God loves you and me. That’s the firm foundation for our faith, as it can be for every one of God’s children. God’s esteem for us is also the foundation of our self-esteem. We know from the history of redemption that God does not hold back this love from those who accept it. From the time of the Fall to now, God has worked tirelessly to re-include the broad swath of humanity that had fallen away, claiming them as his people, to love and to cherish.

We, in turn, love God and our neighbour as ourself. That’s our calling. Our esteem for each person is a reflection of God’s esteem. When our own view of a person is corrupted by sin, a little bit more of that person’s world is broken. God loves absolutely, but he relies heavily on us to to show it.

We have, humanly, only so much love to spread around. We can be more than fully occupied caring for children, parents, spouse, family, friends and colleagues, leave alone any of the other billions of people on this earth. Yet we are called, always, to stretch ourselves by including every person that we meet and hear about (if only in our attitude).

The church (local) is an especially important place for us to exercise love, seeing how it is typically made up of different and difficult people. Being ‘church’ together is good in itself, but it is also good practice for being christian in the world. This document, while it does not lose sight of the big picture, aims to encourage our inclusion by one another in the church.