Question of the Week: What Role Should Advertisement Play in Church?

November 3, 2010 in Church Reform, Contemporary Issues, Question of the Week with 8 Comments

In January, Fellowship White Rock will begin its hard launch and move from developing the core team into being more intentional about engaging the community. As Gabe and I and the rest of the team begin to make preparations for the shift in our church, I’ve been forced to wrestle with this idea of advertisement in the church? If you asked me a year ago what I thought about advertisement in the church, I would have probably went off on some rant about the commercialism cancer eating away at the organ’s of God’s precious church, found a Christian bumper sticker to flip off, and then storm away. But now that we are in the position to try and get the word out about our churches, I am realizing the need to think more deeply about this issue.

America runs on advertisement. And yes, there is a part of my soul that mourns this reality. The manipulation of man’s depraved tendency for stuff for the sake of profit seems like a system built on exploitation. However, that is just the cynical way of looking at it. Events don’t happen the way they do in the “Field of Dreams.” If you build it, you need to tell people that it’s there if you want anybody to show up.

When it comes to advertisement in the church, there seems to be two different extremes:

1. Go all out! Buy the billboards, the radio spots, hire the best web guy, social media guy, get the best gadgets and shout from rooftops about the presence of your church or ministry. Nevermind the money it costs, ignore who is really profiting from the money spent, and hope that through advertisement, the world comes to know Christ.

2. Run away! Hide yourself in your rooms. Pray. Fast. Hope that people will somehow find their way to your gathering through visions and that the world will just be convicted of sins without our witness in the public.

Obviously, the above are extremes. But it nevertheless does need to be thought through. I found this interesting blog about church marketing called Church Marketing Sucks if you’re interested in further discussion.

What do you think? Is there an appropriate element to advertising in church? If so, what is the too far?

I’m looking forward to hearing your input and hope that it can help our team through our decisions about the issue as well!

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

November 3, 2010 in Devotional, Theology with 2 Comments

“And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” Acts 9:26

Every time I read the story of Paul’s conversion, I’m shocked. Literally two chapters before (Approximately 2-3 years earlier), Saul was overseeing the murder of Stephen and the imprisonment of many of the Christians in Jerusalem. On his way to Damascus, Jesus appears to him and completely transforms his life.

Since the narrative of Acts is fairly terse and spanning a number of years in a relatively short book, the drama of the book can easily be lost. Imagine one of the most loved and respected people in your current church was murdered publicly for what he believed. His wife lost a husband, his children lost a father, and even worse, the murderer was not brought to justice but rather applauded for his actions. He was your friend, maybe your mentor, and nothing will bring him back. Now imagine that murderer, two years later, sending you a letter asking permission to not only attend your church, but be supported and sent out by your church. This would be a nearly impossible situation to deal with.

But this is exactly what happens with Paul and the church of Jerusalem. Stephen was one of the most loved and respected men of the Jerusalem church. He was chosen as one of seven men to take charge of the care of orphans and widows and was unflinchingly bold when it came to declaring the gospel. And then he was murdered. And Paul was in charge of murdering him.

Paul’s return to Jerusalem after being trained and ministering in Damascus takes up such a short space in Acts, so the emotive complications of the situation is easily glossed over. The man who murdered Stephen and put friends and family members in jail was wanting to come and partake in communion with them. Paul wanted to break bread with Stephen’s family and friends, and they would have to pass the wine to the murderer and terror of the Jerusalem church.

I can’t imagine being in that situation.

But this story shows both the challenge and the awesome power of God’s grace. Becoming a Christian means sitting at the table with enemies, sharing resources with those who at one time harmed us. God’s grace does not discriminate because of worthiness. God in his providence chose to end Stephen’s ministry early and call the man who ended it to bring his Gospel to the Gentiles. That is how grace works.

The truth of the matter is, what Paul was to the Jerusalem church, we have all been to God. Paul later writes in Romans, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV) As hard as it is, we don’t get to choose who we allow to the table. We’re all at the table by grace.

Lord Jesus, You are the Mighty God who shows grace to the undeserving and mercy on the unrighteous. Please give us the grace to show others the same!

 

Christians and Halloween

November 1, 2010 in Contemporary Issues, Question of the Week with 1 Comment

Last Monday, in the question of the week, I asked whether or not it is okay for Christians to celebrate Halloween.

I believe this picture answers my question…

Really though, there are a lot of difficult decisions we will face as believers. Unfortunately, unless it is directly addressed in Scripture, the answer isn’t always cut and dry. When it comes to Halloween, I personally believe that it is a great way to meet your neighbors and let your kids be kids. Obviously there are aspects of Halloween that go too far, and we as believers need to truly examine ourselves and our participation in those things. On the other hand, by running away from Halloween because of some of the connotations of evil that go along with it, we make our God seem small.

