Just Show Up?

I'm guessing she was about my age, that faceless voice on the other end of the line. She was calling to ask about my church.

"I haven't been to church since I was a kid."

"My fiancé and I are looking."

"We want some place where gay people are welcome."

"What about my two year old?"

The conversation wasn't long--under ten minutes from beginning to end. In many ways, it was a quite standard conversation from someone interested in coming to worship.

And then, near the end, she asked the one question that surprised me: "So, well, do I just show up?"

My answer was exactly what you'd expect--"Yes!" followed by worship time and a "wear whatever makes you comfortable." In that particular case, I knew I would be out of town the following Sunday, so I sent a quick email to the person most likely to greet a newcomer on any given Sunday.

Still, her question has stayed with me because it was so surprising. In the weeks since that phone call, I've also heard a few more stories along the same line. Particularly, a friend of mine mentioned when she was in college, a church sent her goodies but never an invite. That church assumed she knew they'd like her to show up in worship some time.

I confess, anything normally termed "evangelism" makes me nervous because I automatically think about telling people something along the lines of, "Here's what's wrong with you and how to fix it." I know I'm not alone. And in my nervousness, I've forgotten that invitation matters. It really, really does. From me. From others. From the church.

Most things we do in our social lives include invitation--a party, a wedding, a game night, a pick-up game. There's a connection with someone, even if only a tenuous connection. Often, we agree to go to many of those things only after we make sure there will be a few people we know at the party or the whatever. We're used to being invited. We're also lousy at doing it when it comes to church. And we need to get better.

Because the truth is, unless we ask, there's a lot of people who will never know that church is one of those places they can just show up.