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Every church thinks they're good at being a welcoming place, but I honestly think we are. So many people come for a wedding, or a visit, or attend at Christmas, Easter, or Remembrance Day and then come back.
I think the joy and the community spirit are warm and inviting, which is no surprise as hospitality and generosity are among our core values.
We try to help people of every type and stripe feel at home and included in so many different ways – the ramp into building for those on wheels, the friendly people, the way we do the services. We’re starting to add bits of signing, and we have a hearing aid loop. We’ve picked a big clear font for our words on the screen. Children are cherished as they run about and feel at home, not shushed and tutted. We have gluten free wafers for communion.
We even provide tea for those who don’t like coffee! You’ll see people of different ages, genders, and backgrounds at the front, so everyone can recognise themselves here. We’re starting a great journey looking at how we do intergenerational worship some of time, with all ages and stages worshipping and learning together.
All of this makes me think that Calverley is a very welcoming church, a place where we want anyone in Calverley (or beyond!) to feel at home, to be able to come and find that God has already found them. That’s why we’re starting to explore joining ‘Inclusive Church’. I know some of us have questions about that – so what is Inclusive Church all about?
Inclusive Church is a network of churches that started in 2004, deliberately trying to welcome and include people who didn’t feel welcome in churches.
They initially started with a focus on LGBTQ+ issues, but once you start noticing the walls you see other sorts of people on the outside.
They started asking who else didn’t feel welcome, who needed someone to fight their corner, and what churches could do better.
Currently, their statement is:
“We believe in an Inclusive Church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality.
We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ - which is scripturally faithful, which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation, and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.”
Who wouldn’t want to be in a church that welcomed all those people?
This coming year we’ll be looking at the theology and the practicality of how we can be more welcoming, of everyone! There will be sermons, conversations, and research. We’ll think and pray about whether we want to join inclusive church, and how we can welcome more people even if we don’t.
PCC are keen to explore this together, and some of us will form the Inclusive Church Team – Richard Jobes, Kim Pollard, Kim Raja, Dave Edwards, Brenda Pickard, and Sandra Tempest, as well as Revd. Rob & Lizzie.
We will be doing a bit more reading and learning, and all of us are all available if you have any questions. As ever, feel free to email me, pop a question in the AMA basket, grab me on a Sunday or call.
Yours in Christ,
Rob
If you’d like to know more about Inclusive Church, their website is here.
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