Summer’s here and things are warming up! Your church will be warmer, more inviting, and more welcoming when your current members develop a deeper appreciation of grace. Grace is the central tenet of the Christian message, and yet there is a continuous need for Christians to experience it afresh. Jesus’ parable of the Waiting Father (Luke 15:11-32) paints a vivid portrait of an elder brother who doesn’t ‘get’ grace. He can’t bring himself to join the party thrown in celebration of his prodigal sibling’s return. If you lead a growing church over 40 years old, this resentful ‘elder brother syndrome’ is probably familiar to you.

How can those of us attempting to lead renewal in traditional congregations experience grace in new ways? How can we foster fresh experiences of grace among our members? These are important questions in themselves, and doubly so for anyone hoping to prepare a church over 40 for effective outreach. Church members prioritize outreach and do it well when they’ve learned to communicate acceptance and unconditional love to unchurched people – when they have become grace-givers. But they are able to give grace only after they’ve received it. We are all debtors to grace! None of us earned our right standing before God. “He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Our book review this month is “True Faced: Trusting God and Others with Who You Really Are.” We’ve always loved Philip Yancey’s book and companion study “What’s So Amazing about Grace?” However, we like “True Faced” better for group study. “True Faced” is not simply a discussion guide to the all-important doctrine of grace. It actually gives people an experience of grace. It helps church leaders cultivate high-trust environments in which people drop their masks and risk being transparent. Authentic people are, in turn, able to sincerely welcome new people to the congregation as fellow pilgrims on the journey of faith.

Our web review this month directs you to a beautiful message on grace rooted in 2 Timothy 1:9, which reads, “It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus” (New Living Translation). May your heart, mind, and church be filled with God’s loving-kindness, and may you pass it on.