Church Shopping: Welcoming the Other

Walking into a new church can be intimidating. Here in Tacoma, most of the church buildings are very old. They have high, all-seeing steeples and huge wooden doors. It's even more intimidating if you show up late. Eyes turn toward you as you creep into the sanctuary during an unexpectedly quiet moment.

But this is the crucial moment that separates radically hospitable churches from punctual Christians only clubs. Extending hospitality starts when the stranger enters, unannounced, at the most inopportune time. When the other intrudes, late and frazzled, do you roll your eyes or do you give them your seat and hand them a bulletin?

In our three months of church shopping, my girlfriend and I have been to many uncomfortable churches. Some were stiff hard it was hard to follow the order of worship, making us feel like outsiders. Some were completely blind to our existence, keeping to the people they knew and making us feel excluded. Some were giant, impersonal megachurches where we felt attacked by preachers who sought to save us, whether we wanted to be saved or not.

It's hard to attract and keep young people like me and my girlfriend. Most churches don't have programs for 20-somethings. But with congregations aging and families disappearing, my generation is the only hope the church has of surviving to the next generation.

The first step is hospitality. In those churches that welcomed us, even when we were unknown and five minutes late to the service, we felt the love and acceptance of Jesus. Those are the congregations we want to return to and eventually, that's the kind of place we want to make our new church home.

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 13:2