Of Fellowship and Hospitality

Recently I was driving home from work listening to one of the many Christian radio stations here in the Central California valley.  The DJ was talking about how when he had first moved to a new town he and his wife decided to attend a local church to possibly find some people to connect with. They showed up early to attend on of the Sunday school classes and purposely picked one with young couples.  There was about a half dozen couples in the class.  The DJ said he was rather cordial and said hello to some of the people in the class.  They returned his greeting but not much more than that.  After the class they waited around for a little bit hoping to strike up a conversation with someone, but to not avail.  They then went to the service and exchanged some polite greetings but nothing more.  After the service they decided not to return to that church.

Fast forward to a few years later and an acquaintance of the DJ invited the DJ and his wife to his church, which turned out to be the very same one where they received the polite, yet indifferent, greetings.  They went and during the service they were seated in the front row.  The pastor introduced them to the entire congregation of a few hundred, or more, members.  The DJ found out afterward that someone from the church had discovered he was a DJ at a local Christian radio station and that was the reason for the invite.

This, unfortunately, illustrates how many large, and some small, churches welcome new people.  I have certainly witnessed both kinds.  One large non-denominational church I attended did not do a very good job at welcoming new people.  In fact they were one of those churches who even dissuade members from bringing their children under a certain age (generally middle school/junior high age) from sitting with them in the service.  They usually have Sunday school classes or nursery provided, or other places on the church’s campus where a whole family can sit together to hold down “distraction” during the service in the main sanctuary. 

I did attend, however, an Assembly of God church that had a whole ministry around welcoming new people to the church.  Though, unfortunately, they also had the same philosophy on having children in the service, though it was much more subtle.

Our current church has taken hospitality and fellowship a step further and designates a “host family” who are responsible for inviting guests to the church, as well as members who live out of town, over for the afternoon for lunch and fellowship between the morning and evening services.

But what they story about the DJ also illustrates is an unfortunate practice of only showing hospitality to those they deem “worthy” of it.  This is truly a sad approach at hospitality and fellowship.  It is almost worse than not being hospitable at all.

It is no secret that one of the ways people decide to continue attending, or even becoming members of, a church, aside from the very important issue of what is being taught, is how they are greeted and treated on their initial visit.  If a church not only has sound biblical doctrine being taught from week to week, but also has a warm hospitable attitude people will come from miles away just to make it their church home.

Fellowship is a large part of a healthy, growing congregation.  And it all is set by the tone of the leadership of the church.  If the leadership; including the elders, pastor, and deacons; has an attitude of intimidation it can filter down to the congregation.  In the case of the church in this example it seems that the leadership is more concerned with attracting more affluent people to the church, which was obviously displayed during the experience of this DJ’s two visits to the church.  Quite frankly, if it were me, I would have left and never returned after the, arguably, inappropriate display made by the pastor in front of the entire congregation.

How does your church receive new visitors?  Are they welcomed with warm hospitality and fellowship, or are they sized up before anyone even approaches them?

This is a call out to both church leaders and members of congregations to ask themselves how they welcome new people.

Of Holidays: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday, the Sunday prior to Resurrection Sunday, is the day Jesus enters Jerusalem on the back of a colt.  Upon His entry into the city the Jews, believing He was coming to liberate them from the Romans, lined the streets in celebration waving palm branches and laying them, and in some cases their cloaks, on the ground for Jesus to ride over.  They were anticipating something momentous, yet what they were anticipating and what ended up happening wasn't anywhere even close.  The Jews believed He would be their savior from decades, if not centuries, of living under the oppressive rule of one after another conquering nation.  Rome was just the latest of many.

Of Holidays: St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day (March 17th) is probably the most recognized of the many Feast Days, followed closely by St Valentine's Day.  This was a day set aside to commemorate an individual who was instrumental in spreading the good news of Salvation to an, as yet, untapped area of the world, Ireland.  Though it is, as in many cases, quite unique how God brought about this occurrence.  St Patrick was born in 387 AD to a rich family living on the island of Brittania (England) back when it was still controlled by the Romans.  When he was about 16 years old he was abducted by Irish raiders and taken into captivity in Ireland.  According to his Confession he had a dream where God told him to escape from his captivity and go back to Brittania.  He successfully escaped and eventually made it a monastery in Gaul (France) where he studied to become a priest.  In 432 he had another dream where God told him to go back to Ireland and spread the Gospel to the Pagan, Polytheistic, people living there.  One noteable aspect of St Patrick's teaching methods was to use the shamrock (clover) to explain the Trinity.

Of Holidays: Lent

Lent is a period of 40 days and nights, the example of which comes from Christ's time he fasted in the desert up to His temptation by satan and embarkation of his ministry as well as the time Moses spent fasting on Mount Sinai when he received the first copies of the tablets with the Ten Commandments. This period begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday (the day before Christ's crucifixion). The dates for these events are determined, based on a resolution at the Council of Nicaea of 325 AD, where Resurrection Sunday falls on the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon (the first full moon on or after the vernal (spring) equinox). Then Ash Wednesday is set 40 days prior to Holy Thursday, which is, of course, three days prior to Resurrection Sunday.

Of Holidays: Valentine's Day

I am sure that all of the one of you who read this blog are asking yourself, "Do we really need to keep God at the center of our celebration of any holiday?"  Well, here is a holiday that will allow us to explore that in a bit more detail.

Of Holidays: Feast Days...

Feast Days are those in which the Catholic Church, whether it is a local congregation or the Vatican itself, set aside to commemorate those who made significant contributions to the growth of the church, especially during its most formative years.  Many were martyrs and the like and the day on which their feast falls corresponds with either their date of birth, or more routinely, the day they died.  But should we as Christians celebrate these feast days.

Of Holidays...

This post is to spark a series on holidays.  Mostly holidays that are celebrated in the United States, though it is possible I may expand into holidays celebrated in other countries.  The main thing I would like to discuss is what are the holidays we have around us and whether or not, as Christians, we should participate/celebrate these various holidays.