Young children, because they are so young, can think the world a small place and at the center they see themselves. Some, perhaps because they are more resistant to maturing, may resent the notion that it is not so small and that it has no single center, but many. It is the same when as adults we become frightened and less secure, and we react by narrowing the world, closing it around ourselves to keep others away. We say they are not there, and if they are then they are less central than we are.
Young beliefs and frightened churches act the same way, focusing on themselves as so very true and central; and if other beliefs or churches are present at all, then because they are not us they must be less -- less real, less true, less loved by God.
Living in a bigger world gives children more to explore and with awareness less to be frighted of. Secure people recognize they are not undone by the presence of others, no matter how distinct they might be. They find instead there are opportunities of more to be shared, and new awarenesses to be had. Grown-up churches can do the same.
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