April 8, 2023

Psalm 122: 1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” (NIV)

Some churches are open and welcoming to new people, and others tend to see new people as suspects rather than prospects.*

Before I became an adult, my parents’ house was also my house. I was free to invite friends over and I knew they would be welcome. Even today . . . I have never lived in the house where my mom lives now but I still feel “at home” there.  As Christians, we should be delighted to gather in the “house of the Lord” with our fellow believers. Worshipping God together is cause for rejoicing. But do non-believers feel welcome there? Should they?

I doubt if our Sunday morning services in western culture bear much resemblance to the first gatherings of believers in Jerusalem. We claim to pattern ourselves after the early church and in some ways we are successful. Acts 2: 42 tells us that the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching; to the fellowship; to the breaking of bread; and to prayer. But when and where did they meet? Who presented the apostles’ teaching? Since there is no mention of a song service, apparently they didn’t include an invitation hymn at the close of the sermon. How did they feel about the presence of “outsiders” in their midst?

I asked a couple of preacher friends who was their target audience when they preached – the believer or the seeker? Neither of them seemed to have a definitive answer, which, perhaps, allows them to aim their sermons each week as directed by the Holy Spirit. And maybe I’m making too much of the distinction between the two groups who sit in the pews on Sunday morning. No matter the audience, the procedure is the same:  Present the gospel. Provide an environment conducive to worship and fellowship. And let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

How we live our lives may be our most powerful witness in the world, but there are times when the most effective thing we can say is, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” I know lots of people who are Christians today because someone invited them to church.

Church buildings are where most Christians today learned about God, gave their lives to Christ, were nurtured by a faith community, and were ministered to in their darkest time of life.*