{"id":40809,"date":"2016-02-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-commends-churches-for-hospitality\/"},"modified":"2016-02-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T00:00:00","slug":"atheist-commends-churches-for-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-commends-churches-for-hospitality\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheist Commends Churches for Hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sanderson Jones, a former stand-up comedian who leads the Sunday Assembly&mdash;also known as the &quot;atheist church&quot;&mdash;spent Sunday attending three London churches and tweeting about his experience. His observations are surprising and an encouraging reminder for all churches. &quot;I think churches should recognize that they are already doing so much right,&quot; Jones says, referring to the idea of having people welcoming on the front door, and people knowing where and when to set up for coffee after church. &quot;I went to the American Humanist Association and they had a special lecture on why it&#39;s important to be welcoming. It&#39;s just the most basic things which you&#39;ll take for granted in &#39;Churchland,&#39; which are in fact really powerful.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3511,3593,3601,3645,3961,3982,4108,4170,4172,4321,4403],"tax_ctp_topics":[388],"class_list":["post-40809","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-body-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-christian-love","tax_ctp_tags-church","tax_ctp_tags-community-impact","tax_ctp_tags-family-ministry","tax_ctp_tags-fellowship","tax_ctp_tags-guests","tax_ctp_tags-hospitality","tax_ctp_tags-house-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-kindness","tax_ctp_tags-loving-others"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Atheist Commends Churches for Hospitality - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-commends-churches-for-hospitality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Atheist Commends Churches for Hospitality - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sanderson Jones, a former stand-up comedian who leads the Sunday Assembly&mdash;also known as the &quot;atheist church&quot;&mdash;spent Sunday attending three London churches and tweeting about his experience. 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