The church is supposed to be Zion, a place of welcoming, love, compassion & charity (along with all the other good values & such) but often it is not. Instead it is oft a place of judgment, loathing, exile & neglect, the exact opposite of what God intended it to be.
How can we fix it? We certainly can't make others behave & be genuine, or force them to be welcoming and unjudgmental; we're not their stewards & have no control over them. We can only change ourselves. While we can control & command ourselves & our actions we're often lost on how to be Christ-like. Do we try to love everyone & be as fakely genuine as we can possibly be? Our intent would be good & true, but the method of doing it would be counter active. Many often believe a kind word in the halls, a smile or an insincere "how are you" is all we need to be Christ-like & helpful. Here's a news flash: being insincere or ungenuine does more damage then it does good. People can feel your lack of real concern rolling off you in waves, even if your intent was to be friendly & "fellowship" the person. Be real about it or don't do it at all.
So what do we do? If we're insincere about our caring & fellowshiping we push people away, if we just out right don't try or give a dang we still push people away. It seems like a lose-lose situation to me. It may come as a shocker to you, but we could actually be real & human with others. No sense in thinking "I'm better then you so I'll pretend to love/fellowship you", or "She's new & needs a temporary uncaring friend", or any such facade. Instead we could take real interest in their hobbies, maybe find an activity going on that involves it, maybe sit with them in the halls when they're alone instead of just walking by, perhaps we could talk to them outside of church & church activities, or maybe we could even pray for them. That'd be a world shaker, don't cha think?
If all else fails, if you can't salvage your ward from the grasps of the Mountains of Ignorance or the Demon of Insincerity, we can establish a sort of Zion in our own homes. We can dedicate our homes to the Lord & pledge to make it as welcoming to others as we can. We can make our homes a place of refuge, keeping an "open door" policy for those who are in need. We might be sure to turn our hearts over to God completely & let him guide us, letting him use us as a torch in the darkness. We could make sure to know all of the youth by name, and know of their circumstances & needs, looking out for them & keeping them in our hearts; we can offer them an ear that really cares, a heart that has plenty of room for them or even just a cup of tea & a place to talk late at night. If we cannot find Zion in the place where God meant it to be, we must take the principles we're taught and make a Zion in our homes or else face the possible perishing of a soul starving for light.
