Intro
Our emphasis and focus over the course of this year has been around the idea of helping everyone find better community, to find their people.

The call is to radical hospitality and inclusion, rooted in the gospel.

Paul writes to the church in Rome, which was a diverse congregation of Jewish and Gentile believers. Tensions had risen between these groups, each with their own customs, backgrounds, and prejudices. Paul’s letter is a deep theological treatise, but it is also intensely practical. He spends the first eleven chapters unfolding the gospel – all have sinned, all are justified by faith, and all are invited into God’s family through Christ.

Then, in chapters 12-15, Paul turns to the implications of the gospel for community life. In Romans 15:7 when he uses the word welcome, it carries a much deeper connotation than a simple greeting. In the original language, welcome means to receive, to take to oneself, to grant access to one’s heart. Paul is not calling for mere politeness, but for a radical, Christ-shaped embrace of one another.

Paul roots our welcome of others in Christ’s welcome of us. How did Christ welcome us?

Jesus’ welcome was (and is) costly, intentional, and countercultural. He did not wait for us to clean ourselves up, nor did He keep a safe distance from our mess. He moved toward us in our mess, our rebellion, our need.

Jesus shattered the walls (ethnic, social, religious) that kept us apart from God and from one another. This is why Paul says our welcome must be as Christ has welcomed you. Not as society welcomes, not as is comfortable for us, but as Jesus welcomed the outcast, the outsider, the sinner.

Christ’s welcome is not transactional or conditional. It is familial. He brings us into the household of God and loves us in a way that others choose not to.

Paul says we are to welcome for the glory of God. Our hospitality is not just about making people feel good; it is about displaying the character of God to the world. When we welcome as Christ welcomed, we become living examples of the gospel.

When we welcome others, especially those who are different or new, we display to the world the reconciling, boundary-breaking love of God.

Christian community is a basic apologetic for the gospel.
Steve Timmis & Tim Chester – Total Church

The Ancient Practice of Authentic Welcome

The church’s radical welcome, sharing meals, resources, and lives, [with anyone and everyone] was a magnet for the lost.

Why? Because the number one reason people come to a church and stay at a church long term is: People! I’ve said this for years, and the tradition and religious parts of us rise up and quietly say – no, it should be for God. Yes, it should be. But it’s not the number one reason for many people.

People are looking to find their people. It’s our responsibility to help others find their people. Someone did it for us. Someone [Christ] has commanded us to do it for others.

As we all know, we live in the most connected, yet loneliest, society in history. People are starting to crave genuine relationships. In 2024, the number one reason people used AI was to generate ideas. In 2025, do you know what the number one usage has been so far? Companionship and Therapy.

I feel close to people in my area.
Men 18-34
68% who attend church.
27% who do not attend church.

Life feels meaningful.
75% of churchgoers.
49% of non-churchgoers.

Comfort and Busyness

It is easy to stick with what is familiar. Our routines, our friends, our schedules. We default to our routines and friendships. But the gospel calls us to slow down, look up, and notice the people around us.

We won’t make disciples by adding a few tasks to our schedule. We make disciples by inviting people into our lives, not just our meetings.
Jeff Vanderstelt – Saturate

As John referenced last week, Jesus wasn’t too busy to stop, too rigid to be interrupted, or too focused to notice someone on the margins.

Sometimes we hesitate to reach out because we fear being rejected or not knowing what to say. But remember: Christ risked everything to welcome us.

The early church struggled with divisions: Jew and Gentile, rich and poor. James confronted favoritism, calling it incompatible with faith in Jesus.

The gospel compels us to break down every wall of race, class, background, and preference.

Practical Application: Making Space

In Our Gatherings
Slow down and look up.
Notice who is new, alone, or on the margins.

Greet by name.
Remember someone’s story.

Invite in.
Extend invitations to lunch, coffee, or a group.

In Our Groups
Open the circle.
Gospel hospitality is not a matter of fine China but of open hearts and open doors.
Rosaria Butterfield – The Gospel Comes With a House Key

Share leadership and life.
Vulnerability fosters belonging.

In Our Homes
Meals as a form of ministry.
The table is a place of transformation.

Let the strangers at your table become neighbors, and let those neighbors become part of the family of God.
Rosaria Butterfield – The Gospel Comes With a House Key

In Our Friendships
Invite someone outside your usual circle.
Expand your circle; invite one more into your plans.

Check your friendships at the door.
Be intentional about including those who are different from you.
Pray for eyes to see the lonely, the overlooked, the outsider.

Who do you see?
Who is waiting for someone to say, “You matter. You belong. You can sit with me”?

Who will you invite?
Whose eternal story might begin with your simple act of welcome?

What legacy will we leave?
May our church be known not just for friendly greetings at the door, but for hearts and homes that are open to one more.

The call to make space is not a burden, but a privilege. It is an invitation to join God in His redemptive work. To be a people who notice, welcome, and include, just as Christ has done for us. Imagine the stories that could be written if each of us made room for just one more. Imagine the lives changed, the faith journeys begun, the glory given to God.

Radically ordinary hospitality is this: using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God
Rosaria Butterfield – The Gospel Comes With a House Key

Let’s make space for one more, for the glory of God, and for the good of others.