What Keeps People from Feeling Welcome in Church?

A Church That Welcomes—But Only On Our Terms?

Rev. Robb Webb brings both wisdom and challenge to this powerful interview clip from Day1 Episode 4191. In conversation with host Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime, Webb explores the real and often painful alienation many people feel from institutional religion.

Despite churches often saying “all are welcome,” he names the invisible barriers many encounter—barriers of tradition, expectation, and architecture. From pew ownership to stained-glass distance, this clip challenges the church to embody a more visible, honest, and inviting faith.

Drawing from his sermon “Truth Shared in Song”, Webb reflects on Paul’s message in Colossians 1:15–28 and asks: What does it mean to truly be the body of Christ in the world?

Watch the Clip

Full Transcript

Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime
So in the sermon you've brought us today, you name a great theme about God's very revelation in the Son obliterates any notion of God's distance from us. I just love that. How does that conviction, Rob, speak to our moment when many people feel alienated from institutional religion?

Rev. Robb Webb
I think that alienation from institutional religion, that feeling of alienation from institutional religion, is fair. I think, in some ways, we in mainline and other institutional settings have named that. We want people to come.

But we then do this strange thing, like, we really want you to come. Now, don't sit in my pew and show up at the time that I say.

And bring your checkbook. And you need to talk like me and love like me and smell like me, and yeah.

Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime
'Cause this is how we do it. So yes, please come. We welcome everyone.

Rev. Robb Webb
You just have to check all these boxes. Yeah, exactly.

And so I think it's fair. My hope for institutional—so the criticism is fair, I think. I also think that there's been a realization in the church that we need to do things a different way.

And there's been a real desire to be opening and welcoming. And here's this—there's some expressions of this that may seem odd, but a lot of church buildings were built with big, heavy doors, and the windows were way up high. And they're stained glass, and they're beautiful. But what it means is it's very hard to see what's going on inside these spaces.

And so there are churches that are thinking about: what if we take down the big, heavy doors and put up glass so people can see what's going on inside?

What if we do some services outside, as in, out into the community? What if we do them on different days? How do we invite people in? And then part of that is getting firm on what it means to be a Christian, and understanding what that means to the individual, and how that calls you then out into the world.

Faith in the Open

Rev. Webb’s reflections challenge us to stop mistaking our comfort zones for the presence of God. Church isn’t just about who’s already inside—it’s about who’s still waiting outside, wondering if they belong.

We’re reminded that the body of Christ must be visible, transparent, and accessible. Whether through literal glass doors or changes in our tone and expectations, the church’s mission is to reflect the open-hearted love of Jesus.

Reflect:
- What unspoken “boxes” do our communities expect newcomers to check?
- How can your church make Christ’s love more visible—literally and spiritually?
- What assumptions have we inherited about what church “should” look like?
- Who is missing from our pews, and what might be keeping them away?

Explore the Full Sermon

Explore Rev. Robb Webb’s full sermon from episode 4191 >>>