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My local church had a special service this past Sunday, apparently it was to do with being a “welcoming” congregation…I didn’t go…In fact I haven’t gone for several weeks! In some ways it’s great that there is a focus on such things, but my predominant emotion toward such an event is one of sadness – the very fact that a church needs to invite someone in to speak on such a topic makes me wonder! Where is the church at? Surely it cannot be in a good state if it doesn’t even know how to welcome people into its midst?

I wonder how many of us have walked into churches and felt like an outcast. Why is that? Why is that so many of us feel judged rather than accepted?

The characteristic of hospitality is essential to church and especially to its leaders. If it fails at that, there is not much hope. The apostle Paul wrote to his associate Titus, when advising him on who to look for to fulfill the position of overseer, commanded that they must “be hospitable…” (Titus 1v8) When writing to Timothy, his young co-worker, we find him saying the same thing, “…now an overseer must be above reproach…respectable, hospitable…” (1 Timothy 3:2)
 I find it intriguing, out of all the characteristics we place as important for the leaders of our church, so often we miss this KEY FACTOR – that of hospitality – the embracing of others, of welcoming, of being generous with oneself.  God himself is hospitable – he is someone who embraces people from all backgrounds and walks of life. If only the church could grasp the heart of God instead of trying to formulate methods and systems that are based on legalistic structures than hinder and hurt rather than release and embrace!

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1. Description of A Missonal Church
2. The Missional Church – What it is NOT!
3. A new way of doing church?
4. Church of the Middle Classes
5. What the Missional Church Looks like