More on "Open Arms"

I would like to describe my thoughts in more detail on what it means to be an )open( church.  See The Open Church for an introduction to the core values and beliefs.  For each of the core values, I will discuss:

1. Motivation (Why do we care about this?)
2. Open vs. Closed (What's the difference?)
3. Next Steps (How do we change?)

Open Arms

1. Motivation (Why do we care about this?)

• Because the Great Commission, our mission to spread God's kingdom to the world, is a call to offer acceptance, forgiveness, grace, and freedom to all.  It defeats our own mission if we don't offer the same acceptance that God offers.  People should encounter more grace from the church and Christians, than from the cold world outside.  We should never use our "rightness" to justify any poor treatment of others, including dirty looks, enforcement of social norms and subtle pressure to change!
• Because of our mission to know God better and to become more like him.  We fail in this mission every time we reject people we don't understand.  On the other hand, we grow in grace and maturity when we truly accept people that are not easy for us to get along with or understand.  "Love your enemies" was a lesson in broadening our concept of grace. It's for our own good in our spiritual growth.
• Diversity is a treasure.  We all benefit by expanding our inclusion of people that are different than us.  We should appreciate the differences instead of trying to discern (discriminate) whether those differences make people better or worse than us.  We are hypocritical and shallow if we accept people into our circle but then don't appreciate their differences.  If we appreciate diversity we must actively seek it out, and provide "Extravagant Welcome" to let people know where they stand with us when they stand out in the crowd.  Sometimes we forget that the world is a big place -- there are more people different than us out there than similar to us.

If we appreciate diversity we must actively seek it out, and provide "Extravagant Welcome" to let people know where they stand with us when they stand out in the crowd.  

2. Open vs. Closed (What's the difference?)

Open	Closed
Deliberately welcomes others that may be suspicious that they will not be treated equally.  Provides statements saying we don't in any way discriminate against people with different backgrounds, faith, religion or ideals than us.  We accept people the way they are.  Incorporates this message of Extravagant Welcome into all messaging, declares it often in our meetings, makes it the "ground rule" of our gatherings.  Embraces other religious groups.	Enforces similarity through negative reinforcement and pressure to conform to social norms. Does not work to set people at ease who come with obvious differences. Teaches people to discriminate based on Biblical ideals, creating a culture of comparing each person to a Barbie and Ken model of Christianity that has emerged over time for that particular group of Christians.  Fights other religious groups.
Deliberately enforces the ground rules of equal treatment and reinforces the standards of acceptance.  Does not accept judgment, intolerance or hate as reasonable behavior, because it hurts other people in the group.  ("Open" does not many "anything goes," or "treat people as badly as you want here").  To remain open we must defend our standards of openness.  We must fight injustice in our own midst!	Accepts poor treatment of people with differences as reasonable when those differences seem to be condemned by the Bible.  Allows judgment, intolerance and hate inside the group, by not pointing it our or enforcing better behavior.  Tolerant of people treating each other badly if well-justified.  Declares a mixed message of love and acceptance, with "But" and "However" afterward.
Actively engaged in fighting discrimination in our communities and nations.  Does not turn a blind eye to mistreatment of classes of people.  It is the church's role to be the moral leader, as carriers of God's message of grace, to stand up for under-represented and poorly treated groups.  They should look to us for help.  We should use our power of numbers and resources to make a positive difference outside the church, in addition to making the church itself a completely different environment where people in those groups can feel safe and accepted.	Turns a blind eye to mistreatment of people outside the church, if they are different than us, especially if their behavior somehow makes then "deserve" less-than-fair treatment.  Focuses on internal needs of like-minded people rather than external needs of diverse groups.  Implies through our treatment of Biblical truth, that poor, hungry, needy, sick, exploited, oppressed people may in some way deserve to be disregarded because of their behavior or ideals.
Happy, joyful, positive, optimistic, liberated, unafraid, ready to openly share with all people, passionate about God and others, unembarrassed to be Christians!.  Our positive message makes us more welcome in the outside world.  Our participation in fighting injustice gives us a proper place of respect in our communities.  We have a voice!  We have something to stand for!	Struggles with negativity.  Communicates both angry, negative, critical messages to people that are different, and loving messages to people that are similar.  We are viewed by the outside world as judgmental and hypocritical.  We are obsessed with "rightness", but spend little time questioning our rightness.  We feel the tension between our positive and negative messages, so we are at times embarrassed to be Christians or to invite our friends to our church because we know they may not be fully accepted.

3. Next Steps (How do we change?)

• Publish a statement that describes who we accept and include.  Define the policies that make our community function, focused on two principles of behavior: "welcome diversity" and "fight injustice".  Use positive reinforcement of our position: out of maturity and love be very careful and loving about how to enforce a policy of "no judgment, no hate" in our groups, so that we are not hypocritical ourselves (proclaiming acceptance but then refusing to accept people who are shallow and immature).  Make this stance clear in our published statements as well.  
• Establish ground rules during all meetings, to let people know that their differences, ideals, ideas, and needs are completely accepted by the group without judgment.  Never assume that people will just know that they are welcome.  Their differences may make them assume otherwise, so we have to declare it openly and often.  Provide Extravagant Welcome to all people.
• Deliberately invite speakers, show media, and study literature, that increases our awareness of different groups of people in the world around us.  Instead of teaching conformity, teach diversity!  For example, teach our children how to love people of different religions!  They will learn not to hate, and will teach others when they grow up.