Think of one friend or family member who is so sincerely glad to be with you and who loves you just as you are, that it feels like time together is burdenless, as if being in a judgment-free zone.
Even if you haven’t showered or picked up your house in days and are wearing grungy clothes, this person never casts a disapproving glance or says something to make you feel worse than you already might. They are in your corner and clearly want what’s best for you. Any advice they offer is well received, as it comes from a place of genuine concern.
This is exactly how it should be when a visitor or regular attendee enters any Christ-honoring church. No one should feel judged by what they’re wearing, how they have their hair, or how they are perceived. We should not get a horrified look when seeing someone with multiple piercings or tattoos. Who would want to walk in the door of a place where they immediately felt like an outsider?
A song by Matthew West and Carly Pearce is appropriate.
“There’s a sign on the door, says, ‘Come as you are,’ but I doubt it. ‘Cause if we lived like it was true, every Sunday morning pew would be crowded.But didn’t you say the church should look more like a hospital? A safe place for the sick, the sinner and the scarred and the prodigals, like me?”
The lyrics go on to elaborate that we’re all broken and that Christians should not act as if we’re problem-free. On the show “Young Sheldon,” the mother of the child genius is a part-time secretary and Bible study leader at the family’s church. When the congregation discovers the oldest Cooper son is about to become an unmarried father, the entire family receives a chilly reception at the next worship service. The pastor later asks Mrs. Cooper to take a temporary leave of absence from her secretarial duties.
In a God-honoring congregation, members never would turn their backs on friends in the midst of difficulty. Church should be a place of respite, especially for those who are hurting or looking for answers, and the last place in the world for newcomers to feel judged. Warm welcomes show the priorities of Jesus.
“Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” Luke 5:29-31
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” James 2:1-4
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