BFF: Being a Faithful Friend

We aren't friendly.
Hard to hear? Here are a couple questions we answered last night, see how well you do:

1. In the past month, we’ve had 6 visitors at youth. Name one:

 - Name the friend he/she came with:

 - Name where they went to school:

2. Name someone in the youth group you don’t go to school with and aren’t related to:

 - Name their favorite free-time activity:

3. Name a youth who goes to church who doesn’t go to youth:

 - Name the last time you invited them to youth:

4. Name someone at your school who doesn’t have a lot of friends:

 - Name the last time you talked to them outside of class:

My hope is that looking at these questions will get us to look at how we come off as Christians. Our youth group is nice to visitors, but being nice doesn't mean we're acing the hospitality test. Over the next couple weeks, we hope to face some of the challenges we have to be a more welcoming group. Not because we think we're awesome, but because how we treat outsiders says a lot about our faith.

In Matthew 25:40, Jesus explains that when we show hospitality to someone, we do the same to him: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ " Also, if we are to be like Christ in our behavior, when we don't welcome others, we're communicating that Christ doesn't welcome them either.

When we stick to our friends and comfort zone, we inadvertently make others feel excluded. Imagine how you would feel in the same situation! It's not that we're mean to our visitors or the strangers we meet; it's that we're not taking the extra step to make them feel like part of the group. It's not just about noticing a new face, it's about inviting them into our world in a way that makes them want to experience it again.

We watched Matthew West's video  - "My Own Little World" as a reminder that there's a bigger picture, a purpose, outside our own little world.