I'd like to share my views of today's meeting.
Selene opened the meeting by facilitating a discussion on hospitality. She asked us to relate a time when we had experienced true hospitality. I think it says a lot about our culture that every instance of notable hospitality people mentioned had taken place elsewhere: African herdsmen slaughtering a goat for strangers, poor villagers pooling their money to buy an American visitor a hamburger, a Romanian taxi driver insisting that a couple stay in his home with his family instead of a hotel. In each of these instances, the hospitality was an instinctive, spontaneous extension of kindness to a stranger. Sadly, in our own culture there can be an instinctive mistrust-- even a fear-- of strangers. The "take-away" of the discussion for me was that true hospitality creates a space, physical and emotional, for someone to be who he or she authentically is.
Much of the later conversation was about how to break old patterns. I believe that we are called to go out into the world rather than to invite the world to come to us. That is a core mission of the church, as I see it. But in order to do so, we have to know how the world sees us so we can respond to that perception appropriately.
In coming days, we will be setting up a very simple survey that will be posted here and elsewhere. You are invited to participate. You are also particularly encouraged to share the link and have that conversation with your unchurched friends, since they make up 70% of the population of the Pacific Northwest. Just as they have some misperceptions about us, it is likely that we have some misperceptions about them. So we decided to ask rather than to assume.
We welcome your feedback and participation.
Peace,
Brad
I much appreciated Brad's comments and will send the survey to a few people with whom I collaborate on some important issues facing ordinary working folks out there.
ReplyDeleteDick,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the survey with others!
I would like to see hospitality extended through church websites and social media as well as during and after Sunday services, for people like me who wish to engage that way, and get an idea of the church's culture and "feel" before taking the plunge to attend on Sunday. Some Episcopal churches in my town (Tacoma) don't even answer email promptly. I sent email to one on January 13th, requesting a meeting with the pastor and some general information on their Wednesday night activities, and still haven't received a reply.
ReplyDeleteSome churches' websites appear to be abandoned, and their Facebook pages, if they even have them, are dead. No dialog happening, nothing to draw the seeker.
Today's generation rarely takes a step without first researching it online, whether they are shopping for a laptop or deciding which church to attend. A church without a lively, engaging online presence is virtually invisible to the outside world. It also has the effect of excluding people who may live with challenges that make it difficult to physically attend every service, meeting, or activity. Shouldn't those people at least have the opportunity to participate in the discussion and exchange ideas in cyberspace?
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the experience you relate is not unique to you. I, too, have experienced unanswered emails from clergy, both within the Episcopal Church and other denominations. I can't promise a solution right away, but I do promise to bring this up at the next meeting I attend.
Your other points are very well taken. Some individual churches are ahead of others on the web front (see, for example, http://www.stpaulsbellingham.org ). I promise to raise this point as well.