All are welcome

"All are welcome" is bullshit. . . 
at least as a slogan for the community gathered and grounded in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It's entirely appropriate for most other gathering places.

It's a lie for churches. Whoever convinced the community of Jesus followers that our mission was to welcome all people into our building and hope they conform to be like us should have to sniff my girls' volleyball knee pads.

It's liberal Christian bullshit (in the historical sense not political sense). It's a by-product of the Enlightenment when dealing with death and resurrection didn't groove with rationality so we replaced it with being nice to everyone and trying to do good things.

Here are my top two complaints with this church slogan:

1. This is going to sound insensitive, but people who are filled with hate do not belong in our worship. Everyone shouldn't be welcomed into the sacred space where we gather around the table as the community of grace. 

It doesn't mean people consumed with hate are beyond redemption, but I don't think Sunday morning worship is where that happens.

Worship is the place where followers of Jesus gather to be fed with good news and the body and blood of Jesus so we may live as the body and blood of Jesus in this world.

That takes me to #2

2. The church's mission isn't to welcome people, it's to get our asses into the world to love and forgive. We don't welcome people consumed by hate into our worship, but we do engage everyone where they are, we seek to break into the isolation and hate with some love. When the church's mission is about getting people into church, then everything gets screwed up.

I understand that churches have been jerks to lots of folks who were called by the Holy Spirit to gather with the community following Christ and were refused at the door because they didn't look or act like people expected them to. That is bullshit too, but the remedy isn't trite slogans that make us pat ourselves on the back for being inclusive. The remedy is actually trusting what God is doing in this world.

I trust a God who is in the business of gathering, not a god who sits on his ass waiting for everyone to come to him. 

We are gathered by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit always messes with our expectations of who gathers around that table. 

And we are sent into the world to meet people where they are with love. We are the scattered church where people encounter the grace of God, the shattering love of God, and the all-welcoming embrace of God.