Read the transcript
Welcome and Bible Reading
Today's reading comes from Luke chapter 19 verses 1 to 10. And if you have the Red Bible that is on page 1,632.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, 'He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.' But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.'
Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.'
And then the second reading is in James. And I did have it marked down. But now I don't have it mark down. That's right. Oh, you got it. And then if you have that in the Red Bible that is on page 1884.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Introduction: A Privilege to Be Here
Good morning, everyone. I love that response, fantastic. Wonderful to be here, such a privilege. Had a lovely time this morning with the 8 a.m. class.
I'm gonna use this microphone. That's all right, because I do tend to move. So that would be helpful to have some flexibility there.
As Megan mentioned, I am her supervisor. So I will take all bribes of anything that you'd like me to say. Feel free, things you've been petitioning for that she hasn't—you haven't had happen—let me know afterwards and I will make an effort to weave it into our sessions as a coaching question.
So no, it is lovely and I have a great privilege and honor of actually meeting with Megan and I've really appreciated that and to be here today at Deep Creek.
So, what I'm presenting today to you is a small portion of a workshop that normally runs for a couple of hours, so I have done my best efforts to make it palatable and also to inspire you and hopefully encourage you towards becoming this beautiful and continuing to be a welcoming church here at Deep Creek.
The Story of the Orange Bike
So I wanted to start however with a story. And as Megan mentioned, I've been in ministry for about three plus decades. And my last main foray was as a church planter and I ran a church in Hawthorne.
And those of you that know Hawthorne, there's a lot of development. So as a church plant we used to move all the time because we'd have a building and next thing you know, it was becoming a bunch of apartments. So we'd have to keep moving.
So what we did was we bought a beaten up old orange bike and painted it the branding colors of our church. Had our sign on it. So every time we moved building we could just move our—move the bike—at the front of the next new building so people could still find us.
The "Dinner Party" Escape Plan
So one day this wonderful woman called Jill was driving home from sailing now. Jill was everything you'd imagine from a Melbourne lady. She had a white crisp shirt on and a red jumper tied around her neck and she had a beautiful gray bob and she'd been sailing somewhere fabulous and she drove past and saw the bike.
And she thought to herself, "This must be a choir."
And so being very courageous, she drove into the car park and walked into at the car and met one of our guys, Vlad, who was hopping out of his car to attend church and she said to him, "Is this... what is this? Is this a choir?"
And Vlad said, "No, it's not it's actually a church. But be open."
And she said to Vlad, "Oh, well, I've got a dinner party at my house soon. So I'm just gonna pop my head in."
"Okay, that's fine."
So she walked into the front door. She then met Rachel and Rachel said, "Hi. I'm Rachel."
She said, "Hi, I'm Jill. So this is a church then?"
And Rachel said, "Yes it is, be open, come on in. I'd like—I'll make you a cup of coffee. Welcome. Come on through."
And Jill said, "Okay I'd love a coffee, but I've got a dinner party because you know, I can't stay long. I'm just here to poke my head in it because I've got people coming over soon."
Rachel then says that's fine. She then takes Jill to meet Chris and Linda, a couple. Chris and Lynn take Jill and seat her next to them and they welcome her along when they have a chat and then Jill says the same story.
"Thanks so much for having me. I've got a dinner party at my house soon. I'm just popping my head in."
And then we have a coffee break like yourselves in the middle of the service. So then Chris and Lynn introduced Jill to Tom and Karen. Same conversation. Tom and Karen sat with her, chatted with her in the second half of the service and Jill repeated the same story about her said dinner party.
Fast forward about four hours later in the restaurant they used to book out for us to go for dinner after the Saturday night service. And there was Jill with the Chardonnay, clearly not at a dinner party at her house.
I'm like, "I thought you had people coming over."
She said, "No, I just said that in case you're a bunch of fruit loops."
Understanding the Fear of the Newcomer
But it makes a very good point because what happens for us is when we go somewhere new—and you might know that when you've gone to anything new that you've never been to before—you don't know what you're walking into.
And coming to a church environment when you've never been in one can be very scary. It can be very intimidated and it's nice to have a back out if you need to. And we've seen that before with churches where people come and any chance there's a chance for a break, they might disappear at the door because it's... it was too scary or too much or not what they thought.
