Belonging and Inclusion

We all want somewhere to belong, don’t we? 

Somewhere to call home. Somewhere we’re known. Somewhere we can be ourselves. Somewhere we can invite those we love and care about.  Belonging is not solely about church, obviously, but the Church needs to consider belonging and community, because community is one of the things churches overpromise and underdeliver on.

In the kind of multi- church that we are and that we are trying to become—multiethnic, multiclass, multicultural, multigenerational—everyone feels a little bit out of place. No one feels completely at home. (I don’t even always feel completely at home and I’ve been around since the beginning!) Everyone has wondered whether they belong, whether they’re truly seen, whether they can express themselves fully and authentically.

But what keeps me at Christ City is that enough parts of myself—especially the parts that I know God wants to stretch and grow—find resonance with the people here, and with the shared mission and commitments, including that of identifying and removing barriers to God’s liberation for all. That, to me, is what the inclusion of God’s kingdom is about, that as many as want to will be welcomed home.