Cultivating Inclusion
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
November 6, 2011
Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
Isaiah 56:1-8
Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.
for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.
Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.
Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,‘I am just a dry tree.’
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.
Steven was excited. His church was finally going to make an effort to reverse its slow but steady decline. Steven and his family had been part of a large mainline church which had slowly become a small mainline church. Over the years pastors had come and gone, some bringing in a few folks, others driving people away. Finally the new pastor, whom Steven really liked, had convinced the church leadership to create a worship service designed around a band, screens and much less formal style of worship. This was not Steven’s thing but he was thrilled they were trying. On order to publicize this service the church had created some wonderful mailer pieces that were also supposed to be given to friends and family. Steven, believing that he had some friends who would be interested, asked the pastor where he could get some of the cards. Looking directly at him, the pastor said, “I’m sorry you can’t have any.” A bit stunned, Steven asked why. “You can’t have any because this service is only for 20 and 30 some-things. You and your friends would be too old.” To this day Steven still shakes his head when he remembers the incident.
What I love about this story, first is that it is true, but second that it is one of the clearest demonstrations of the central tenents of the church growth movement. I have spoken briefly about the church growth movement. It was a movement which began in the mid-1960s with the intent of helping every church grow in membership and worship attendance. It had several tenents but one of the most important was that for a church to grow it had to be homogeneous. The belief was that if a church chose to be inclusive it would ultimately fail. The most powerful demonstration of this belief can be found in Pastor Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church. In that book he describes the exact kind of person his church was designed to attract. That person, called Saddleback Sam, was well educated, fanatic about fitness, skeptical about organized religion, liked contemporary music, more causal in dress, likes his job and his life, and is over extended in time and money. No others need apply. Homogeneity would be the key. Granted, the focus succeeded. Saddleback church now has about 20,000 people in worship a Sunday. This was why Steven’s pastor would not give him any of the cards. The pastor believed in the need to maintain limits on who could come to the new service.
It is obvious that the focus on homogeneity worked at Saddleback, but I really have to wonder if this was what Jesus was all about not only in his ministry, but especially in his parting words in Matthew 28. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” The word nations, which we English speaking folks have taken to mean, countries, actually means all other people than the Jews. A better translation would be “Go therefore and make followers of every different kind of person.” This would have been clear to the ears of his followers because to the Jews, the word nations, meant all of those unclean, non-Jews out there. It meant Greeks and Samaritans. It meant the lame and blind. It meant all of those people who were not ritually acceptable. What it also meant was that those kind of people were to be made full members of the body of Jesus Christ. They were not to be shunted off into their own isolated communities; a Greek church here and a Jewish church there. The church was to be an inclusive community, which it was. One of the criticisms of the early church was that it was a motley crew of mismatched people who hung out together and worship this Jesus person. In other words being an inclusive church worked and began to transform the world.
I have to say then, that I was thrilled when as the elders looked at your sense of vision for this church family, the desire to be an inclusive, and not an exclusive church became clear. You spoke of being a church that was inclusive in every way. We were to work toward including people of all races, languages, social and educational levels, sexual orientations and abilities. We were indeed to become Everybody’s Church. I was thrilled because it meant you desired to be more faithful to the call of Jesus Christ to speak the Good News to all kinds of people, than you were to the call of the church growth movement to be a church that is all alike. Being honest with you, this way will not be easy. It will mean overcoming the patterns of a society in which Sunday mornings are the most segregated time in this nation. Yet your desire to take the more difficult but more Biblically faithful way of being a Christ centered community is one I am proud to walk with you.
This morning then, I want to offer you a challenge. This challenge is to consider how you will support our efforts at being an inclusive community. What will you financially pledge to this work? What will you personally bring to this work? Who will you invite to be part of this work? I encourage you to think on these challenges not only throughout the week, but especially as we draw near to the table, because at this table all are welcome; all kinds of people are welcome to know the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ.
