Close to home?

I’m writing in response to the negative feedback The Alabama Baptist received about the “Excuse me?” article in the April 17 issue.

I find it hard to believe that after reading The Alabama Baptist all of these years, some of your readers can’t tell that the article was written in a tongue-in-cheek, get-your-attention kind of style. I think perhaps the article hit a little too close to home for some people. Maybe it stepped on their toes a bit?

That particular writing style is meant to be provocative, to make people think about their actions without coming right out and saying (in this case) “you’re driving people away from the church by making visitors feel unwelcome.”

My husband and I have had several experiences with some of these unwelcoming behaviors, and even though we wanted to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, we weren’t fully able to because of the almost hostile atmosphere in the church towards us “outsiders.”

Fortunately God led us to a church that we now call our own. One of the first things we noticed when we were visiting was that all of the members seemed genuinely glad that we were there and they really went out of their way to welcome us. Even though our church is really welcoming, I still cut the article out and gave it to our welcoming team, Sunday School teacher and pastor. There’s always room for improvement.

The issues that the article speaks about are very relevant. My husband, who loves the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, still refuses to come to Sunday School despite all of my efforts to persuade him because of past experiences like the ones in the article, especially randomly calling on people to read or pray out loud without prior arrangements.

I have longed for someone respectable in the ministry to speak about these issues. I applaud The Alabama Baptist for being courageous enough to remind us how the church is seen and experienced by the world, Christian and non-Christian alike.

The Alabama Baptist may have published the article, but the Holy Spirit convicted people of the truth.

Dee Stroud
Montgomery, Ala.