Why aren't ______ people coming to our church?

​In early October I participated in a Webinar offered by The Youth Mission Co. (Co. does not mean corporation, but instead collaboration, coordination, and connection).  The webinar addressed the question of why aren’t ______people coming to our church?  The guest speaker was Laura Mariko Cheifetz the Assistant Dean of Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship at Vanderbilt Divinity School.   
 
The focus of the webinar was on diversity and inclusion of a variety of marginalized groups of people that we, with our best intentions, seek to serve, invite, and include.   However, we don’t always understand our intentions and therefore often don’t always see the results we expect. 
 
The webinar included thoughts, ideas, and personal stories about faith communities and how our church buildings are being used.   Some questions that came up include: 

• Why do we even want ________ people coming to our church?  This includes youth!
• What are we willing to let go of in order to welcome new people?
• Are we only concerned about our institutional survival or truly serving and meeting the needs of our local community?
• Is our building being seen by the world as wasted space outside of Sunday mornings?
• How can we use our building for good every day of the week all hours of the day? 

  You can watch and consider the questions of the webinar here: 
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