The United Church of Christ is known for providing an extravagant welcome to all people. Individual congregations expend considerable energy striving to live this out every Sunday morning when they gather for worship.
Recently J. Bennett Guess, executive minister of the UCC’s Local Church Ministries, shared an experience of the denomination’s national offices falling short of providing an extravagant welcome.
The Troubling Situation
Every year half a million people flood into the geographic area where the UCC national offices are located for a St. Patrick’s Day parade. For several years the message parade attendees received when walking up to the entrance was mixed: doormats indicating an extravagant welcome but doors adorned with temporary signs indicating that the offices contained no public restrooms.
The Creative Solution
UCC national staffers exited their offices and joined the masses. They provided St. Patrick’s Day blessings as well as green beads and shamrock stickers that read, “I’ve been blessed!”
So What?
Providing an extravagant welcome is never just about how an individual person or community acts during business hours or on Sunda mornings; it must be lived out faithfully and consistently at all times.
On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your congregation’s extravagant welcome
- on a Sunday morning?
- on a a weekday?