You'll see four words all over everything we do at Arise: come as you are. They're on our site, in our conversations, probably in the text that led you here. I don't want them to wash over you as one more church slogan, because we mean them as a promise, especially if church is the last place you feel like you belong.
Who "as you are" is for
When we say come as you are, we're talking to real people with real stories. Maybe you've never set foot in a church and you wouldn't know what to do with your hands. Maybe you grew up in one and walked away, and the thought of going back makes your chest tight. Maybe you gave church years of your life and came out worn down, or hurt, and you're in no hurry to hand it your trust again.
You are exactly who we had in mind. There's a place at this table for you, not once you've cleaned yourself up, not once your theology is sorted, not once you feel ready. Now. As you are.
It's not "come and perform"
Here's what come as you are is not. It's not "come and pretend." It's not "come once you look the part." It's not a soft welcome that turns into pressure the minute you show up. We're not running a performance you're expected to match, and there's no test at the door.
Our Sunday gatherings are ordinary on purpose, coffee, an open Bible, honest conversation, prayer for each other by name. No stage, no spotlight, no one scoring how spiritual you seem. You can bring your questions and your doubts through the front door. You can sit quietly the whole time. You can show up with your kids and your guard up. All of it is welcome.
Why we can say it
We can promise this because it isn't really about us, it's about Jesus, and how he actually treated people. He was forever at tables with the very people the religious crowd had written off. He didn't wait for anyone to get respectable first; he came to them, ate with them, and loved them into something new. Grace was always the front door, never the reward at the end.
So when we say come as you are, we're just trying to do what he did. We don't have the power to change anyone, but we've staked our lives on the conviction that he does, and that he tends to start right where a person actually is, not where they wish they were.
The honest catch
Come as you are, and don't expect to stay exactly as you are. That's not a bait-and-switch; it's the best news in the world. Jesus loves you as you are, and he loves you far too much to leave you there. Following him changes people, slowly and for good, in the company of others walking the same road. But that change is his work on his timing, not a condition you have to meet before you're allowed in.
So, come
If you've read this far, maybe something in you is a little curious, even if a bigger part is hesitant. That's okay. You don't have to resolve all of it first. Text Pastor Brian, we gather every Sunday morning at Mural City Coffee, and he'll be expecting you. Come see for yourself that the place we've made for you is real.
Come as you are. We mean it.
Pastor Brian