We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced,
gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special
welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford
to lose a few pounds.
We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor
who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just
browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re
more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s
Baptism.
We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown
up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome
soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers,
vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or
still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down
in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there
too.
If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome
here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat,
work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town
and wanted to go to church.
We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special
welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion
shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up
here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding
hearts ... and you!

I think that sort of announcement will prove counter-productive. If you're welcoming all those types of people (and I'm not saying that any of them should be made to feel unwelcome should they come to church), how many of those people will actually feel comfortable there?

Instead of announcing to the world the kind of riff-raff you are willing to accept, why not pray that the Holy Spirit will send those who are open to receive Him?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Instead of announcing to the world the kind of riff-raff . . .

Un-savory people in our society. People you do not want to be associated with.

Gregory,

I found a rather more interesting definition of "riff-raff," which is the one I had in mind at the time I posted. Please accept it as the intended meaning, since it was my word choice and it expressed what I wished to say.



Originally Posted By: Urban Dictionary

Un-savory people in our society. People you do not want to be associated with.


"Unsavory" implies having lost its saltiness. Jesus talks about this. We are to be the salt of the earth, without having lost its saltiness.

Peter was accused of associating with Jesus. Peter denied Him, and swore to show he would ordinarily have been associated with a different crowd.

We are to be "in the world but not of the world."

Let not the world come into the church.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

... If the church has no strength to stand against the unsanctified, rebellious feelings of church grumblers, it is better to let church and grumblers go overboard together than lose the opportunity of saving hundreds who would make better churches, and have the elements existing within themselves of strength and union and power. {Ev 371.1}

The very best way for ministers and churches is to let this faultfinding, crooked class fall back into their own element, and pull away from the shore, launch out into the deep, and cast out the gospel net again for fish that may pay for the labor bestowed upon them. Satan exults when men and women embrace the truth who are naturally faultfinding and who will throw all the darkness and hindrance they can against the advancement of the work of God. Ministers cannot now in this important period of the work be detained to prop up men and women who see and have felt once the force of the truth. They should fasten believing Christians on Christ, who is able to hold them up and preserve them blameless unto His appearing, while they go forth to new fields of labor.-- The True Missionary, February, 1874. {Ev 371.2}

The regulation adopted by the early colonists, of permitting only members of the church to vote or to hold office in the civil government, led to most pernicious results. This measure had been accepted as a means of preserving the purity of the State, but it resulted in the corruption of the church. A profession of religion being the condition of suffrage and office-holding, many, actuated solely by motives of worldly policy, united with the church, without a change of heart. Thus the churches came to consist, to a considerable extent, of unconverted persons; and even in the ministry were those who not only held errors of doctrine, but who were ignorant of the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. Thus again was demonstrated the evil results, so often witnessed in the history of the church from the days of Constantine to the present, of attempting to build up the church by the aid of the State, of appealing to the secular power in support of the gospel of Him who declared, “My kingdom is not of this world.” [John 18:36.] The union of the church with the State, be the degree never so slight, while it may appear to bring the world nearer to the church, does in reality but bring the church nearer to the world. {GC88 296.4}

In every generation God has sent his servants to rebuke sin, both in the world and in the church. But the people desire smooth things spoken to them, and the pure, unvarnished truth is not acceptable. Many reformers, in entering upon their work, determined to exercise great prudence in attacking the sins of the church and the nation. They hoped, by the example of a pure Christian life, to lead the people back to the doctrines of the Bible. But the Spirit of God came upon them as it came upon Elijah, moving him to rebuke the sins of a wicked king and an apostate people; they could not refrain from preaching the plain utterances of the Bible,—doctrines which they had been reluctant to present. They were impelled to zealously declare the truth, and the danger which threatened souls. The words which the Lord gave them they uttered, fearless of consequences, and the people were compelled to hear the warning. {GC88 606.1}

Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to his service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of his Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of Spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power,—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from Heaven. As the people go to their former teachers with the eager inquiry, Are these things so? the ministers present fables, prophesy smooth things, to soothe their fears, and quiet the awakened conscience. But since many refuse to be satisfied with the mere authority of men, and demand a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” the popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will denounce the message as of Satan, and stir up the sin-loving multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it. {GC88 606.2}