Practicing “welcome” together

A recent Story & Soul (our writing group) prompt reminded me of just how many times my family of origin moved during my growing-up years. When my husband & I married, I had no idea that we would follow suit - we moved 7 times over our first 25 years of marriage. Moving this much is not uncommon in our hyermobile culture; but still. It seems like for so much of my life, I have been adjusting to a new home, a new neighborhood, a new school and/or a new friend group.

Looking back, it makes me even more grateful for all the people who welcomed us into each of these new places: the neighbor who showed up with a jar of homemade salsa, the friends who had us over to their homes, the preschool teachers who received our children as if they were their own, the faith community that became like family.

Welcome is no small thing. It may get watered down through the now-common-catch-phrase “all are welcome”, but welcome has weight.

During the month of August, a month marked by post-summer reconnection, transition & anticipation, we’ll be exploring & practicing welcome. Our Sunday gatherings will look a little different as we prepare to begin a new season in our life together. In case you haven’t heard, we just hired a Community Life Coordinator (Kathea) to support our life together and a Children’s Faith & Wonder Coordinator (Amanda) to help create intentional space for our children. We are making some time to celebrate & prepare together.

Whether you are new in town and in need of community or have been traveling, taking a much-needed reprieve, or are simply curious about exactly whether The Well might be a good fit for you, we’d love to welcome you - even as we wonder together exactly what that means to each of us.

You can find our playlist for this season here.