So it's important for us to remember, for those of us that might have been coming here for a while or been Christians for a while, that we take for granted to walk in and the culture and the atmosphere that we're going to experience in church. However, for a new person they don't know what they're walking into and so for Jill's situation, she gave herself an opportunity to bail out if she needed to.
So for us, it's important to remember that with church life; to consider and remember those that have never yet been before and creating a safe beautiful environment that they will feel welcome and invited.
Inviting People into the Story
We take so much inspiration from... actually, that's the picture of the bike. Sorry. I've got to click it there. That was the bike that we had that we moved from place to place.
It's important for us to remember as our greatest inspiration is Jesus as he invites us into his story. The story of salvation, of redemption, of getting to have a one-to-one relationship with God through Jesus's sacrifice. We are invited into the story of Jesus through the Gospels, but through our own relationship as well.
And we can also invite people into his story through being involved at church. We can ourselves, by how we host people and receive people, also encourage them to meet Jesus and his story.
People coming here will also not just meet and hear about the story of Jesus in new life with a father, but also encounter the story of Deep Creek, which I gather is a hundred and something years old. I've heard it today about buildings being moved from the orchards down here. I imagine it was on back of a truck or horse and carriage. But there is a heritage here that is rich and full and beautiful.
That you're inviting people not just into the Jesus's story but the story of here; the story of a community of Faith and legacy that has been here for generations and will continue on for generations to come.
You're also inviting people into your story as well, your own personal story. Now for myself, Jill is still my friend. I actually saw her yesterday. And you get the beautiful opportunity for new people to come in for you not just to host them to the story of God and the story of Deep Creek, but your own personal story.
What a great privilege and exciting opportunity to meet new people and perhaps make some new friends as well as you meet each other one to one.
Why Don't People Stay?
So if we have this amazing story in this amazing community and this amazing gospel of life and new life in Christ, why don't people stay when they pop in? Why aren't they coming back? Why sometimes do they leave? Why do they make up stories in case of young fruit loops?
What is it about this thing around coming to church when we know what's on offer, when we know what the invitation is for us? Why is it that not everybody's running in the doors and staying forever?
Well, we've come to identify six factors. I'm sure there are a lot more as to why people don't want to come or have a barrier towards coming to church and having that experience that we know is so incredibly life-changing.
So as I'm talking, think about what you might think might be factors. We won't call it out today because we are a larger group. But there are some factors that you might think about straight away. I reckon this could be why there are reasons why, you know. Maybe the fact is that you think about on a Sunday morning when you get up and you go, "Am I going to church today? Am I deciding to go to church?" Or maybe you're leaping out of your bed with great excitement about coming to church. I'm not sure, but all of us that are followers sometimes have to process through that stuff, too.
So imagine that you're not a follower. What might be a barrier for you?
Identifying the Barriers
Let's have a look at a couple that we've caught through some data and research:
- Lack of warmth, friendliness and belonging: So again, you think but we're all friendly and warm here. Sometimes we forget that we are chatting to each other and perhaps not being as open-faced or as receptive because we're busy. We're getting tasks done. Whatever it is where we're caught up doing other things. We're perhaps aren't as available or as warm or as friendly that we think we are. That can be a barrier for people to come. And they might think that we're not... we might not be as warm.
- Lack of church wide ownership and hospitality culture: That we might not know quite how to own or host and be hospitable to somebody, you know. We take for granted what we've learned through our mothers and our mothers mothers mothers or fathers around hosting someone in a home. But sometimes we don't always have that same capacity or education or understanding when we host somebody in a space like this.
- Lack of a clear process and intentionality: Now, I've gathered that you've got a great welcoming team. I was talking to Rachel a bit earlier. I'm not going to test you if you're in the part of that team today but I know you've seen some of these slides already but you know yourself that there is processes and there is ways and training that we can take to be welcomers as well. But beyond the team, you are all welcomers and that is probably one of the headlines of my conversation with you today. Is this is not just about the team that were trained up to be welcomers. This is about the whole church owning the welcoming and hosting of the guest that walks in that front door.
- Lack of training.
