word | spirit | world | church
Sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? We think we know that to welcome is the very opposite of having a wall up. We’re wrong. Ivan Illich taught that the welcome of hospitality requires a threshold. By definition, we need to move over a threshold in order to be welcomed. If there is no threshold to move over, I can’t welcome… Continue reading Put up walls so you can welcome
Thickening Communities II How do we ‘thicken’ our communities? Basically the same way I think we solve everything: we eat together. We experience the deepest communion with God and with each other when we come to God’s table. We’re made to be companions, literal ‘sharers of bread,’ friends in modern parlance, as God the host… Continue reading Come to the Table
Your church shouldn’t be too easy to join. This is probably counter-intuitive to many, we spend such a lot of time trying to remove barriers to welcome people into church and often in really helpful ways, but let me try and show you my thinking. Nor is this a bait-and-switch where I’ll end by saying… Continue reading Don’t be too easy to join
One of the qualifications for elders is hospitality (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1), which means ‘welcoming strangers.’ While this is an absolute expectation of pastors, most of the qualifications describe the ordinary Christian life. We’re meant to be welcoming strangers, and we’re all meant to be doing it (Hebrews 13). Yet, we’re terrible at it.… Continue reading Welcoming Strangers
Sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? We think we know that to welcome is the very opposite of having a wall up. We’re wrong. Ivan Illich taught that the welcome of hospitality requires a threshold. By definition, we need to move over a threshold in order to be welcomed. If there is no threshold to move over,… Continue reading Welcome requires walls
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