You may have heard about Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm in Georgia. He started a peanut farm and tried to run it the same way he thought Jesus would run it. He believed in a good wage for an honest day's work. He believed in taking care of the land and those who work it. And he believed that all people -- black and white -- could work together and stand together. It was the early 1950s, and his local Baptist church did not agree with his thoughts on racial equality.
One time, an agricultural student from Florida State University visited Koinonia Farm for the weekend. The student was from India, and said, "I've never gone to a Christian worship service. I would like to go." Clarence took him to Rehoboth Baptist Church, and it is reported that "the presence of his dark skin miraculously chilled the hot, humid southern Georgia atmosphere." It didn't matter that he was from India. He had dark skin, not a red neck -- and so he did not fit in. After worship, the pastor drove out to Jordan's farm and said, "You can't come with somebody like that. It causes disunity in our church." Jordan tried to explain, but the pastor wasn't listening.
Sometime later, a group of church leaders went out to the farm to plead with Clarence to keep undesirable people out of their church. As the story goes, Clarence promised to apologize before the congregation if somebody could prove he had done something wrong. Then he handed a Bible to a man in the group and said, "Can you tell me what sin I have committed by bringing a stranger to church?"
The man slammed down the book and said, "Don't give me any of this Bible stuff!"
Clarence retorted, "I'm not giving you any Bible stuff. I'm asking you to give it to me."
The man and the others did not know what to say; so they slipped out. When they got back to the church, they wrote a letter and said, "Mr. Jordan, you are no longer welcome in our church, because you keep bringing in the wrong kind of people."
Maybe the truth here is that the "wrong" people were already in that church? Certainly, people with the wrong attitude were in that church. Everyone should be welcome in the church. My prayer is that when anyone enters the doors of the church they are seen as Jesus would see them, as welcome children of God.
Peace,
Skip
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Pastor James "Skip" French is the pastor of Highland Christian Church, 1500 Forest Hills Blvd., Bella Vista. Opinions expressed are those of the author.