Welcome to Our Church!

A blogger, who identifies himself only as Fanged Teddybear, has spoken of  “ … the strange who feel they cannot go to church for the fear of being judged by the members of that church.”  How painful it is to hear that phrase.

Jesus, who was not a “respecter of persons,” (Acts 10:34) died for every person in the world.  The fat, the thin, the black, the white, the yellow, the red, the rich, the poor, the powerful, the helpless, the Maori, the Slav, the Peruvian, the girl, the boy, the educated, the ignorant, the atheist, the pious, the saint, the drude, the refined, the murderer, the pedophile, the clothes horse, the person with absolutely no fashion sense, the beautiful, the ugly, the deformed, the mutilated, the studious, the airhead.  You get the idea.  

The church must always be open and welcoming to everyone who will listen, even the strange, even those who make us feel uncomfortable.  What we must not ever do is present anything other than the full gospel message.  There must be no dilution of the truth.