half and the barbed wire removed if we really wanted to show our “welcoming side” and greet one or more angels. We did, however, move our ushers from the top of the stairs inside church to outside the front doors, greeting people as they walked by the church or made their way into the church (both members and visitors). In many ways this was a reaction to the “locked doors” at my church in Brooklyn and a pre-cursor to the “wavers ministry” we currently have at our church in Jacksonville.
Once again, the reminder is for all of us to do “both and” not “either or.” We are to welcome brothers and sisters in our community as well as showing hospitality to strangers. It makes a tremendous difference in how that stranger/visitor will experience the worship at your church and how they will hear the proclaimed Word by your pastor(s).
Blessings on your ministry of hospitality this weekend and your care for members and visitors in the name of Christ.
Peace in Him, as you pass on His greeting to all.
Pastor Johnson