You get them every day in the mail. Impossible to resist offers for discounts, deals, and coupons. It might read something like this:

“Dear Mr./Mrs./Miss So & So: Selected especially for you! Get this once in a lifetime (too good to be true) offer today! But you need to act fast! This deal goes away yesterday!”

I can see the big bold red letters now. We all know these offers are simply bait to lure us into purchasing something we don’t need, joining a club we won’t like, or to scam us out of our hard earned money. You expect junk mail because it’s constant, but what about exclusive offers from a church? 

“Join our church today! We have the best sermons in town! We have childcare & youth programs! Oh by the way, don’t bother to join if you (fill in the blank with a sin). We don’t want you! (We pick and choose which sins are worse than others.)” Ahhh that trusty asterisk…the fine print strikes again!

Sadly, this is happening more and more at churches. ”We condemn this sin…but not that one.” Recently, I learned of a couple who are living together outside of marriage. The couple attended services at a local church, and was lavished with attention. When the church learned of the couple’s living arrangements, the couple was no longer welcome at their church.

No longer welcome…at CHURCH? I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how that aligns with God’s Word.

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7 (NIV)

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, their is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 ESV

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:1-3 ESV

How can a church share Jesus’s love and God’s Word if they are excluding people based on sin? Perhaps you’ve heard the sayings “love the sinner, hate the sin,” and “the church is a hospital for sinners, not a club for saints.” In accordance with God’s Word, shouldn’t churches be willing to meet people where they are, even in the midst of sin? After all, Romans 3:23 (NIV) tells us “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Perhaps these “exclusive churches” need to practice what they preach and refer to God’s Word for guidance. Jesus sought out the lost and those who needed help. He counseled them. Jesus fed them. He healed them. Jesus welcomed sinners.

“He answered ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’” Matthew 15:24 (ESV)

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” Luke 15:2 (ESV)

In response to this criticism by the Pharisees and the scribes, Jesus offered great examples through His parables in the Gospels. If you’ve never read them, please message me and I will forward them to you. They are some of my most favorite and encouraging stories from the Bible.

The Book of James, chapter 2 (ESV), instructs the twelve tribes “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory.”

This powerful verse in Matthew 7 is my personal favorite, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck of sawdust that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the plank that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother ‘Let me take that speck out of your eye.’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7: 1-5 (NIV)

Perhaps you have attended one of these “exclusive” churches. Perhaps the church you are attending now is one of them. I’m so sorry that you have experienced exclusion, especially from a Church. There are very inclusive churches out there. I pray that you find a Church that will welcome you, no matter what.

Dear Heavenly Father, as a sinner, I humbly come to you this morning and I lift up everyone reading this, especially those who have been hurt by exclusivity, in Church or elsewhere. Please comfort them and give them discernment so they can find a church that will welcome them, no matter their sins and mistakes. Show these “exclusive” Churches that they are not aligning with Your Word, and guide them to be places of help and healing instead of sharing Your Word with only those who they deem worthy. In Jesus’s name, Amen.