Jesus Never Created A Country Club...

Jesus never created a single country club.

Not one.

If we want to follow Jesus in our churches,

we cannot insist on exclusivity.

We cannot look down our noses

at newcomers, like bouncers,

and decide 'they' don't fit in

We cannot snark about them

over coffee hour

and then lament

about our declining numbers

We cannot seek to uphold the

White, affluent aesthetic--

the sand upon which

so many congregations

have built their houses

over the past century.

We cannot be divorced from

the neighborhoods surrounding us--

if the people around us

are not like us

and our relationship with them

is mostly, 'get off our lawn,'

then we have failed

to be the servant leaders

Jesus asked us to be.