Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you,
for the glory of God.[1]
For the next five weeks we are
going to be engaged with what Bishop Robert Schnase termed The Five Practices of Fruitful
Congregations. It would be good
to start with a definition of “Fruitful Congregation”.
A group of Jesus' followers following Jesus.
I admit this is my own, but it has been
shaped by all I’ve ever read on this topic and forty years of living the
Christian life. Here is my definition of
a “Fruitful Congregation”:
Well, what does it look like when
Jesus’ followers follow Jesus? There are
at least five pieces to the puzzle:
·
Radical
Hospitality (welcoming)
·
Passionate
Worship
·
Intentional
Faith Development
·
Risk-Taking
Mission & Service
·
Extravagant
Generosity
The question for our congregation
is Does
this describe us? And a more
poignant question would be Do we WANT it to describe us; is that what
we want to BE?
Fruitfulness – It’s God’s Idea
The metaphor of a “fruitful tree”
was God’s idea. God used the Old Testament
prophets to describe Israel as “His vineyard”.
In the New Testament (or Christian Scriptures) Jesus said it plainly, I am
the vine…you are the branches[2] Jesus called God the Father the “Vineyard
owner”; He’s in the fruit business. Now,
no businessman works to achieve bankruptcy, and the Father as vineyard owner
isn’t just content with barren fields; he expects produce – he expects his
vines to be fruitful vines. What does
that look like?
A Church “face” for the Metaphor
The church at Pentecost helps put
a face on this metaphor. Acts shows us
the epitome of fruitfulness on the first charge conference report ever:
41So those who welcomed his message were
baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers. 43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs
were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in
common; 45they
would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as
any had need. 46Day
by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at
home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the
goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those
who were being saved. Acts 2:41-47
Luke’s Scripture easily validates
the claim of these 5 Fruitful Practices
·
Radical
hospitality v.47 – new people attracted to the new church daily.
·
Passionate
worship v.46 – at the temple, praising
·
Intentional
Faith Development v.42 – they were devoted
to learning, hanging-out together and prayer
·
Risk-Taking
Mission and Service v.45 – seeing to the needs of all, even (especially) the
strangers
·
Extravagant
Generosity v.44 – The believers looked at material possessions with the eye of
a steward…managing what God had placed in their hands FOR GOD…not building
their own empires. They even sold
“personal” possessions to meet basic needs of the poor.
How about us?
Does this describe us? Has our congregation been called by God to
live this way? Well, if we’re Wesleyan
people, and serious about being a follower of Jesus Christ, there can only be
one answer to that question – of course that describes us…or should! As Wesleyans we judge statements,
interpretation of doctrines and practice of our faith on the basis of four
standards – Tradition (of the church
since Pentecost), Experience (in our
own lives), Reason (is it
reasonable; God gave us a mind, intellect to know to do right), and Scripture (the Bible)…and, for John
Wesley, this carried perhaps the heaviest weight amongst the four pillars of
the “Quadrilateral”.
What Then IS Radical Hospitality?
Of course the concept of radical
hospitality as encouraged by Scripture, and held up as the first of 5 Practices
that define a healthy, fruit-producing church, is too comprehensive to present
in a single, catchy sentence. But if you
were to try to do that you might start with Paul’s description of what he told the
believers at Philippi they ought to do about following Jesus:
The idea is that we are to be the
same kind of “welcoming” people as the Lord Jesus, whom we worship. Pastor Allan Bevere in Cambridge, Ohio,
talked in a sermon about how radical Jesus’ hospitality was:
Jesus practiced Radical Hospitality throughout his ministry. While
Jesus rightfully could have claimed some kind of special status, he neither
sought such unique privilege nor treated some in a more preferred way than
others. Jesus did not shun the homes of the less desirable of society. He
associated with people whom the status quo ignored. He even welcomed children
who, in that culture, were often considered a nuisance. Jesus showed
hospitality for all, which was a reflection of the centrality of his mission:
that he had come to die for all.
Some two
thousand years later, we who follow Jesus—we the church—must also practice the
kind of Radical Hospitality Jesus offered. Robert Schnase, in his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations,
writes, “Following Jesus’ example of gathering people into the Body of Christ,
inviting them to the banquet of God’s gracious love requires intentional focus
on those outside the community of faith. Jesus’ example of hospitality demands
an unceasingly invitational posture that we carry with us into our world of
work and leisure and into our practice of neighborliness and community service”
(Abingdon Press, 2007; p. 14). Hospitality is not simply something we do; it is
an attitude. It is our posture as a church.
