We’ve got a mission statement, so we’ve figured out who we are?
Nope! In my mind the mission statement is says to me is here is how we can workout our identity together in Jesus.
Churches have mission statements but do they put them into practice! Ours has the following:
At St Matts you will find: “A warm and gracious welcome!” A true statement as Jesus welcome everyone he came across, children, Samaritan women or
Congregations need to remember to SHOW warmth, a smile, hello, etc and it must be generous and authentic. It is not always going to work in practice you say! Agreed, not everyone will be on board and not all will have the gifts to welcome to strangers in our midst.
Gracious or grace is not in our everyday secular vocabulary, or necessarily fully understood in the Christian community so what I have noticed over a period of time is that when “Grace” is regularly used to illustrate Christian values thing have begun to change. It is a small word with huge meaning behind it.
It is all about being a living community which differentiates itself from secular world.
Can't help wondering if we put too much emphasis on welcoming people into church. Isn't it God's church? Doesn't he welcome everyone who enters, including us regulars? Didn't Jesus talk more about going out into the world and receiving the hospitality of strangers than staying home and offering it?
ReplyDelete"Congregations need to remember to SHOW warmth, a smile, hello, etc and it must be generous and authentic"
ReplyDeleteI sense a contradiction here. If it is a genuine and authentic smile, then you do not have to remember to do it. If you are making an effort to put on a certain sort of face, then it is probably not genuine.
Should we fake emotions and paint an image of a sugar coated church to get members in - or be authentic?
If I am authentically depressed, or authentically annoyed, or authentically solemn, could I at the same time show warmth and smile.. and be authentic about this as well?