Which is more important for a church — belief or welcome?
Photograph by Thuan Vo via Pexels
Rev. John Zehring
In my previous congregation, the father of a member died. He was not a member but had been attending regularly with his adult son. The father was raised in another denomination, and the family recognized the need to have his funeral held in that denomination, but they wanted me to be involved in the service because I had visited the man and served as a spiritual support to him in the months leading up to his passing. The host denomination’s clergyperson agreed to include me and invited me to do a reading. However, because I was not of their denomination, I was not permitted to read from the Hebrew Scriptures or the Christian Scriptures. Rather, I was given a section to read from the Apocrypha. Communion was a part of the funeral, but even as a clergyman, I was excluded from serving because I wasn’t part of that faith. Not only that, I was excluded from receiving Communion. This was a church with a very specific set of beliefs to which members were admonished to adhere, although my feelings of being excluded detracted from my interest in their theology.
On the flip side of the coin, I belong to a church whose welcome statement ranks among the most inclusive I have encountered. It’s not short, but its impact tugs at the heartstrings of members and visitors alike, week after week. It begins like this:
Good morning, welcome to our church where we are gathered in the spirit of Jesus, committed to creating heaven on earth…Welcome to all who want to follow Christ, who have doubts, and who do not believe. Welcome to people of all ages, races, nationalities, abilities, sexualities, and gender expressions. Welcome to singles, partnered, widowed, and married people. Welcome to believers, questioners, and questioning believers. Welcome to everyone…We know that the church at times has rejected difference and denied God’s promises for itself and for others, which is why we say without reservation we welcome you because God welcomes you as a beloved child. We are especially delighted to see you here today.
I have heard person after person say that this welcome statement is the reason they returned and for others the reason they joined. Some have no idea what denomination the church is, they come from many other backgrounds, many from no church background, and they really don’t care much about denominations or doctrinal statements, but they hear loud and clear the welcome that includes them.
Is there any congregation that thinks it isn’t welcoming? In one of my earlier parishes as pastor, my comb-over was becoming obvious. When I went to the hairdresser down the street from the church, he said that members of the church had commented on it and, he said, it was time to do the deed: to shave it off and make me bald. Oh no. I suppose it was inevitable. So, I told him that he could make me bald on one condition, that he attend my church once, or more if he wished. He replied, “John, I can’t come to your church. I’m gay.” After I caught my breath, I said “Haven’t you seen our sign? It says ‘All people are welcome’.” He answered, “John, they all say that, but they don’t mean it.” He was raised in the South where he was told that he would be welcomed if he changed who he was as a gay person… repent from his sin of being gay, as he described it. But their sign said “All people are welcome.” It didn’t say there were strings attached. Why would he believe our welcome? Hence the reason to make the welcome explicit.
Which is more important for a church, belief or welcome? Perhaps that is like asking which wing of the airplane is more important. They are both important, but in some ways, they are the same thing, for the extravagant welcome into God’s loving embrace is a church’s theology.
When I think about all the seminary courses in systematic theology, biblical theology, and church polity, or when I consider the questions about doctrine posed during the ordination process, it seems like ecclesiastical folks are highly interested in the specifics of belief. For many in the pews of my church, it seems that the extravagant welcome is what attracts them most, along with the congregation’s commitment to creating heaven on earth. The emphasis of the welcome towers over so much else that sometimes I wonder: which is more important for a church, belief or welcome? As a retired pastor, I have a heightened interest in belief, in the teachings and interpretation of the Bible, and in theology. I long to be in fellowship with others who believe like I do, who clearly follow Jesus and who desire “to seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). That could be a contender to be the most important verse in the Bible and is one of the few times Jesus used the word first in the Sermon on the Mount. Biblical literacy never seemed to be a priority in my generation, but wouldn’t those who call themselves Christian long to hang on every word spoken by or written about the One we follow?
Over the years after building trust with people, I’ve come to understand how many questioning believers fill the pews. When they tell me what they think, it is often in discord with a church’s doctrine. I recall one deacon telling me she did not believe in the Resurrection of Jesus. Walking away from the hospital room of a dying woman with her husband, both longtime leaders in the church, I remember him telling me that he and his wife did not really believe in God, at least not in the way God was preached about or taught in Sunday school. And then there were countless conversations with new members who came from a background in high creedal churches who discredited those churches, although more often for their practices than their doctrines. So, what drew these folks to commit themselves so fully to the church? It was the extravagant welcome that included them with open arms. It was the recognition that inclusion is God-like, and that exclusion is not God-like. It was the artistic picture of Jesus welcoming with his palms open arms outstretched rather than a Jesus who has his arms crossed or, worse, arms out with hands up as if to say “not you.” Not welcome. Not as you are.
I am intrigued by Jesus’ recruitment of disciples described in Matthew 4. Something special must have happened that we can’t see, because they didn’t know a thing about what he believed or stood for. There must have been something compelling when he walked up to them and asked them to “follow me,” for they dropped their nets, abandoned what they were doing, and followed him. Matthew emphasizes the word immediately. “Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:20). There was no litmus test of belief. He did not examine them for doctrinal orthodoxy. He did not question their faithfulness to God. His welcome to follow was sufficient.
Inclusivity is God-like. Exclusivity is not God-like. Jesus said: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, we read of God “who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” and of Christ Jesus “who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:4-6). A church’s extravagant welcome to all is compelling, although it is not enough to simply put on the sign “All are welcome” because there are folks who have experience enough to doubt that the word all includes them. The welcome must be spelled out in detail so that anyone from any background or with any range of beliefs could feel that “your welcome includes me too.”
Which is more important for a church, belief or welcome? Perhaps that is like asking which wing of the airplane is more important. They are both important, but in some ways, they are the same thing, for the extravagant welcome into God’s loving embrace is a church’s theology. When those in the pews hear about God’s love, and the way of love, and the consequences of love, and the calling of love to serve and to act on love’s behalf and to choose God-like ways, then those who follow the way of love gather in the spirit of Jesus and commit themselves to creating heaven on earth. Does that not feel like seeking first the Kingdom of God?
Rev. John Zehring worked in higher education for a couple decades and then served United Church of Christ congregations as a pastor in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. He is the author of dozens of books. His most recent book from Judson Press is “Get Your Church Ready to Grow: A Guide to Building Attendance and Participation.”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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