My grandmother moved to Austin when I was just a boy. It was the state capital and was a bustling town full of big state buildings, beautiful parks, a “cool” river that ran through downtown, and a “neat” capitol building. Now Austin is a big, crowded, high tech center with a lot of traffic. It still has big state buildings, beautiful parks, a “cool” river that runs through downtown, and a “neat” capital building. However, the greater Austin area has nearly ten times as many people as when my grandmother first arrived. No matter how you want to frame the Austin equation, lots of people have to be a part of your figuring!

    The invasion of so many people into environmentally sensitive Austin has been a bit contentious. “Welcome to Austin, now leave!” is a sometimes seen bumper sticker. It is a reminder of the tension between quality of life and quantity of people — not an easy balance to maintain.

    Church life can face a similar challenge. Big churches can become spectator churches where people come and see the “Jesus show” and then go home much as they would from a theater. They may bump into someone they know on the grounds or in the foyer, but mostly it is a gathering of strangers who have similar religious tastes and who are attracted to a big religious powerhouse because of the services it offers to people and the work it does in the community and in the world. We find ourselves glad to be part of the experiences, but in our honest moments, we’ll also admit that we’re not sure we like all these people taking our parking place or our own special spot in “our” pew.

    This year, our congregation went to one service during the vacation days of summer. It shuffled folks around as half the folks lost their favorite seating spot. It filled up our parking lot and our worship center so it required some adjustments. On one of the first Sundays we were all together, some friends ended up sitting in the back top pew in one of the riser sections. Those serving communion ran out communion cups three different times and had to go in search of more trays to serve those in this back section. They joked about the situation by saying, “There were either too many people or not enough cups.”

    That’s the tension, isn’t it? The early church faced it in Jerusalem with its rapid growth and had to come to terms with a variety of problems. (See, for example, Acts 6.) “Welcome to our church, now leave!” you almost expected someone to say because of the massive crowds. However, we don’t usually say those kinds of things with words, but with our benign neglect of those we don’t know and those who are visiting.

Such growth and Kingdom-spread will always bring problems.

    God made it clear in the book of Acts that he wants his church to grow and the message of grace to triumph. Such growth and Kingdom-spread will always bring problems. Some of those problems are opposition from those outside the church family. Others are problems of fellowship, friendship, support, inclusion, and assimilation within the church family. That’s where we come into the equation. We choose whether we go to church for the show and the array of attender friendly services, or we go to bless others and honor God.

    In the balance between “too many people or not enough cups,” God’s solution is clear — get more cups! However, his goal is not a bigger herd of folks in a religious box, but more hearts brought to his grace and more people included in genuine and loving fellowship.

    For many of us, it’s the start of the school year. Some folks will be coming to our church for the first time because they moved into town over the summer. Others are coming back to church for the first time in a long time as they get into the swing of the school schedule and feel convicted of their family’s need for God. Let’s challenge our unspoken and unexamined attitudes toward folks who visit our church. Let’s see those visitors as gifts that God entrusts to us; gifts that need a place to be received, unwrapped, and valued. If we will do this, you can count on buying more cups!

“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)