But what if the catch looks like this:
Or this:
Or this:
In my experience, the people we most often invite to church are the ones that look the most like they would fit in. We tell them, "You should come visit our church -- you would really like it."
What about those of different ethnicity? If our church is entirely caucasian, do we dare invite orientals, hispanics, or african-americans? If our church is hispanic, do we dare invite gringos?
What about different religions? Are we ready for Muslims or athiests?
What about different societal viewpoints? Are our arms open to those confused about their gender or sexuality? Can we show love to someone who has aborted their baby?
Tony Campolo put it this way:
My question to pastors is not, “Who is coming to your church?” but rather “Who isn’t coming?”
Take a look at your congregation. What people groups are missing? What would it take to get them there?
Please note that I'm not talking about changing our message. I'm just asking what we'd have to do so other people groups would feel welcome enough to hear our message.
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Wow, powerful. Who is NOT attending our churches and why??? We should be searching out these people who are far from God and look like they don't fit. At our church we have lots of different people that come at times. I absolutely love it. a little over 6 months ago we had a couple that come in their twenties male & female with mohawks 6-8 inches tall. the girl's mohawk was pink with blue tips and she had over 10 face peircings. The guy's mohawk was bleach blonde with a cross shaved in the back of his head with 6 or more ear peircings in each ear. what i loved the most was that our church family went up and talked to them like they were no different and get this they even came back. They have attended periodically since then and we love it. Oh yea, i forgot to mention that she is a stripper at the local strip club. don't forget Jesus allowed a woman like this annoint his feet with expensive perfume.
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