The big question we need to ask ourselves is what are our motivations in choosing what we choose. Maybe there is a history of the occult in your family, or some other thing within your past that makes it unwise to participate in Halloween. If that’s the case, then listen to conscience. Maybe Halloween, along with decorating the front porch with spider webs and jack-o-lanterns, is a big part of your neighborhood and participating in it is a great way to engage in your community. Then go all out.

However, as my Dad talks about in his blog post, we don’t want our decision to be motivated by fear. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Our God is bigger and more powerful than anything Halloween can dish out. So with that in mind, I say, grab your pillowcases and costumes, collect your candy, remember our great God in heaven, and have a Happy Halloween!

Reformation Day Eve

October 31, 2010 in Church Reform, Theology with 2 Comments

Because of the overwhelming popularity of Halloween, Reformation Day typically goes unnoticed every year. Reformation Day celebrates the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses, (which you can read right here) on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany on Oct. 31, 1517. This was the day that God began to reclaim his Gospel from the darkness of merit based salvation and papal exploitation and bring about an explosion of light on humanity.

In an article on Justin Taylor’s blog, Taylor interviews Carl Trueman of Westminster Theological Seminary about the event and the significance it had on the movement. It’s worth reading. In thinking about that day and the reform that ensues, it reminds me of two important things.

1. We must stand against corruption in the church as we see it. Luther didn’t begin his reform with the theology we know him for today. He began by seeing an exploited people by a corrupted church and he did something about. So let’s call it as we see it and not back down.

2. We must examine all Doctrine against God’s word. As Luther defended himself at the Diet of Worms, he took a stand against false doctrine by appealing to Scriptures. Our path can so easily be lost if we neglect the light of Scriptures and the winds of change can quickly blow us off course. Stay committed to the Scriptures with fervency, it is our guard against oppressive religion and idolatry. Below is a clip from the movie Luther of him at the Diet of Worms. The movie isn’t as historical as I would like, but still worth watching.

I will leave you with a quote from a slightly later Reformer, John Calvin, which I came across while reading part of his commentary on Romans:

“May there flourish, therefore, sufficient greatness of soul in the Church of God to prevent its godly teachers from being ashamed of the simple profession of true doctrine, however hated it may be, and to refute whatever reproaches the ungodly may pour forth.”

The Light in the Darkness

October 29, 2010 in Church Reform, Devotional, Theology with 1 Comment

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

Every Tuesday our church staff sits down together to pray for the different things going on in our church, along with praying for the various prayer request submissions we get every week. Although many of the various ministries would spend time praying with each other as a part of their ministry, it wasn’t until this last year that we decided that praying together regularly as a whole staff was something we needed to do. This time has become one of my favorite parts of the week. Not only do we get to take a break from the scheduling, the practicing, the researching, and the meetings, but we are reminded every week about how badly we need Jesus for the work we are doing.

There is a misunderstanding I think that we as ministry leaders often have as to why people come to our church. If you ask the Family Pastor, he would say its the quality of the Children and Student ministries. If you asked the Worship Pastor, he would say the worship. The Senior Pastor, the teaching. And so on and so forth. But as we meet every Tuesday and we read through the various prayer requests, I’m not sure if any of those things are the real reason people come to our church.

I’ve never read a prayer card asking for better music in the main worship service, or for better snacks in the 3rd grade Sunday school, or for more interesting anecdotes to accompany the preacher’s sermons. People are asking to be healed from cancer, to be freed from addiction, to be reconciled with family, to see their friends come to salvation, to find hope in the midst of unemployment. People come to our church looking for miracles that only God can do.

When I think of the time period that Jesus came, I will often times wrongly think of it as in irreligious time. But that was not the case. Jesus came during a period of the Pharisees and Essenes. It was a time of religious reform. The temple was built and active and the Jewish culture was growing more and more, since Rome had no interest in cultural micromanagement. Jesus didn’t come to polytheistic Rome or to the hedonistic Greeks, rather he was born in the “Torah-belt.” This was on purpose. At that time, despite all of the religious reforms, the ascetic stringency, the meticulous elaborations and adherence to the Law, people were still living in darkness. The Jewish religion could not meet the needs of its constituents.

And neither can we. When we pray through the prayer requests every Tuesday, reading through people’s desperate cries for something impossible, I always think of John 1:5. Jesus is the light religion can’t turn on. He gives life that the church, without him, cannot resurrect in others. This should be both encouraging and frightening. The success of our church is not the quality of our programs, which is good news. Instead it is the ability for us to do the impossible, which is terrifying. We are selling a product that we, in and of ourselves, do not possess.

And this is why we pray.

Lord Jesus, we cannot do what you have asked us to and we desperately need you. You are the only light sufficient to overcome the darkness of this world! Come Lord Jesus, Come.

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