- Unrecognized Exclusion Barriers: And that sounds all very, you know, fancy it within itself. But that we don't recognize that things that we can do can make people feel excluded. It is so tempting to see your friend when you see them at church and run up and go, "Oh my gosh! How are you? Let's chat," and be in our own little cliques and not recognize that that can actually be really hard for someone who's new. That's waiting to be seen and noticed. And there are many things that we can do that can actually create an exclusion barrier. It might even be—and not in your situation—stairs with no ramp. Where someone who comes or needs to wheelchair or pram can't get in? We see sometimes there is no parking at the front of a church. People have got nowhere to park—you guys tick, but lots of parking tick ramps. Things like that that you don't think about necessarily when you come to church. But things that are really important when you're new and I hear this: people drive around and can't find a park and they go home. Wouldn't that be a travesty to have that? Or people get there and they can't get in because they've got disabilities. So these are things that might be exclusion barriers for people to come in. Or they get in there and there's no one there to meet them at all. So they get a bit lost and sort of wander around the building, get a bit confused. And I found people that sometimes in the car park not knowing where the door is, that kind of thing. That's an example of an exclusion barrier.
- Underutilized lay engagement: Again very formal language. What that is saying is this idea that the staff do all the welcoming. And you know what? We don't. We're people that come along and we're attenders and congregation people and that's lovely, but it's not our job. And so that might be an exclusion a barrier to stop people from feeling welcome is that we don't welcome because we think you know what Nick's got it, Vanessa's got it, Rachel's got it, Megan's got it. I don't need to engage or lean forward towards the guest. So being so that could be another factor that stops people from feeling welcome in our churches.
The Impact of the Non-Staff Welcome
Just flesh that point out a little bit more. Research has actually shown us that it doesn't matter if the leadership knows you; new people need connection with others.
And I was chatting with someone before and when you're meeting someone and you're a staff member, as I've been, and they say to you, "What are you doing?" You get all around the church the person's face changes because they've realized that you have to talk to them. You have to talk to them, but I can see that you're not a regular person chatting. You're actually someone that is on staff, which is not true, right? But for the person that's good, but their face has changed because I know that you're doing as part of your job so that can be an issue for us here that with new people.
If someone is not a staff member makes an effort and almost owns you or helps you through that process of arriving, staying in and leaving, that really impacts you that someone randomly who had no reason to, chose to care for you. It's a big factor in seeing people feeling welcome.
Also, you'll see here that 45% of people who left didn't feel part of the church because of things like cliques and other things like that. 45% of people left because they felt excluded.
And it's very easy to get tasky as well. You know when you're doing something at church and you get very tasky. Think, "I'm not gonna talk to them because I've got to bring that creation from there and I've got to turn the urn on and I've got to go," you know. You know, it's like when you're doing something. Someone else will get it. Someone else doesn't always get it and that person's left standing there.
I know in our church planting days I always felt bad because we had to roll up carpets and carry, you know, things to cupboards and keyboards and drum kits and we'd say to our guest, "Oh, you can't help just stay there. That's it. Can we help you? No, no. No, you're fine. You're fine."
So they'd stand there like a bump on a log watching us pack up and I realized, "Annie that's a dumb idea." So I started saying, "Did you want to help? Yeah get on the other end of the carpet. Let's go."
But they felt as part of something. I didn't feel like they were obviously the guest because he wants to feel like they are the obvious guest and it feels awkward. So I started accepting all offers and of help because I realized people wanted to feel like they were part of something even if it was only their first time.
You can see here again a non-staff member makes a greater impact upon the newcomer and that's come through research as well. So again, if you're not on staff you are still kind of on the staff, which is the sense of you are on the welcome team of welcoming and hosting people that come through by proxy of the fact that this is your church and you're part of this community and you're also invited to help people feel welcomed.
Why They Would Come
So, why would they come? We've talked about why people might feel excluded. What why would they come?
We can see here that:
- 16% would come if they were made to feel welcome. That's great.
- 7% would come if they chatted with others as well.
- What I also like on this slide, which is not today's workshop, but maybe another time: 34% of people felt that someone invited them they would come. That's pretty exciting, isn't it? So remember that for another time another conversation, but the power of you asking someone to come to church. Is it makes a big difference people do want to be invited to things? Don't be afraid to dare to ask someone to come along and visit your church.
But we can see here though that 16% would stay if they felt welcome would come along there.
