January 28, 2015
Imaging
In my random visits to local churches
I recently went to a church whose fresh and modern name led me to think they
were an evangelical congregation. I barely settled into my seat when I realized
I needed to adjust my thought processes and prepare for a Pentecostal worship
service, rather than an evangelical service. Toward the end of the two-hour plus
service the pastor said, “Other Pentecostals look at us as old fashioned, and
outdated, but we're Pentecostals [traditional] and we're not going to change!” I
was reminded of the many churches who are trying to refurbish their image by rebranding
their name. They drop denominational indicators and look for titles that make
them seem fresh, modern and relevant in today’s culture. I would never suggest
that any church who wants update their community image had a problem with hypocrisy.
However, I have to laugh at the similarities in Jesus teaching about cleaning
the outside of the cup and dish; the whitewashed tombs that were beautiful on
the outside; and the tombs of the prophets and decorated graves of the righteous.
(Matt 23:25-28)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I still lament the condition the church has become. I didn’t see Jesus filing any organizing documents with the Secretary of State. I didn’t see Him naming His congregation. He went where He needed to go and did what He needed to do. When His message needed broadcast, He sent the seventy in pairs, each going where they needed to go and doing what needed done there. Such an approach relies heavily on the genuine commitment of each participant.
-----I suppose there is good reason for documenting an organization with the Secretary of State and giving it a name as if it, in itself, were a complete and functioning organism. Most people come to church addressing that need to be saved. For whatever reason, salvation reaches the height of their relationship with the church. I don’t know, but I think most of them are indeed smoldering wicks and broken reeds. Rather than being quenched, they are cherished and safeguarded there by the Lord. In fact, the only people attending church who are not smoldering wicks and broken reeds are the insincere, the disingenuous, the goats the Lord does not know. If the wicks and reeds and the leaders tending to them need a church name and brand to feel a part of the Lord, that is sad, but it is real, and so it will need to be.
-----A recent series of sermons relating stewardship even to the assets that are our hearts and minds and abilities has led to an effort to increase the “missional” aspect of the church. It started out so well - a call to sincerity, a call to being what we believe, a call to picking ourselves up and going where we need to go to do what needs done there. Now we sit in different little groups talking about such stuff as how to elevate teamwork or create effective programs, committees, events, just more stuff needing more brands. I suspected such would be the case as soon as the hot iron was pulled back and a still smoking “missional” could be read across the effort. Yet good will flow through it. I just thought there would be more than a program to brand.
-----I believe God is well pleased with our brokenness. In the end, His being God and having moved as God will be that which is glorified in all that stirred upon the earth (even evil will glorify Him in the same manner the Broncos glorified the Seahawks, the 49er’s, the Giants, the Redskins, and the Cowboys.) If we are so broken and opaque as to need a name and brand for our gathering together, then let it be for now. It’s more like the cast on a broken arm. It’s neither the arm nor a part of the arm, yet the arm needs it till the arm can hold its own.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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