It's Not A Gimmick

By Robin G. Jordan

Being deliberate in greeting and welcoming everyone who walks through the church door on Sunday morning is practicing a Christian virtue to which the Scriptures give considerable weight. It is the Christian virtue of being hospitable, of being friendly and liberal in our reception of even strangers.

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God. Leviticus 19:33-34 (ASV)

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink? And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.Matthew 25:34-40 (ASV)

Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:2 (ASV)

Those who regularly attend a church like to think of themselves as being hospitable but upon close analysis they really are not. Their friendliness and liberality extends only to the reception of those whom they know. Because they are friendly and liberal toward their acquaintances, human nature being what it is, they are apt to think of themselves and in turn the church as friendly and liberal toward everyone.

Videotaping the time before and after the Sunday morning service can be very revealing. Church members and regular attenders are likely to be clumped together into small knots. Newcomers will be easy to distinguish, as they are likely to be standing on their own. So will those whom the church is not assimilating.

A church in which the church members and regular attenders are absorbed in each other’s fellowship, and in which church members and regular attenders do not take the time to welcome visitors, to introduce themselves, and to make their acquaintance will develop the reputation of being an unfriendly church. This reputation will quickly spread throughout a community and discourage people from attending the church.

There are those who argue that things like the hospitability of a church do not matter. What matters is the preaching of the pure Word of God. They ignore a very important teaching of the New Testament. We are called to not just to be hearers of the Word. We are called to be doers of the Word. We are called to live the Word and to embody its teaching.

All too frequently Christians are like sponges that absorb what is preached and taught on Sunday morning but never manifest any sign that what they have heard has made a difference to them, to how they see the world and to how they go about they lives. They are indistinguishable from non-Christians except for their practice of church attendance.

If we look at the history of Christianity, it has proven to be the most winsome when what Christians did was congruent with what they said, when there was harmony between their words and their actions. They were strong living testimony to the truth of what the Church preached and taught.

The weakness of today’s Church and its lack of influence in contemporary society is attributable in part to the discrepancy between the preaching and teaching of the Church and the lives of Christians. The Church has lost credibility with an already skeptical population that has no place for any form of organized religion in its life. This population sees no tangible worth in churchgoing, much less church membership. Christians have become the worst advertisement for Christianity instead of its best.

A tree, our Lord taught, is known by its fruit. This teaching would have meant so much more for his original audience for whom fruit trees were a part of their daily lives than for us who buy our fruit in a supermarket. I am thankful that a part of my childhood was spent on a small farm in rural England, which had fruit trees. I learned that fruit trees that were well tended bore fruit that was abundant, juicy and sweet. On the other hand, the fruit of trees that had been neglected was sparse, wizened, and bitter.

As well as picking apples and plums from our fruit trees, we also gathered rose hips, hazel nuts, and sloes from the hedgerows that lined the Great Common and the country lanes and blackberries from the brambles on the common itself. We quickly learned the best spots where the fruit that we sought grew in abundance and was worth the scratches and bruises that might be sustained gathering it. The birds and the wild animals that lived in the hedgerows also knew these spots. Just as the best spots attracted birds, wild animals, and small boys due to the quantity and quality of the fruit, so do the churches with most fruitful congregations attract seekers.

My observation has been that all seekers do not know that they are seekers. They may beforehand feel that something is missing from their lives. Or they may like small boys who chance upon branches heavy with ripe hazelnuts suddenly realize that they are out gathering nuts! What may attract them at first may be quite superficial just as the cool shade of a hazelnut tree may attract small boys seeking to escape the heat of the sun-drenched common. But what will bring them back are the fruit and the promise of more fruit.

This suggests that an attractional church must be a church of many attractions—some superficial, others less so, and at the heart of it all, the preaching and teaching of the pure Word of God. Even the seemingly superficial may be surprisingly deeper than we realize, and have spiritual dimensions that we never considered.

The attractional church may be thought of as a series of concentric circles. The outermost circle is the outward attractions such as the great church band. These attractions bring the seeker into contact with the next circle. In this circle he not only hears the Word of God but he also encounters those whose lives God has transformed.

It is in this circle we find fruit-bearing Christians. They bear much fruit because they abide in Christ and Christ in them. They abide in Christ’s word.

In the innermost circle is God. It is God working in each of the two outer circles that brings it all together. It is God drawing us closer to himself. Each of us plays a part but ultimately it is all God’s doing from beginning to end. To him be the glory!