Inclusion part 2

I find it interesting that many times when I am pondering a particular idea, I find other people grappling with similar thoughts. I stumbled across some people today discussing the concept of inclusion in the Church. In my last post I was focusing primarily on inclusion in the "working together" sense, but as I read about various controversies in the Church these days, many appear to surround this idea of inclusion.

What kind of people do we allow to be a part of our gathered worshiping communities? Where do we draw the lines? Do we draw ethnic lines? Do we draw socioeconomic lines? Do we draw lines at levels of education? Do we draw "sin" lines? Maybe we should ask ourselves, "are there some types of people we don't trust will be as committed to the Church?" What's more, "Are there some people we don't trust allowing to participate in certain roles because they don't show commitment?"

I guess the root question, as I see it, is similar to the root question I posed in my last post:
Do people have to show commitment before we trust including them or does their commitment grow the more they feel included?

I wonder if the people in the Church who are leery of inclusion tend to forget that life is a journey. Even though we would all agree we don't all become perfect when we confess our words of conversion, somehow when it comes to including seekers or those struggling in their faith, we don't know what to do with them. I wonder if the people who are most leery of inclusion were "cradle Christians," those who hardly noticed their own conversion because they lived a nice Christian life all along. They grew up in a Christian family and have been in the church the longest. So everyone trusts them and others like them. These types of people are "safe" to have around. They don't rock the boat, ask unnecessary questions and they don't wonder about things that everyone just takes for granted. They don't need to be told, "that's just the way things are done around here!" The issues surrounding inclusion and exclusion are hardly seen by the "insiders" but they can be very painful for the "outsiders."

And that is why the debates continue. There are "outsiders" all around us who are crying out for the love that Christ has for them through the Church. The problem is that when people in the Church see these "outcasts," they don't know what to do . . . because the sad truth is that even in the Church, the outsiders often still struggle to feel that love of Christ.

Oh, that we would all would feel the pain of being an outsider. How it would change our hearts toward greater inclusion! My prayer for the Church.

My thanks to Kingdom Grace for this picture.