Who Is Welcome?

Who does the church welcome through its doors? Who should the church welcome through its doors?

This past year, Oak Hill United Methodist Church asked itself that question. It seemed that this congregation welcomed all. After all, our mission statement seemed clear:

Oak Hill United Methodist Church, where everyone is a minister, welcomes and encourages all to experience and embody God's unconditional love revealed in Jesus Christ, serving so that the world becomes what God desires.

It says that we welcome "all." How much more clear can that be?

We launched into several months of discussions. The principal topic was about how this congregation should honor the requirement of our United Methodist Discipline to dedicate ourselves "to a ministry of Christ-like hospitality and compassion to persons of all sexual orientations."

After some discussion, some of it pretty heated, all of it with prayerful sincerity, we decided that perhaps "all" wasn't actually clear enough. Perhaps we needed to be crystal clear about exactly how broad was our meaning of the word "all."

As followers of Christ, whose love is boundless, we seek to invite and welcome people of every age, gender identity, physical ability, ethnic background, racial identity, sexual orientation, marital status, socioeconomic standing, education level, national origin, family configuration, and mental ability into full participation in the life of this faith community.

May we love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength. And may we love our neighbor as we do ourselves. Amen.