Welcome (?) to Church

“Welcome is one of the signs that a community is alive. To invite others to live with us is a sign that we aren’t afraid, that we have a treasure of truth and of peace to share.”  – Jean Vanier

I recently read this quote on a church website and it stopped me in my tracks.  I’ve read a bit of Vanier before, and he’s known for wonderful meditations on hospitality, living faith, and community – but this statement seemed to sum up to me so much of what I long for churches to better embody and share with the world. True welcome, true grace and an openness to share real life together, is actually a sign that life occurs! Fear, or competition, or judgment, are not life-giving in a community/church, and they instead seal out the gifts and graces that we may be called to live out with each other.

But those who steel themselves against ‘the outside world,’ who cannot seem to welcome or be vibrant and alive, who fear the new or the other, I don’t think that they realize these are symptoms coming from their own slow death. I think that these churches are scared to move forward, scared to try new or risky things – and so they hold onto all they know – which in turn, then produces and encourages fear, control, and lack of trust in God. These are things that we know kill spiritual growth. Eventually, I think these practices kill a body of believers.

For those who are truly growing, alive, and open, for those who can welcome the other with grace and trust in how God may use another, it seems that it again – produces a different kind of self-prepetuating cycle. New energy, new callings, new gifts and new people being welcomed into a community help produce trust, grace, patience with each other, and a spirit of gratitude toward God who is sustaining it all. We see that we need others for our own health, we acknowledge the stretch marks and the bounty that change brings, and we breath in the fresh air of growth together. How do people from the first group move to being part of this second group? How does a church body recognize their own dying, and turn instead to God’s provision? How do we discern where to head when signs of life are sprouting amidst decay and rot – signs of welcome and fresh energy along with persistant anxiety and control, signs of hospitality alongside a deadly turn inward? 

What really makes a church welcoming, in this life-giving way? What do attenders, visitors, or those sometimes tired of church look for? What signs do I look for that show me life – pulsing beneath the pews, a heart beating through the music, and true warmth and health in outstretched hands that greet me?