Come As You Are; Leave Changed

"Come as you are" has become the trendy phrase used by churches to indicate that all are welcome at services. It means that you can wear jeans, that the music probably will be contemporary and that you might even get to sip a Starbucks during the sermon. In effect, the experience at a "come as you are church" usually is geared at attracting people who might not otherwise be interested in attending a church service. Perhaps they had a bad experience and were hurt in a church. Maybe they just found church boring or not connected to what was happening in their lives. Maybe they had made choices not pleasing to God and no longer felt welcome in church.

Ultimately the "come as you are" churches are hoping to be appealing, fresh and innovative to attract these folks and for the most part, this is a good thing. Church should be a place that's open to everyone and the worship service should reflect that welcome. After all, if church were only for people living perfect lives, every sanctuary would be empty on Sunday morning.

Where many churches seem to be falling short (and selling God short) these days, however, is that they are afraid to tell it like it is-- that the "way we are" probably is not the way God wants us and that we might not get to do and have everything we want if we want to be His.

Jesus loves us all just as we are, but the reason for his coming and for his death for us on the cross was so that we could be transformed. We are welcome in His house, in His arms and in His kingdom right now, right where we are. But we can't get there by remaining in sin. We need to experience a change of heart that recognizes the hopelessness of "as we are" and desires the lifechanging redemption Christ offers us.

Once we receive His gift, once we enter into that personal relationship, we start a continual process of transformation and growth that never allows us to stay as we are, but which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, changes us each day, each week, each month, each year to be more like Jesus.

Jesus never said "come as you are" and stay that way (for example, He didn't condemn the woman caught in adultery, offering her love and forgiveness, but told her to stop sinning from that point on), and neither should our churches. Too many are afraid of causing offence, of seeing attendance, finances or popularity decline if the truth is preached. I love the slogan of a friend's new church: "Come As You Are; Leave Different." What a great idea. Our church services should be inviting and exciting and relevant but should send us away changed able to make a difference for the Kingdom.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

(Romans 12:2 NIV)