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How Inclusive Are We?

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Inclusive Church - Join Us

We like to think of our churches as inclusive, warm, loving, friendly places to be but not everyone feels that way.  Not everyone feels like they belong in some churches.

Do we really accept and include people who are different from us as we would anyone else?

If a person who is single is in a group of married people, will they feel included?

If a person with a disability or special need of some sort is in a class, will they feel included?

If a person who is homeless walks into your worship service, will they feel included?

If a person with a different skin color or race visits, will they feel included?

It’s fairly easy to be warm, friendly, and accepting of those who are like us, but what about those who aren’t of the same race, marital, physical, mental, or economic status as us?

An Inclusive Church Follows Jesus’ Instruction

In Matthew 5:47 Jesus said, “And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”  In the broad sense, we could say that brothers could be people united by some kind of common bond … those who are the “same” as us.  In the very next verse, Jesus goes on to say “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Just prior to this, in verse 45, Jesus defined the perfect ways of the Father.

… that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

He was talking about extending grace to those with moral differences. If we can’t extend ourselves to people with marital, physical, mental, economic, or racial differences, how will we be that way with “sinners”?  Yet, if we are to emulate the Father, we must be gracious to ALL people.

Struggle to accept and include others in your circle?

Matthew 5:48 tells us how.  We are to be perfect as the Father is perfect.  The word “perfect” does not mean sinless, although our Father in heaven is indeed sinless.  The original Greek word signifies something that is complete or mature, of full age. So, basically Jesus is saying, “Grow up!”  The more we live in the fullness of who HE is, the more we will love people no matter how different they are from us.  Sure, there might be some awkwardness at first because you don’t understand where they are coming from, but as you fulfill Jesus’ greatest commandments to love Him and to love people, you will extend yourself anyway.  You might not always say or do the right things, but at least you will try rather than ignore them.  You will take time to get to know and understand them.  You will truly WANT TO BE inclusive.

If you struggle extending yourself to any of the people listed above, scroll back up and click on the links for resources that could help you better understand these differences.  It’s a starting point.

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4 Replies to “How Inclusive Are We?”

  1. You didn’t specifically mention people with different sexual orientation or other specific moral issues — even harder to do — fine line between loving the sinner and not the sin!

    • You are right. There’s a fine line in the practical outworking of loving the “sinner” and not the sin and churches often do struggle with how to walk that line. We don’t want to appear intolerant yet at the same time we don’t want to abandon God’s Word. We need to speak the truth but do it in love (Eph. 4:15). Jesus was full of both grace and truth (Jn. 1:14, 17). He did not lay truth aside to accept the sinner. Yet, He was criticized for being a “friend of sinners” (Matt. 11:19). It’s not a matter of balancing grace and truth but rather of being both. Jesus was 100% grace and 100% truth at the same time. The more Christ-like we become, the more we will display both of these traits, at the same time, to those who are different from us whether that be marital status, physical or mental abilities, economic status, race, or even moral struggles.

      • Good response. Got to thinking — If Jesus was misunderstood in reaching out and accepting sinners, guess we have to accept fact that we might be too.

        • Absolutely. Otherwise we could let fear determine our actions rather than seeking a Christ-like approach. Fear can immobilize us. Afraid we will be criticized, sometimes we do nothing. Jesus not only responded with grace and truth but He was proactive about it. He invited Himself to their homes, etc.

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