NEXT DOOR AND DOWN THE FREEWAY

I just shared this quote from Dr. Jerry Porter with a friend and thought I would share it with you. Hope you find it helpful....

How ready and willing is your church to welcome people who are different from you? Just how inclusive is your congregation? Consider these six levels of inclusivity.

The Level One (least inclusive) church has ushers we might call church bouncers. Oh yes - they are sincere, efficient ushers who dutifully collect the offering and help folks find a place to sit, but when you come to their church, if you're not like the rest of them, they gently guide you down the hall and downstairs to your place. Or perhaps they even say "you know, you would feel a lot more comfortable if you would go down the street four blocks and two blocks to your left. The church there is just like you, and you would really want to be there, wouldn't you? 

Some feel that is racist, so at Level Two they train the usher to say, "Nice to have you here today. Please take a seat "while thinking", You really don't belong and if were careful not to act too friendly, we would be relieved if you chose not to come back. In the meantime, at least we can count you, report a greater attendance, and we're glad to take any offerings you choose to give to God's work.

Let's move up the spectrum a bit more to Level Three. "Well, you've been coming to our church now for several weeks, and it's almost district assembly time. Would you like to join our church?" Now that's a major step. "It's one thing for you to sit in our pews, they think, but now we want you to join our church. And would you tithe? We want you to be part of us." Unfortunately, even after you join, your still feel like an outsider. One man said, "I've been a member for 10 years, but I still don't belong."

Now for the Forth level of inclusivity. They don't have a bouncer. They don't ask you to just sit there. They actually let you join their church. Level Four inclusivity would help you discover and develop your spiritual gifts and appoint you to ministry assignment. At this level you become part of the ministry team, and your name is place on the nominating ballot for church leadership positions.

Does the church want to be even more inclusive? Try Level Five. We would like to hire you to serve on the church staff in community. When York, Pennsylvania Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene hired African American James Heyward as Youth Pastor a new message went out to the congregation and community. As Rev. Heyward led the services and preached, African American worshipers commented to Pastor Bud Reedy, "When I visited your church and saw Pastor James on the platform as a staff member, I knew there was a place for me here." 

There is perhaps a Sixth level of inclusive - when a predominately white church calls an African American or Latino shepherd as their pastor. God's grace has broken through a barrier. The apostle Paul said, "He (Jesus) tore down the wall that we used to keep each other at a distance. (Eph. 2:14). At Level Six, we are by God's grace. And the walls will have to come down. That means that we becoming as color blind as God himself. 

We all have radical and cultural roots. Most of us received Christ when He came to us wrapped in the swaddling clothes of our culture. There will always be some church that focus on a particular target population, but at the same time every Church of the Nazarine must always be inclusive. Everybody is welcome here. We begin to understand the kind of church God wants to raise up in the 21st century. A multi-cultural, inclusive, missional community of faith.