Читать книгу Radical Welcome - Stephanie Spellers - Страница 17

As you seek to understand radical welcome, get crystal clear on what it is not:

• Radical welcome is not an invitation to assimilate. We must move beyond the traditional inviting church paradigm, beyond inviting people to come inside and take on what we’ve already packaged and nailed down (as you will see in part 2). We are offering an embrace, and that means we have opened ourselves, offered ourselves. The risk is great, but embrace requires us to gird ourselves with the love of God and to say, “Come, bring who you are. My arms are open to you. Would you open yours to me?” We will receive one another, not losing our unique identities and histories, but releasing the rigid boundaries so that our stories can connect and a new community might be born.

• Radical welcome is not feel-good ministry. We are not pandering to the self-centered consumerism or corporate, customer-service expectations currently sucking the life and gospel out of many churches. Radical welcome is not simply a matter of making new or marginalized people feel comfortable, fashioning church in our own image, or hopping onboard for the next cultural trend.

• Radical welcome is not reverse discrimination. There is no need to toss out the gifts of tradition, or to ignore the needs and voices of people who have enjoyed certain privileges. An abundant, radically welcoming attitude says there is room for everyone to be heard, and that there is something beautiful, valuable and holy that everyone brings to the holy banquet, including those who’ve sat at the head of the table for a long time. In reality, there’s bound to be some relinquishment and loss on the part of the empowered groups, but only so that each group can speak and help to shape the community they now share.

• Radical welcome is not a conventional church growth strategy. You are quite likely to grow if you take it seriously. But that’s because it is an expression of Christ’s New Covenant, a way that is rooted in the gospel. Should you engage this transformation, others will surely find your community attractive and compelling, because they will see the passionate and compassionate spirit of Christ at the center of it, and because your hearts will be so open, radiant and fearless, they will prove irresistible.

• Radical welcome is not political correctness or a haphazard, reactionary throwing out of the baby with the bathwater. It is deeply faithful, deeply committed to welcoming and participating in the continuous, powerful, surprising in-breaking of the reign of God. It’s about finding yourself utterly accepted and embraced by God, and then running into the world and your community to see how you could extend that hospitality to others.