Growing up in the United Methodist Church, I learned that everyone is called to partake in God’s table because it was not a UMC table nor our pastor’s table. It was there I learned what it felt like to be included. As I continued growing up, I realized that I was different. I learned that I was gay. I learned that not all of me was welcomed and affirmed at God’s table. I chose to hide that part of me in order to nourish the presentable parts of me. 

It was there that I learned that God’s table wasn’t big enough for everyone.

I went to a church in a majorly affluent area. Which meant on any given Sunday, our congregation was pretty much white. It wasn’t that we were against diversity; it was that years ago that the white church didn’t let people of color in our mix and so they did their own thing. Today, there are two Methodist churches in my hometown — one white and one African-American. 

It was then that our white table didn’t have room for other people of color — they had to build their own table.

The white God and Jesus we worshiped wasn’t big enough for other races and ethnicities. 

These two things mentioned are not the only ways in which a narrow-minded Christianity is harmful to many. Women, immigrants, children and youth, people with disabilities, transgender and gender-expansive people, and people who are impoverished or homeless are often overlooked in mainstream Christianity except when it benefits the people in power. 

The story is big enough for an affluent church to help the hungry in Africa. The story is big enough for the heterosexual church save the souls of the homosexuals. The story is big enough when the American citizen church wants to help immigrant populations. 

However, the story isn’t big enough to work on the systemic issues causing these things. 

The story is only big enough for the powerful, but that is not the full story. Their story may not be wrong, but it is not big enough.

That is where this blog series will come in handy. Each week we are going to address the shortcomings of mainline Christianity narratives and show ways to expand the narrative. I’m not going to be writing all of these blogs, because I only know my experience. I have to check my privilege and let others step up and share their own stories and experiences. 

Not Big Enough is going to hopefully rattle you to your core in a very good way. I hope it challenges you on your thinks. I hope it helps you notices ways you can better practice inclusion. 

Our old ways of thinking aren’t wrong  — they’re just not big enough for the entirety of Christ’s body. 

For the next 10 weeks, may this blog series expand your thinking and your heart for others.