Thinking Good Brand Recognition Equals Genuine Witness

I think it is important for the church to recognise and appreciate the difference between branding and witness.

Branding is about creating a positive influence, reputation, and sense of recognition in your community. For a long time the church as been seen as behind the times, against everything, and irrelevant to the issues 'real' people face in the 'real' world. Good branding seeks to turn this around. Church logos, refurbished buildings, community initiatives that bless and make a difference in people's lives are some of the things that help with branding. They create for the unchurched a positive impression and appreciation of the church.

A positive impression with the community though is not the Gospel.

The gospel is the gospel. It's not a logo, a special event, or a better sound system. The gospel is the good news that Jesus gave his life on the cross to pay the price for your sin and mine, that He rose from the dead, and that forgiveness is available as we repent and follow Christ. The gospel is a challenge, it is a invitation, it is a clear message. At times it is a stumbling block and an offense. An offense to a sinful lifestyle as it defines a right way of living and a wrong way of living. Being told you are wrong can be offensive, especially when you think you are all right.

The church must not mistake branding for the gospel.

It must work on its branding, change misconceptions about the church and what it means to be a Christian, present herself as relevant and essential to 21st Century living.

It must continue to preach and present the gospel. A clear challenge to repent from a sinful life and turn to follow Jesus.

Replacing Leadership with Celebrity

Christian culture cannot afford to replace Godly leadership with Christian Celebrity.

Leaders...

- People follow leaders because they lead in the pursit of a cause, in the case of the Christian community the cause of Christ and His church. There is a Spirit of humility that says I'm willing to listen and follow in order to better pursue the cause of Christ.

Celebrities...

- People follow celebrities because of their success not their cause. There is a selfish ambtion that seeks it's own success and status.

Leaders...

- People listen to leaders because they offer clearer perspective. They see furthur and they see clearer. They have a Godly ability to define reality and chart pathways forward into what should be and could be. Their perspective is appreciated even if not always easy to listen to.

Celebrities...

- People listen to celebrities because they say what people want to hear. Not in the sense that the celebrity nessasarily sets out to do this, rather they only listen to those that say what they want to hear.

Leaders...

- Make mistakes. They own up to it, admit it and grow through it. They look outward when things are going well, they look inward when the chips are down. Followers show respect, their trust in God is not moved.

Celebrities...

- Make mistakes. They own up to it, admit it and grow thourgh it. Followers are devistated. They have built up such a pedistile for their Christian hero to stand on that in their mind the world has just gaved in on them. Their trust in God is shaken.

An Unhealthy Fixation on the Large

This is an issue we must be aware of. For too long, too many people in the church (universal) have thought small, dreamt small, acted small and expected small. With all my heart though I believe that God wants to do excedingly abundently above in your life, my life, in your church, and in my church. Its great now that this is becoming more and more the expectation that people carry.

However large cannot be and should not be the measuring stick or focus of all that goes in in Christian ministry. We should never settle for average, we should never stop believing that with God's help we can see our churches and minsirties grow and expanded. Let's not forget though that small can still be outstanding as well.

Small Groups = awesome opportunities for community and authetic relationships to develop. More suited to this than a Sunday in a congregation of thousands or even hundreds.

Small Churches = while all churches should continually seek to grow and expand, most churches simply won't grow to be 1000 or 10,000 strong. Most chruches around the world will never have more than 200 people in them. While we should continually seek to lift this, every church where lives are being transformed, where Christ is being pursued and the gospel is being preached is a key component in the body of Christ, a light to the world. It's all the lights shining together that make a difference, not just 5 or 6 really bright ones.

Small Steps = many people are waiting for their big opportunity with God, in life, in all sorts of areas. Mostly though life is made of of small steps in the right direction that become a long obedience in the right direction. Take the right small steps now rather than just waiting for some 'giant leap opportunity' to come your way.

Large is awesome and is important; so is small. We shouldn't have an unhealthy fixation on either the large or the small. God made elephants and blue whales as well as mice and ants. There is purpose, value, and lessons to be learnt from both the large and the small.

Dangers in the Church

Mark Sayers recently blogged about what, in his humble opinion are the 'Top 10 Christian Idols/Untruths/Myths of Our Day', you can read his post here.

All 10 issues he listed are worth considering, the five that stood out to me where...

1. An unhealthy fixation on the large.
2. Replacing leadership with celebrity.
3. Thinking good brand recognition equals genuine witness.
4. Mistaking hype for the Holy Spirit.
5. Mistaking shouting for saying something worthwhile.

As I get time, I look forward to posting some thoughts on each and why I agree with Mark that they are potentially issues we must be aware of.

I also look forward to addressing another five things that I think are dangerous.

- A postmodern obsession with novelty and entertainment.
- A reluctance to reflect and to question.

Why No Posts?

I know, I know it's been nearly a month since I posted. Why no posts? What's been happening?

Well truth be told two kids, (no surprises here), can be a real handful at times. If I was wearing a hat I would take it off to everyone with 3 or 4 kids. You guys are legends. For those of you with 5 plus kids I would shave my hair off if I had an electric razor on me. Pity I don't.

I just haven't had time to blog sorry. Then if I have had time... which would mean the kids are asleep, the house is at least mostly in order, and all sermons currently needed have been written... my eyeballs sting too much from lack of sleep to sit in front of a screen and blog.

We just don't seem to be sleeping much at the moment, it seems if its not Romeo's reflux and inability to burp (he only farts, like his uncle), its Annamari's teeth coming through all at once. This means we are up a lot during the night.

I guess I could blog then but the tooth picks I use to hold my eyes open make my eyelids bleed so I can't see because of the blood. Its lose lose whatever way you look at it.

Its awesome having both Annamari and Romeo. I love them to bits and they are so much fun. Being a Dad is awesome. And being a Dad means blogging is on the back foot at the moment.

Anyway, that's why there are no posts. Too busy with work, study, and parenting.

In saying that, I'm looking to get a few posts going over the next week and then will try to get something up every couple of days.

Have fun for now.