The welcome center is connected to our sanctuary and mainly serves as a place to find information and be greeted by a church member. Riveting information, I know. Anyway,as I passed by this sign the other day, I wondered if there is a church that would be so bold as to put up a sign that said "Welcome Sinner". If we were to place that sign outside of our church would it be false advertising? Is this a place where sinners are welcome? The obvious answer is yes of course because we are all sinners. While that is true, I think we as Christians sometimes develop a mentality that we no longer fall under that category.
In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Interestingly enough God has always been after the riff raff - the ones that society (and the church) rejected. Rahab was a prostitute, Moses was a murderer, David was an adulterer and a murderer, Zaccheus was a tax collector (and a wee little man), and Paul was a Christian hater. The list could go on and on. God uses sinners. In fact, everyone that God has used has met that prerequisite.
The cool part about this is that means God can use me because I am a sinner. The challenging part is that it also means God wants to use people who are not inside our church. It's not about introducing them to our building, our programs, our staff, our church members or making sure they are greeted and welcomed. Sinners don't need a church, they need a Savior. Getting involved in a fellowship of believers will come after they become a part of the Body of Christ. I'll sadly admit that I need to work on this. As a youth minister, I love to have a lot of kids show up, regardless of their reason for being there. I need to be consistently intentional about introducing sinners to the Savior every time I have the opportunity. They need to know that my church is a place where that can happen. Welcome Sinner.
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