Jesus demonstrated with his words and actions the inclusive nature of God’s love. He spent a lot of time with the marginalized and outcasts, the “sinners,” the broken, the people judged and condemned by religious leaders or society.

To fully live into this objective of being a church that is leading people to experience God’s love and know Jesus Christ and grow in His Image, Jesus must be our role model and teacher.

What does it mean to be inclusive? Well look at Jesus, and do likewise. Make it unmistakably clear that all are loved by God. In this church (that Jesus created), no one is excluded. No one should be made to feel like an outsider, and outcast, unwelcome.

Here are some thoughts on how to be more inclusive (accumulated through reading many other churches’ articles on the topic, and other observations made along the way).

• Are we not already inclusive? Well look at our congregation’s diversity (or lack of). When you’re on the “inside” (the folks who feel included), it is sometimes hard to notice the people who feel like they are on the “outside” (not included). Diversity is a broad term, but can be narrowed down by age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, cultural background, homeless, LGBTQIA+ individuals, married / single / families / divorced / widowed, people new to the faith, people who are curious about Christianity but aren’t ready to call themselves Christian, people who have been Christians all of their life, people who have been hurt by a bad church experience, and many other categories. Would Jesus spend time with these individuals? YES Would he make them feel like outcasts, unwelcome on His church? NO
• TALK to people in these diverse groups. ASK them for advice on this topic. Don’t just say they matter. DEMONSTRATE that they matter!
• How do we be inclusive? Actually, the best place to start is to pray for these individuals. Lovingly choose to care about them, all of them. It is hard to treat anyone as a condemned outcast while you are loving them and praying for them. It is hard to overlook individuals you are actively praying for and choosing to demonstrate God’s love to them.
• Be VERY intentional about being welcoming when new people come into the doors of our church. Ensure we have people who are focusing on that effort.
• When someone walks through the doors of our church and they see almost NO one who looks like them (age, race, tattoos, whatever) will they feel like they “belong” here? It’s a bit challenging to become more diverse, if you are not very diverse. It takes intentionality to go the extra mile in helping these individuals feel welcomed.
• More and more people in our society today are not Christian, and many were never raised in a family that went to church. They may know very little about Christianity, the lingo we use, and they frankly just don’t quite know how to “do church.” That just hasn’t been their world. So when they DO come to our church, we have an opportunity to help them feel included. For example, when referring to a parable in Scripture, saying something like “we all know the story of the woman at the well” immediately excludes anyone in our midst who does not “all know” this story. It’s just a matter of checking our assumptions about the people in our midst. Help them feel included in how we teach, how we tell our stories.
• Avoid “insider language” where we talk about something at the church that long-time members know all about but the newcomers don’t know. Just take the time to explain the back story on that “insider” comment.
• As much as possible, cover our walls with photographs of people, diverse (as much as we can, at least) participating in the life and ministry of the church. Similarly, continue to do so on our website.
• Also, I’d suggest updating all of our photos of staff to be fun, creative, in the environment of what they do or the ministry they lead. That conveys who our staff is in a more personable and welcoming way.
• Very regularly offer mini classes on Sundays on what Christianity is all about. Not long, just helping with an “entry point” into a relationship with our church. Again, don’t assume everyone already knows this stuff. If we want to include the newcomers to the faith, we have to be prepared to include them.
• Signage is super important, especially on our big campus. Make sure newcomers know where to go because of great signage. That communicates that newcomers matter. And, of course, greeters can help a LOT with that.
• Embrace diversity just as Jesus did. Take the time to personally get to know people who are not like you. Let’s get outside our comfort zones, and love the people we may not really understand. Get to know them. Love them.
• This frankly can’t just be delegated to a committee. This is something that must become a part of our “DNA” as a church that intentionally loves every person who comes through our doors.
• Choose more endeavors that reach out beyond the walls of our church. We can be diverse by not expecting these “outsiders” to come to us. Instead we can go to them. Jesus definitely did just that. Let’s do more to love our neighbors, in their worlds, in creative ways, that demonstrate that we genuinely care to love them like Jesus.
• Update all of our classrooms, removing old posters from past church activities and campaigns that no longer exist. Think about the fact that that there are many outside groups that use our classroom spaces during the week. Let’s include a poster expressing our love for these outside groups and we welcome them to come back on a Sunday morning or come to some other ministry opportunity. Take advantage of opportunities to invite and include people who already are coming onto our campus. That’s advertising inside the church for people who come from outside the church. It’s “advertising inside out.”
• Remember all are loved by God. All means all. Love them.
• Love like Jesus.