The Inclusive Fellowship of Jesus

Well, after a nice, long summer break from blogging, I'm refreshed and glad to be back at it. I hope you'll jump in and help me get the ball rolling once again.

A number of years ago, a group of church growth experts suggested that one of the ways to help a church grow is by creating a 'homogeneous' congregation. Stated simply, the idea they put forth was that the more the people of a congregation are like one another, the more likely that congregation is to grow. Churches grow faster, these experts told us, when they consist of people who are generally of the similar economic class, race, political belief, and so forth.

Over the years, this idea has morphed a little bit into the idea that if churches give people enough choices of what they would like in worship, the church will grow. For example, a traditional worship service will attract people (mostly elderly) who want to sing hymns and who enjoy a certain style of music, and a contemporary service will attract people (mostly younger than the traditional service) who like drums, guitars and choruses. This can be taken a good deal further, of course. I have a cartoon that depicts a sign hanging in front of a house of worship with a list of times and worship styles targeted for different audiences: a country and western service, a jazz service, classical, hip-hop and the list goes on. Although on the surface of things, this appears to be very different than the principle of homogeneity I mentioned in the last paragraph, I think it is in fact the same thing. Now you can be with people just like yourself, right down to the style of music you enjoy!

As you might have guessed, I'm having some trouble with this notion of homogeneity. It strikes me that one of the most radical and peculiar things about the ministry of Jesus is precisely how inclusive it is. I've teased this idea a number of times by pointing out that one of the followers of Jesus was a Zealot, a member of a party that wanted nothing more than to overthrow the Roman government; and another of the followers of Jesus was a tax collector, who gathered tolls from Jewish peasants to support the Roman government. As Clarence Jordan once quipped, I'll bet there was a night or two when Jesus had to sleep between those boys!

Paul the apostle reminds the church that in Christ the distinctions between men and women, slaves and free, and Jews and Gentiles have been overcome. A new, inclusive community has been formed in Christ. And, if I'm reading Ephesians correctly, this inclusive community witnesses to the Lordship of Jesus precisely by breaking down the walls that once separated us from one another. "He is our peace, who has broken down every wall."

One small way that our congregation attempts to bear witness to the unity-in-diversity that we have in Christ is in our worship. As we have written on our web site, "By intention, our two Sunday morning worship services are identical. While we have great respect for many churches that have opted to provide two or more very different worship services (traditional and contemporary, for example), we have chosen to have two identical, blended services. Our blended worship is intended to bring together a diverse gathering of people."

It is, or course, always an open question whether or not we're 'blending' our worship well. There are no doubt differing opinions about this (as well there should be in a diverse congregation!). However, this much seems very clear to me: Our efforts to 'blend' our worship in a way that welcomes a broad cross-section of people will cost something of everyone. Some may find it to stilted; others may long for something quieter; others may wish we sang nothing but hymns, and still others that we dispense with anything except choruses. I believe that a serious effort to come together across our differences is costly to all, but well-worth the effort if it bears witness to the one who breaks down every wall.