![]() ![]() ![]() When she left, I wondered if I’d put her off. Then I asked myself, “Would I rather be too friendly or risk her feeling like no one cared?” I walked over and said, “Please, come sit with me!”Īfter the service, we talked briefly. When I beckoned to her, she looked confused. ![]() Many of us have been here for years she was new. Our church is majority white she is black. ![]() She hovered, looking for a place to sit in a service mostly filled with families. Outsiders shouldn’t be outsiders.Ī year ago, I looked behind me during the early service and noticed a woman in her late 20s standing at the back of the church alone. Here are five reasons why we often separate on Sunday mornings: 1. Their experience will determine whether they ever come back.įor my husband and me, offering hospitality has meant breaking down a common church practice: sitting together as a family. Some have recently moved and are seeking community while others haven’t been to church in a while, or ever. Every week, men and women wander into our gatherings for the first time, some invited, others of their own accord. Gospel invitation has always been the call of Christ, but it’s all the more urgent as 21st-century American Christianity suffers from thin discipleship, and American culture no longer pushes people toward church. The answer hinges on the rising need for hospitality in church. “I noticed you weren’t sitting together in church.” “Are you and Bryan okay?” asked a friend. ![]()
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