The First Seven Minutes and the Last Two
It takes seven minutes for a guest to form an opinion. That's fast, isn't it? You think about how fast seven minutes is. Seven minutes to feel like whether "Oh, this is a great church," "Oh, this is isn't a good church." People judge things they're filtering it through within a seven minute window.
And also the last two minutes is also important. So this sense is that someone can see that the service is finishing they start to wonder, "Okay, what's gonna happen to me now? Do I sit here awkwardly? Do I look at my phone and hopefully someone talks to me? Do I go get a coffee awkwardly? I don't know anybody I'm gonna stand there like a bump on a log." Like those last two minutes as service is finishing is scary for new people.
So again, what does that mean for us as the welcomers as a hospitable church? We keep our eyes out right? You've got a new person near you. You can see that. Okay, the service is finishing. They've got two minutes before they're gonna probably just pack their bag and walk out. I've got to remember they're feeling awkward. They're feeling nervous about what's gonna happen for them next.
Jesus and the Invitation
You know what? I love about the invitation of Jesus and this is what we heard about the story of Zacchaeus this morning. Is that despite Zacchaeus' station in life? Despite the fact that Zacchaeus was so ashamed of what he did. He hid in the tree. Jesus still invited himself to Zacchaeus' house.
And we see this time and time again in Scripture: the woman at the well. Jesus overcame cross-cultural barriers. He overcame gender stereotypes and again, he invited her into his story. "Yes, you're right what you said about this, but you know what? Worship is a spirit and truth. I'm a living water," all those things. He cut across what we would see as a barrier because he was inviting them into the story of redemption.
So for us we can see this beautiful opportunity that we have as a community here to create an environment of acceptance and love and hospitality through how we receive people.
You know, we can have sometimes a mentality we've got a clipboard that we're sort of judging people—"all they didn't wear the right outfit," "Oh, you know"—we're like the the person at the pub with the list of letting people in. This was not Jesus and it certainly can't be our approach to people that we have a criteria of sorts that we expect people to live by.
I've heard people stand up in my church and say all sorts of things over the years and use all the big swear words and things like that and I think, "Okay, that's real." They're all people. Or I've had someone one day asking me questions as a new person about the Quran in the middle of my sermon. Why would they know they've never been there before? Do we judge them? I was like, "Good on it. I love that you've asked that question. Let me tell you about the differences."
But it was unexpected right because we're not used to that. We've got to make sure that our church feels welcoming regardless of how the person behaves or looks or acts. There is no criteria for the kingdom. There's certainly no criteria for us to have people come and hear the message of the new life that we can find in Christ.
I love this. Jesus doesn't say change then come; he says come and allow me to journey with you towards change. So we have the invitation and opportunity to offer a room to breathe, a room to belong, a room to journey, a room to not have to have it all together. Otherwise, probably all of you might not be sitting here. Maybe I don't know. That's a joke everybody. That's right, no peppy people allowed because you know, we're not perfect are we you know. And you found acceptance in this beautiful tribe called Deep Creek.
And I think this a reminder for us that some people come and they just don't know how things work. They don't know the culture and they just come along and want to be part of it. Let's make sure we keep the soil here of acceptance so rich with with an unconditional love and a welcome towards all those people that come our way.
Who is in Our Church?
Alright, so who was in our church? Let's talk about this who might be here. You might look up on this board and see yourself or maybe you don't. Who might be Deep Creek Anglicans Dan or Daniel or whatever name who is Deep Creek Dan who might be sitting the church here because it's important that we have inclusion and exclusion factors be aware of that as we think about who comes.
Now I've looked around here. I've been at the ATM as well. I can see such diversity of ages and stages and heritages of culture. And I love the diversity that's here. It's beautiful. So I think you guys have probably got some of this pretty nailed but think about this sort of thing. Like the neuro diverse people the people that we don't realize might be really wrestling with things such as being on the spectrum or ADHD or depression that kind of stuff. They might be sitting next to you right now, and you don't know who else might be in this church. Someone who's single, a couple that's tried and been an IVF for 10 years like there's things that we don't know about that could be in someone's own personal story sitting next to you. Who might be the the deep correct Danielle we don't really know the answer.