Churches that practice hospitality are welcoming on Sunday
morning—not just in reference to those persons they know, but especially to
those who are visiting, to those who are strangers. The experts in-the-know say
that 70 to 80 percent of persons visiting a church for the first time will make
up their minds in the first fifteen minutes whether or not they will return
next week. Even
before they have heard the choir or the sermon, they have already decided
whether or not to attend again next week or to try another church.
Wonderful music and great preaching will not overcome a lack of
hospitality, a lack of friendliness and warmth. What often happens in the
church on Sunday morning is not that the church folk are in and of themselves
unfriendly. What happens is that too many people in the church think that
hospitality is someone else’s job, to be taken care of by the people with
titles such as the ushers or the greeters or the pastor. And that is what
people expect—that certain people will welcome them because that is their job.
It is when those who are not “obligated” turn around and shake hands and offer
words of greeting that people know they are in a hospitable place. I realize
that such behavior will take some people out of their comfort zones, but that
is why it is called Radical
Hospitality; and it is necessary for the church to practice such hospitality if
it wants to be a vital place that attracts people. Schnase writes, “People are
searching for churches that make them feel welcomed and loved, needed and
accepted” (p. 31).[3]
In that same sermon Pastor Bevere
spoke to the “enough” question – are we radical enough?
The
contemporary Christian music group Casting
Crowns sings a song entitled “We Are the Body,” which has become one of my
favorites. The first two verses and the chorus speak to the subject of Radical
Hospitality. A young woman tries to slip into the worship service unnoticed,
but the girls tease her with their laughter. A traveler sits on the back row
and is “greeted” by judgmental glances. And then comes the first piercing
question of the chorus:
But if we are the Body; Why aren’t His arms
reaching?
Radical Hospitality also means that we do not get to decide who
will receive our welcome. The last verse of “We Are the Body” reminds us that
the price Jesus paid on the cross was too high for us to be able to pick and
choose who is allowed to come, and that we
are the body of Christ.[4]
Radical hospitality is not “goofy
fanatical wide-eyed craziness; it is being beyond ordinary and beyond selfish –
it’s being excited and honored to offer the welcome of Jesus Christ to
everyone.
It is also not program-centered
(Lord, save us from more programs!).
Programs (and their effect) last about as long as it takes to put the
literature back in a file drawer.
Rather, the radical nature of genuine Jesus-hospitality
is found in the fact that it becomes our lifestyle…our practice…it’s more who
we are rather than just “what we do”; we are people who habitually welcome
everyone with the same kind of unconditional open arms Jesus would offer.
This is the kind of thing that
becomes natural over time; it gets embedded in our souls as we become more like
Jesus. That was God’s plan to transform
us, or change us to be His children….molded into the image of Christ:
29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. Romans 8:29
(NRSV)
And so, Radical Hospitality isn’t
really radical – it’s just doing what God made you for, and for that into which
you’re constantly being formed – a welcomed child of God, who is being just
like Jesus…welcoming! You’ve been
welcomed into God’s family…now you turn around and do the welcoming for others.
Here’s the way it worked in my
life:
My parents, Elwood and Cecilia,
welcomed me with physical birth, but everything they ever did reassured me that
I was part of the family.
Pastor Ken Olsen welcomed a quiet
– not too sure of himself kid into the youth group at our church …he made sure
I knew I was wanted there.
Hadfield Brook, pastor of the St.
James United Methodist Church welcomed Elizabeth and me into the fellowship
there over 40 years ago…he actually made a backslidden young adult feel like a
person of worth. It was just what Jesus
would do.
The Hingle family were United
Methodists in New Orleans…attended an older, declining church that was not at
all a place for a social-climber. Mr.
and Mrs. Hingle took a young Baptist seminary family into their hearts and
home; we were Yankees to boot! But Jesus
was right in the middle of it.
Lynn Blankenship-Caldlwell
welcomed me into the United Methodist Church, and called me “brother” and
pointed me towards serving…and Bethany United Methodist did just what Jesus
would do, welcomed the stranger…a Baptist, no less. And you all have continued the practice of
welcoming.
And each week, in the name of
Jesus I get to extend that welcome a bit farther to “whosoever will” from this
very pulpit. That’s what Radical
Hospitality will do over forty years.
And it just keeps getting
better…because we’re going to be welcomed into Heaven for a radical eternity of
grace and peace by the One who started it all.
That’s what this table is about –
the radical hospitality of the cross…come, be forgiven, be saved, live
eternally…now THAT’s RADICAL HOSPITALITY!
what to do about what we’ve heard
The question is always, so
what? So, what should we do now
that we know that Biblical radical hospitality is how people who follow Jesus
welcome others? We make a decision to be
intentional in our efforts to throw the doors to this church wide open – because
that’s exactly the way the doors to the Kingdom of God stand.
In the name
of the Father,
Because of
the Son,
Cooperating
with the Spirit,
Amen!
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