Pastor, what if our words are telling half the population of the U.S. that they are not welcome in our church? Would you stop using those words or would you simply not care?
Could it be the popular church culture phrase, “You are welcome here!” is doing us more harm than good?
Many congregations have toxic individuals who, for whatever “holy crusade” reason, consider it their mission to undermine the mission of the local church. How do we respond to those persons in a way that honors Christ’s call to selfless love while advocating for the body of Christ and the mission of the local church?
Some local congregations have at least one person who is giving off CO2 that, if left “untreated” can become cancerous to the mission of that local church. Before we get to part 3 of this series, what conflict do we find in the New Testament Church that can help shape our understanding?
How do you get a square carbon dioxide filter (C02) made for the command module into a round hole in the landing module of Apollo 13? The solution became known as one of the greatest space hacks of human history. What if our Wesleyan Holiness theology is giving off an equally dangerous byproduct in our local churches and most struggle to identify it. Those that can identify it rarely know what to do.
My goal in this post is to transparently wrestle with where the issue of immigration intersects with the life and teaching of Jesus. When I wrestle with the issue, I find a great deal of hypocrisy (in me and in the Church) and I don’t know how to resolve the conflict.