Our church prides ourselves on being "all things to all people" (1 Cor 9:19-23). We try to put this into practice by offering decentralized worship celebrations of different formats and locations so that no matter how you worship God, there is a place for you. I've had several conversations with individuals who cited that they never felt they entirely belonged at some of the older, more established churches in the area but feel welcomed by our eclectic church family.
It sounds "great", right? Well, it's easy to sound "great" when the only price to pay is a few keystrokes and a social media post. What about when you have to put your money where your mouth is and turn rhetoric into a physical reaction?
I recall the first time I was in a church that had a set culture and atmosphere who was forced into deciding how to "react" in an uncomfortable situation. They talked a good game... they used the same "all are welcome here" slogans other churches do... but soon they had to decide whether those slogans were more than ink on a bulletin. Someone walked into the church who worshipped... we'll say... far more enthusiastically than most of the congregation. Some might have called it "Pentecostal" worship with a fair amount of yelling and movement.
The individual may have been having a sincere worship experience, but it was... objectively... highly distracting to everyone else. You would be excused for even calling it somewhat inconsiderate. They had the spiritual freedom to worship the way they did, but it created a very public, awkward scene. It's like a teenager who decides to go to the mall wearing all black clothes, purple hair, and excessive body piercings: they're entitled to do it, but obviously people are going to stare. So the question is, what was the church going to do? Would they decide to be pragmatic by somehow confronting the individual or were they willing to live out those pretty slogans they like to preach from the pulpit?
"[...] I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some." (1 Cor 9:22b)
It's a lot easier to type, Tweet, share, and blog our principles than it is to live them. It's always preferrable to stand in the comfort of our electronic perches and pontificate loudly, even passionately, about how Christians should live, act, or worship. It's another thing entirely to actually do it.
In the case of the church I mentioned, most came to accept the individual but others didn't. They were never on-board with someone worshipping God different from themselves. Who was "in the wrong"? Was it the enthusiastic worshipper who distracted the entire room or the intolerant congregants who gawked at the newcomer every week?
Who was "right" and "wrong" is irrelevant. We can't control who does or doesn't act a certain way or how groups do or do not react to uncomfortable situations. All we can control is how we react to the situations God places us in. When those moments come, will we react in a way that is typical, comfortable, and convenient or will we be willing to be different? Will we be willing to become what we need to be so that some might know Christ? That is the test of someone who is living their life to spread the love and compassion of Christ rather than cheap, Jesus-themed slogans.
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