Inclusion and discipleship

Twice this week I’ve been challenged by friends about whether the church of which I am a part maintains a right balance between being ‘inclusive’ and living a life focused upon being followers of Christ. The following are my initial (and personal) thoughts; they are open to comment and challenge. They are not official church policy nor the last word.  If you think I have got it wrong, please set me right (but understand that I enjoy the rough-and-tumble of debate!).

Church from Scratch holds a very strong set of Christ-centred values at its core but has very low barriers to entry, meaning that all are welcomed and encouraged to journey further-in towards the Person at the centre. In this approach, people who might find it difficult to engage with more usual forms of church can find a spiritual home. 

We prize this openness. No one is excluded on random grounds of gender, race, marital status, sexual orientation, disability and so forth (nor should they be).  We often have people of no faith among us and sometimes people whose beliefs conflict with ours. Their welcome is in no doubt but they know of our determination to follow Christ.

We are inclusive because God loves all people and the good news of Jesus Christ is offered to all, no matter who or what.  The only basis for encouraging anyone to move on from this church is if their persistent behaviour undermines other people’s inclusion or their desire to be disciples of Christ. We are not interested in community for its own sake but in sharing our lives among those who desire Christ at the centre.

Yet the open and inclusive welcome extended to us all is actually an invitation that daily requires us to choose Christ’s way of life or our own: 

• His values, attitudes and choices (or ours). 
• His decisions about money and spending (or ours). 
• His values about who we have sex with (or ours). 
• His decisions about how to spend the time available (or ours).  
• His choices about what newspapers to read or opinions to hold (or ours)
• His choices about who we like (or ours)
• Ultimately, it’s his life (or ours)

Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer summed it up by saying that “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”  We find that quote in his book The Cost of Discipleship -  an apt title since the cost of keeping his focus on Christ was to die at the hands of the Nazis. 

His words simply reflect the words of Jesus:  “If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). Each day we are confronted with a range of choices and, if we are his followers, we take those that he would take.  Inclusiveness and welcome are not an invitation to see how Christ can be bolted-on to our existing ideas, attitudes or behaviours.  They need to be killed off so that our only ideas, attitudes and behaviours are what we believe are from him, always accepting that we understand in part and make mistakes.

As the Apostle Paul says “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in this body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). 

  

I want our church to be committed to being inclusive because the Christ I try to serve welcomes everyone. 

I want to challenge social injustice because each instance is a denial of the true value of human beings created by God and for whom Christ gave his life. Yet the same Christ calls all those whom he welcomes to overturn the direction of their lives and follow him.

It’s good to be inclusive. Yet Jesus' desire to please God drove people away from him as much as it drew people to him. Maybe it still does...