April 2008
Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”
A recent article in The Living Church, written by an acquaintance, The Rev. Dr. Linda Grenz, really caught my attention. Her challenge in the first sentences echoed a lot of what we at St. Theodore’s have been talking about but maybe need to hear again.
She wrote: “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” isn’t an adequate motto in today’s world. And our latest revision: “The Episcopal Church – We’re Here for You” is even worse. Now we don’t even have to welcome people. We just have be there if they show up. I propose a different motto to guide us these days: “The Episcopal Church is an Inviting Church.” When I read Linda’s article I tried to imagine Brenda and I giving a dinner party and our only communications with our potential guests was a welcoming sign outside the house. I wondered how many guests we could expect. Would the results be any different if we personally invited people to come?
There are plenty of people we can invite to come to church, even if you live in Bella Vista. The surveys remind us over and over that 70% of our population claim no religious affiliation. Eighty percent responded they would come to church if invited. But, being an inviting church just doesn’t seem to be a part of the Episcopal culture. We prefer to grow by biology or by those who move here and are already Episcopalians. I don’t think that was what Jesus had in mind in what we call The Great Commission – Matthew 28:19.
However, before we can invite others to come be a part of us at St. Theodore’s, each of us must be prepared for those who might come in the door. We must allow Christ to transform us into being an inviting church that wants — really wants — to grow, and be strengthened and changed by the new people who have joined us. We clearly must be prepared for visitors and have some Gospel news to share with them. Since we have all been visitors at one time or another to St. Theodore’s, go back to your first visit and ask yourself what was helpful to you. In the coming weeks come to church and pretend that you are a first time visitor. Listen — really listen to the conversations going on all over the building and see what you hear. What do we say and do that would encourage an un-churched or even a non-Episcopalian to come back the next Sunday and worship with us? Linda wrote: “When a church is an inviting church, it is immediately obvious. When you enter, someone engages you in enough conversation to make sure your needs are met. Someone is there to escort a child to Sunday school or explain where the nursery is. The bulletin is intelligible to someone who has never been in church.”
We have never been called to mere consumers of religion, but rather active participants in our own spiritual formation including bringing others to a place where they, too, can grow and be an active part of a church. One of the values of Adult Education is that we can learn more about our high calling of telling others the good news of the Episcopal Church. Adult Education helps us focus outside ourselves and on the call of Christ to be His Church.
We who are St. Theodore’s want to be all that God has created us to be, and I think it begins with a personal transformation and a desire to share the Gospel with those who are not in church but might be if we do more than just welcome them or be here if they show up. We need to look around, say our prayers, and become an inviting Community in the name of Christ. Wonder: Who can I invite to join me in worship this coming week, this coming month? Then go out and invite them as we are all called to do.
Fr. Ken †
