1 october 2008

I came home two days ago from a trip to England. It was a very special 4 days with some of the members of Flumgruppen. This is a follow-up group to confirmation.

Now it has been a few days and so it is important to see what remains from these few days in which we visited churches in London.

I am still so overwhelmed by the level of openness and hospitality that was exhibited by the various churches. The thing that makes this so significant is the fact that these churches were from differing traditions and denominations. We all felt so welcomed when we came in.

I know that if a church is welcoming then people will want to belong. It is something that we are very poor about in Sweden. Hospitality is at a very low level in the average church in Sweden. Most people feel that it is very difficult to belong. This is a very serious offense. It is so far from the heart of God.

Our God opens his arms in order to receive those who come to him. If we are his children then we should manifest the characteristics of our family, but for the most part we don't.

In each of these churches, despite there very different traditions and ways of worshiping, they seemed to be focused upon heartfelt worship, a clear view of the Bible as the word of God, and inviting those who are far away from God to draw near to him.

In my church we very seldom invite people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. We say that we care but we hardly ever make that a reality. We are not so welcoming to strangers. Even among the young people you can see this tendency, to want to remain in one's own comfortable and closed group, and I have no idea if it will ever change.

I so desire to belong to and to work in a church which is open to people who do not belong to our particular group. If it is difficult to belong then it will be difficult to believe.

I feel that something needs to be done, but I just do not know what. If the Kingdom of God has landed in our hearts and minds then it should not our openness be affected. I want to be a vehicle of change that will affect my church so that it will be open, welcoming and on fire for God.

I hope that the experiences of the past week will be with me long enough to see change take place

peace on your heads