I think Megan would have more of an idea around demographics of the suburb in the area. But I think some of us tend to come from far and wide to a church to don't we so it's not always about the suburb that you live in. But let's be aware of that because two people when come when people do come for the first time they do look for themselves to see if they're gonna fit in like is there a version of me here somewhere? And I've got the churches before and thought I don't see a version of me anywhere. Would I be weird if I came? I don't know you know who was in your church. Let's have a think about that.
Also, I think how we create the culture here, and I've watched Megan this morning. She's amazing as she's done things even with that I've seen the overhead with two different languages on this on the screen. Not many churches do that that is saying we recognize the diversity in the building. I love that and some of the other things that I've heard about Deep Creek is so encouraging that you are recognizing. There is a mix of people here mixed disabilities. Perhaps people who've part of the LGBTQI community all those people are welcome here are they not so therefore are we aware of that? Are we making sure that we are open and receptive with a hospitality in that space?
Healing Through Community
This is just a bit of a fun cartoon after finally convincing his neighbor to come to church Steve started questioning his plan. If you can see that picture there. So community is powerful.
And I think what I love about this this idea of this scripture very quickly is... Now don't come after me if you're a theologian because I do understand that we have our different versions of how we see scripture. But what I read in the scripture, which is confess your sins to one another that you may be healed. When I believe the author is saying here is this idea is every as we come vulnerably towards each other and share of ourselves with each other that there is this beauty beautiful opportunity for the healing that comes with the community.
And maybe you've experienced that to yourself as you've come to this community you've experienced healing through relationships healing through being part of a tribe or a community group or a ministry group you found the acceptance that you were you were craving or you found someone who's come and said hey, "I hear you. Me, too." You know.
Sometimes we host things that are challenging in our lives things that we've been through and we come towards a community like that. It's almost like a dare. "Will you receive me with what I've come? Do you recognize that life's been hard for me? Can you receive me in such a way?"
I know for myself I won't share my story because of time but I've I was divorced five years ago and for me coming back into church community as a divorced person was very challenging to come to a community and have to explain to myself that now I'm not part of what I always want to I've got three children I was always trained that my life would be this beautiful perfect you know bed of roses that no nothing ever really went wrong until I did.
And we find ourselves coming to communities and we're also daring you to accept me. "Will you accept me because I'm not not I'm not part of the what we would expect is the typical church Christian family." And there's other people here that have stories that you might have come in and thought, "Can they accept me with this thing? Will they accept me with that thing that sort of thing?"
We also are we're asking will you come towards me vulnerably and include me as part of your story? So I encourage you to think about that to are you allowing that space where someone can come and share that stuff? That might be a little bit spice that you're a bit challenging all their brokenness. Looking for wholeness from the Lord first of all. But looking for acceptance through the tribe that as they share this stuff one another they will be healed also.
We're not going to share with neighbors, but have a think about yourself. What have you gained from this community? What has happened to you as since you've been a part here? Where have you healed? What if the people that have surrounded you cultivating you towards your wholeness towards your acceptance of your own story?
And I'm sure we sat here for a couple of hours with some coffees or maybe some red wines. Who knows we might discuss that your stories of what's happened as being a part of this community. Happen as being a part of this community where you found the healing from the tribe that calls itself Deep Creek.
Practical Ways to Build a Culture of Hospitality
So finally, what are some of the very practical things that we can do to continue to build a culture of DNA? We've talked a little bit about that a culture of hospitality and inclusion.
- No man stands alone: We used to have a saying which said no man stands alone. That was part of our like rhetoric in the church that I ran. No man stands alone so that when Megan's talking to someone and she's knee-deep in a conversation she sees everyone chatting and catching up and a new person over here. But there's a room it everyone thinks to themselves. "Oh, that's right. Hang on a minute. It's not about Megan catching up and doing the welcoming. No man stands alone. So therefore I'm gonna catch up with my friend in about 10 minutes time I'm just gonna pop over here now and welcome the guest." So this idea of whatever the cultural piece is for you is to remember that it's a culture of hospitality invitation. Invitation to Jesus's new life into this church is amazing legacy and invitation maybe into a friendship with you personally as well. So we have a culture of hospitality and inclusion.
