“We are a welcoming church” is something churches often use to describe our congregations - but if we are honest, it’s easier said than done. Welcome is an interesting word, with meanings around greeting, invitation, and hospitality. On one level, a welcome is fairly easy - a friendly hello does wonders when you walk into a church for the first time. However, to be truly welcomed goes a bit deeper; it’s more than just being acknowledged.
While offering a welcome is about us and what we do, being welcomed is the experience of the person newly approaching us. One definition describes it as being “much needed or desired.” Allowing others to feel truly welcomed requires an ongoing posture towards the unknown, an attitude which shapes the character of a place, a church, a home.
And therein lies the challenge - how many of our churches really look at those who are new, not yet part of the group, or slightly different to the usual, as greatly desired and needed? If we were to really embrace this attitude, how would it affect our practice? How do we extend a deep welcome, one that draws people into a place where they can truly flourish and grow to be the most authentic version of themselves in Christ?
In the weeks after the Referendum result last summer, one of the most jarring realisations for some was how divided our society really is. The facades came down and we saw and heard for the first time what many had been feeling for longer than we cared to admit. Diversity went from being something to be celebrated to something to be feared. It felt like aggressive suspicion was legitimised in some way. We were all too aware of the impacts of divisive rhetoric flowing without too much concern for either the truth, or the “other”.
Into this context, with our urban Portsmouth parish found in the midst of great economic, cultural and political diversity, it felt important to respond. If we want to be a welcoming church, for people to be greatly desired and needed, then this was surely the time to say something. So one Sunday, as part of an interactive all age service, we made a statement. Using the safety pin metaphor which went viral in the wake of the Referendum result, we wrote our names on bright strips of ribbon, and pinned them to a banner reading “Whatever your age, education, gender, sexuality, race, beliefs, this is a safe place”. Part prayer, part advocacy, it was a small gesture really… however, the decision to display the banner outside on our wall was quite terrifying. It made a public statement, in contrast to much of the rhetoric swirling around us at that time, that we wanted to be a place which truly welcomed the difference around us. A place where you were greatly desired, and needed, particularly if you looked, believed or loved differently to us. That we are somehow lacking without your contribution. A small gesture, incomplete in the face of such a social challenge, yet weighty with potential for a better alternative.
Welcome is an act of generosity, rooted in the character of God - an act of justice as well as hospitality. It’s always a challenge to love those who are different to us, who look, believe or love in a different way than we do. However powerful the public statement was, our banner was only on display for a season. Embracing the other requires a humble acknowledgment that we don’t have it all sorted, a generosity which allows for the unexpected, and a warmth which puts the other before ourselves.
We shouldn't kid ourselves about the cost of this. It doesn’t come naturally to any of us, but it is the example of Jesus and the way of the Kingdom. It is the gift of grace shown by a loving God to his mixed up kids. We are not always smiley happy people but we can be real, when we admit that we are all just muddling along together on this journey for honest, sacrificial relationship and you know what? You are welcome to join us!
Susie Templeton is a pioneer ordinand at St Luke and St Peter, an SCM Link Church in the diocese of Portsmouth. She is currently training with CMS, studying a diploma in Theology, Mission and Ministry. She also loves scuba diving in Indonesia and bakes the best brownies ever.