Consider this…
A church was moving towards closure
when they determined through prayer simply that they shall remain open. They
had no other mission or plan except to continue to exist. Shortly thereafter,
new faces began to show themselves in the church. The response of the
congregation was one of warm welcome. Crucially, in my view, the minister
modelled this hospitality by having new people to his home for dinner each
Sunday.
Church on a Sunday may be a place for
welcome, but the home and a dinner table are the places for community and
relationship.
Being invited
to dinner in someone’s home is a special gift. You are brought not just into
the home but into their life and into their family. You can see things that
they value, how they relate to their children and who the person is outside of
the role in which you have first encountered them.
Sharing a
meal with the minister communicates acceptance. Moreover, the minister gets to
know the guests - their stories, their gifts, their needs. Connections are
formed so that subsequent meetings build on the relationship. Such a gesture encourages other people in
the church to extend the same kind of hospitality. These actions build
community, make people feel welcome and open up the church.
If you were
to visit today the church that was close to closing its doors, you would be
struck by its diversity, but this is not all. If you observe who greets you at
the door, who is making the announcements or doing a reading and who is serving
on the leadership team, it is clear that
people are no longer guests but a real part of the church.
- Contributed by Dr. Scott Boldt, Reconciliation Officer at the Edegehill Reconciliation Programme, Belfast
