They both have an image problem. McCain is viewed as a grouchy, irrelevant, old man who palls around with George Bush. (Which if polls are any indicator is worse than palling around with a terrorist.) The Church is viewed as a grouchy, irrelevant, old institution who also for the most part palls around with George Bush.
Can we just vote for Palin?
Here’s another analogy. Most Americans would be much happier if you just cut John McCain off the ticket. They don’t have as many problems with Sarah Palin. This bumper sticker sums it up well. Most Americans would also be much happier if you could cut the Church out of the equation and just have Jesus.
What the Church and John McCain both have is an image problem. As you plant your church you need to assess how bad the image problem is in your context and build a strategy to help reshape the image of Church where you area. Here’s some practical thoughts.
1. Ask people in the community what comes to mind whe you hear the word Church. This will help you determine the extend of the image problem in your community.
2. When you brand and market the church (everything from naming, web presence, and advertising), remember that it is more important to help change the image of church in your community rather than appeal to Christians already there. See this great post by Dave Mills.
3. Understand that the Christians in the Church are the Body of Christ. What they say and do will determine the image of the church in the community. So if your church is full of grouchy, judgemental, hypocritical Christians, the community will probably view the church that way.
4. Do something different. Its easy to do what has already been done in the past. But doing so and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Get outside the confines of Sunday morning, serve the community and engage people where they are. Focus on relationships instead of programs.
5. Look for God moments. God’s people have been looked down on before. In the Old Testament, we find the story of Esther. The Jews were hated. They even put a day on the calendar to kill them all off. Through some God ordained moments, public opinion was swayed and that day became a day to celebrate God’s people rather than extinguish them. Look for those divine opportunites to act and have the courage to do it.
Tags: No Comments
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.