Here is your week 2 email giving you information about the themes/categories that emerged from our Who Do You Say We Are sessions. Again, these themes were fairly easy to identify as they were repeated by all of you again and again in the sessions.
This week’s theme (and these are in no certain order) is acceptance.
Some of the buzz words that you used to describe Forest Park as accepting were non-judgmental, inclusive and welcoming.
In almost every session, you said that if you told someone about Forest Park you would tell them that it was very accepting and non-judgmental. In most sessions, people also described Forest Park and the people at Forest Park as accepting. As one of you said “they accept you for what you are.”
When asked what Forest Park does better than other churches and what we are known for, acceptance was one of the answers in nearly all sessions. Many people indicated that one of the reasons that they began coming to Forest Park was because it was accepting. A majority of you felt that you have seen God through the acceptance you have witnessed at Forest Park.
One of you summed up Forest Park’s accepting and non-judgmental nature as “a place where you aren’t told the way it is but you can experiment and challenge your ideas and not be slammed for doing so.”