- Creating pathways of entry and connection: I mentioned a few of the practical ways but there's all sorts of things we can do that is a practical way for new people to find their way in the church. We don't want the "put your hand up if you knew" thing. People really don't want to be pointed out when they're at church. Most people like to sit up the back actually when they're new because they're just gonna kick the tires and see what they think. Maybe not a big massive sign that says "all new people stand over here." We don't really want that either. These are the sort of things that sometimes I think we've done thinking that we're going to create a nice safe space. But what's a subtle beautiful way that we can actually welcome people where there are no barriers. So again this creating intentional pathways things like the website, which is important your online community, which is important as well. Do you know most people watch a church online now before they actually come. So it's good that you guys have got a really good online community going on. Things like that where this is actually creating a pathway that doesn't create a barrier but creates instead an invitation for people to come and be part of the church.
- Training teams: Training teams is very important as well. We've mentioned that as well. But broader than a team is that we are all of the team. Which is the whole point of today's chat really if you hear nothing else. We're all invited to welcome people not just the team. But it is also good to have a team that takes that as their responsibility on the day as well. So I know Rachel's doing good job. I've got her team. I'm sure if you'd like more people to help you Rachel she's always gonna take some new people as well. But there's import there are actually some little ways we can do things. You've got QR codes in the back of your chairs. There's lots of different ways that we can do things to create an ease to our welcoming and ease to capturing of new people's details that kind of thing. So we it's important that we do find ways to train and gather and underscore the importance of it rather than us just hoping that organically it'll happen. We're not going to be hoping because from today on once we're all going to be aware that we're part of this all taking responsibility of welcoming the guests and inviting them into the story.
- Evaluating: And finally evaluating and what that just talks about basically is it's good to us someone who was new six months ago. "How's it gone for you?" Do you know when you're a new new? The first time you knew everyone doesn't know your face so they welcome you but the next time you come you become the "old new" and people go "I've seen them before" so they don't welcome you. Does that make sense? The old new people quite often go "people were great the first time I came but then after that they kind of thought I was fine, but I wasn't fine. I didn't know a soul." So surveying people is very helpful as well. You find that's important to do that too.
Invitation and Prayer
So for you today as I finished what's God inviting you into as becoming a welcoming church was inviting you to as someone who's going to host guests as I walk in the front door up the stairs here at Deep Creek Anglican. What is the invitation for you?
We know we're here to steward God's amazing invitation into a relationship with him and as he held his arms open on the cross He invited us did he not into new life through his death and resurrection He invites us into an intimate relationship with him.
But we also get to host his body. We are the body we invite people in we host them towards the community of the story of Deep Creek to be part of this community the healing that comes with a community base at Deep Creek and also, we get to invite people into our own story to dare to meet heart-to-heart and to share that idea of "Me to you, share your stuff. I share my stuff and together we say, you know me too I've got that as well" and we build that vulnerable relationship where people can be entered into a relationship with us personally, too. So I encourage you to think about that.
I'm gonna pray and then head back to Megan. Let's just pray has we finish up.
Father we just thank you so much that you gave us the ultimate invitation as the king above all kings as the creator of the universe you invite us into an intimate and personal relationship with you. And we're so grateful for that and we receive that invitation and we are reminded every every time we think of you of that deep intimacy we have with you. We thank you for that. We have accepted your invitation and for those that haven't yet Lord I pray you to continue to invite them and draw them to yourself, but we thank you that there is no expectation there is no criteria that we have to meet to meet you personally and nor is there a criteria to come into a faith community such as Deep Creek.
So we pray that you would help us to have our eyes open for the one. Do you help us to have our eyes and hearts open for the Zacchaeus's that might be up the tree? Or the woman at the well that might be standing by the coffee.
Father give us eyes to see and ease to hear from you for that nudge and that promote the provocation of you to say hey "Go over and welcome that person in" and Lord finally We offer ourselves as your hands and feet to be vulnerable with our own personal story.
And Lord, we pray that you would show us the ones that you might have for us to develop a deeper relationship with as well. So challenge us this morning as we drive home or eat our pancakes Lord I pray that you'd help us to consider what you might be inviting us into from this message this morning. And we thank you for all that you're doing in our lives. And I thank you for all that you're doing here at Deep Creek Anglican as well. We give you all the praise and the glory for you are mighty in Jesus powerful name.
Amen.
