and class privilege. Some wrestled with one issue, most with a combination. No one had the same margins or the same center, so the lessons are truly broad in their application.
In each congregation, I conducted in-depth research over the course of two weeks, including advance interviews and parish-written histories and other introductory materials, followed by at least ten days spent attending services, programs, meetings, and informal conversations, and concluding with follow-up contacts as necessary. My study of these congregations was less a precise social scientific study than an exploration and exercise in deep listening. Along the way, we talked about where they started, where they are now, and what steps they took along the way. We discussed how they welcome people from the margins, who The Other is for them, why they’ve taken up this Christian practice, what has proved most challenging on the road to radical welcome, and what barriers remain. They told me of their successes, their hopes and their failures, admitting that they were far from perfect, still met plenty of resistance, and sometimes fell off the path. And so, while these may not be the most radically welcoming churches anywhere, I came to value them for their sheer humanity and humility: they fall short and they keep trying, the momentum has waxed and waned, and that’s part of the wisdom they can pass along to the rest of us.
There are lots of radically welcoming Episcopal congregations nationwide and plenty more outside the Episcopal fold, and I’ve taken care to talk with representatives from a number of these communities. Over the past several years, I’ve interviewed more than 200 lay leaders, clergy, professors, seminarians, liturgists, change leaders at the local and national levels, and other observers: all of whom shared wise reflections on change, welcome, fear, church history, theology, Scripture, and more.
In the pages that follow, you will hear these voices in a lively conversation with the writings of the faithful, from the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament through centuries of Christian theology leading to contemporary teachers throughout the Christian tradition and beyond our fold. Finally, I’ve incorporated insights drawn from my experience in faith-based community organizing and from consulting and sharing this material in communities considering or already committed to transformational growth. All this wisdom is compiled here and offered as bread for your journey.
Your Radical Welcome Journey
Has God whispered in your ear or tugged your sleeve, urging you to step off the curb and onto this road? You’re in the right place now, especially if
• your neighborhood has changed—maybe there are more people of color or young people or poor people or lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people—and while you want to do the “right” thing, you have no idea where to start.
• you are one of The Others within a congregation, and you hope to spark or nurture your community’s commitment to transformation and find nourishment so that you can persevere.
• your church and area are homogeneous (or seem to be), but you still feel called to radical welcome as a spiritual practice—one that trains and stretches your heart to receive more of God, to surrender to the surprising, transforming movement of the Holy Spirit—and you want to find those opportunities to say “yes” to God and to The Other.
• you want to learn the basic language of radical welcome and wrap your mind and tongue around a term that’s getting more airplay everyday.
• you hope to move deeper, to get grounded in the biblical and theological issues surrounding and supporting radical welcome and perhaps to share those foundational insights with others in your congregation and community.
• you know you want to see your church become radically welcoming, but you could use some concrete examples and inspiring images of other congregations that have walked this road for a while, to see for yourself how it works.
• you’re ready to cast your own radically welcoming vision, to imagine in Technicolor what would happen at your church if you embraced fresh words, voices, songs, and faces, all standing alongside the wise, revered traditions and voices that have grounded your church’s identity so far;
• or you’ve already begun the journey toward radical change, but now you need to reckon with your history, fear (your own and others’), complacency, or a host of other challenges along the way.
This book is far more than a how-to guide for quickly achieving those goals. Rather, in the chapters that follow, I invite you to be part of a journey. Along the way, we will consider the biblical and theological foundations for radical welcome, explore vivid pictures of the dream come to life in several communities, and the resources people engaged in the work told me they found most essential—and hardest to find. You can take it to the next level using the book’s online companion—“Bread for the Journey”—which includes exercises, Bible studies, charts, strategic planning tips, and a workshop for congregations.
As you read, examine and move forward, I hope you will be patient with yourself and your community. Please stay rooted in hope, rather than paralyzing guilt or finger-pointing (at yourself or others). Try to be honest about your story, your privilege and your fears. Don’t be afraid to keep asking, “What new thing is God calling me to be and to do?” and “What support, education, training and practices would help me to follow through on what I now imagine for myself and my congregation?” The road into new life is a long one, and this leg of the journey is designed to stretch your imagination, fuel your passion and guide you closer to God’s radically welcoming dream for us all.
1. The term radical welcome has cropped up independently in various communities over the past decade or so. I coined the phrase for my own use after colleagues demanded a concise descriptor for the broadly inclusive churches I was beginning to study. My initial project—spending four months conducting intensive, on-site research with eight congregations nationwide—was called the Radical Welcome Project.
Later, I discovered leaders at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City use the same term to characterize their ministry to all God’s people, especially seekers and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people. Other groups in the “welcoming congregations” movement—which seeks total inclusion for LGBT people—have expanded the idea of welcoming so that it encompasses an even broader community of outcasts. They landed at radical welcome by a natural evolutionary process.
It’s time to bring a different set of questions.
Not just how do we get more people, but how do we
share power, how do you create a culture that is flexible
and fluid enough to be open, constantly evaluating and
reorganizing based on the reality around you?
THE REVEREND ALTAGRACIA PEREZ, HOLY FAITH EPISCOPAL CHURCH, INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA
Just what is radical welcome? Most people hear the term and think it’s about having a warm, dependable welcome at the door of the church and a really good cup of coffee and snacks in the church hall. They assume it’s the province of the Hospitality and Greeters Committee or maybe, just maybe, the Outreach and Justice group.
Those are wonderful goals. But that’s not where radical welcome is aiming. Radical welcome
