“A Place For You”
January 25, 2012
Several years ago, we came up with a church
T-shirt. It’s a great design and one of the phrases on it is “a place for you”. The scripture passage quotes Jesus saying, “I will never turn away anyone who comes to me.” John 6:37.
Our aim is to be a congregation where everyone feels, not only welcomed, but also included. It takes time and intention to “assimilate” newer people into the Church family. We all develop patterns; we come to church to see “our friends” and we gravitate towards those we feel “most comfortable” with. It can be uncomfortable for many of us to engage someone who’s “newer”.
There are some things we do from time to time to try and help engage and assimilate people. One is a New/Prospective Members class. We’re doing a class Sunday, February 5th right after worship. We’ll have a light lunch and then engage in sharing and learning for one and a half to two hours. There is no cost for the meal and child care will be provided. Please let us know if you plan on attending and if you’ll need childcare.
Another thing we do is occasionally have a get acquainted gathering in someone’s home and bring together “newer” people with folks who have been around for a while. Recently one of our “newer” people called me and offered their home for just such a gathering.
These opportunities help connect people and may bring them closer into our church community. However, both of these events are program events. They can be of great benefit, but they can only do so much. We, as a body, are ultimately responsible to help people know First Baptist Church truly is a “place for you”.
Most of us can think of situations where someone made it a point to include us. They reached out and helped us feel welcomed and wanted. Some of us can remember situations where this didn’t happen and how alone we felt.
Whose job is it to help create a place for others? It’s all of our jobs. It happens before worship and after worship. It happens before Chuppers and after Chuppers. It happens whenever we come together and it may happen when we take the time to give someone a call or drop someone a note or send an email. We can’t convince ourselves that creating a place for others is the responsibility of the staff or some program or a specific committee. The responsibility is all of ours.
When we come to understand “God’s place for us” we also come to understand how vital it is that we help create that “place” for others. We’re in this together.
“Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me.” John 6:37
I’ll look forward to seeing you in Church on Sunday.
In Christ’s love,
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