Do We Know Who We Are? and if we don’t, How Can We Expect Anyone Else to Relate to Religion?
Today, I’d like to link to a discussion published on the Grow Blog.
Two marketing experts and a rabbi discuss the meaning of brand in today’s society.
The foundational argument is that brand matters to people who want to belong. We proudly walk the streets wearing grungy t-shirts that advertise the causes—including commercial causes—we want people to know matter to us. In our minds we aren’t advertising the company (although we are). We are broadcasting that we somehow relate to this service or product, and we want people to know it.
The companies want people to know it, too!
Branding, the discussion suggests, addresses a fundamental need to belong to something bigger than ourselves.
That used to happen in church. Religion used to define a big part of our lives.
Not so much anymore. We worship at the altar of technology, beauty, comfort and fun and choose an occasional charity at our convenience. The Church gets this nod of convenience at Christmas and Easter.
The Mission Statement is written. The Vision Statement is being drafted.
The process of writing the Mission Statement helped you define your congregation.
The Vision Statement is a congregation’s crystal ball overview. Where do you see yourself as a congregation in five to ten years?
The Vision Statement is an invitation to dream.
You will be tempted to write a beautiful Vision Statement, wrapped up in all your hopes for your beloved congregation. You will stumble over one thing.
You are who you are.
Unless you are a brand new congregation, people already have expectations when they walk through your door.
This is nothing new. It’s how denominations came to be and how they continue to be defined. We expect a bit of pageantry when we enter a Roman Catholic or Episcopal Church. We expect a different focus in a Baptist or Methodist Church.
Example of Branding Challenges
The Lutheran Church (ELCA) is a good example of branding gone awry.
Lutherans are a congregation-based denomination that spans the liturgical tradition. The broad definition provides a wide door for participation, but no one quite knows what they will encounter when they enter a Lutheran Church.
The local congregation, therefore, must be diligent in defining its image.
Without definition, there is a subtle competition to be more of whatever the current trend might be. This changes over the years and varies culturally and geographically.
Currently, Lutherans are trying to emulate the Episcopalian traditions. Leaders worked hard to reach agreement at being in Full Communion, a concept that benefits only top leaders. A document was drafted accordingly. And then a disclaimer was added.The disclaimer is rarely read. It negates most of the agreements made in the document! We are in full communion — just kidding.
The result is a classic “branding” problem. Compare this to the business world.
You expect a certain type of movie from Disney. You expect a certain type of thinking to come from Apple. You don’t expect lullabies from Mick Jagger.
If a company strays from its mission, confusion and disappointment results.
What do we expect from our Lutheran congregations, especially when there is a difference between the leadership of our denomination and the congregations?
Local congregations must find a balance between sudden change and its established image.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. Denominational pressure encourages change. Demographics are examined with a marketer’s eye. The real, unstated mission is to find members willing to support the denomination.
Congregations may decide that they will attract young professionals if they offer a praise band. But that offering may go against who you actually are as a congregation and the community may read this as desperate marketing. Result: no one is comfortable. Pretty soon, your congregation doesn’t recognize itself.
On to the next marketing “hook.”
Like it or not, the Church is involved in marketing.
Know Thyself
A congregation’s “branding” must grow organically from who we actually are. Any changes on the road to transformation must first enhance the life of the existing congregation so that our members are confident in their evangelism efforts. Presumably, the drafting of a Mission Statement helps this process. Know thyself and don’t try to be all things to all people.
Otherwise you may as well lock out the faithful members of the congregation. With this unwelcoming behavior on display to the community, you can then try to build a new membership more to your liking.
This may sound absurd, but it is the actual strategy of some synods in the ELCA!
This series has addressed evangelism in terms used most often by people in marketing and advertising. Again:
Advertising is getting the word out.
Evangelism is getting the Word out.
We’ve concentrated in this series on branding, applying this term to a favorite strategy of church developers — beginning a ministry with the tactic of writing a Mission Statement.
Often that’s where this sort of evangelism program both begins and ends. The Mission Statement is written and it’s back to business as usual.
One of the leading voices in the marketing world is businessman Seth Godin. He recently presented a concept and granted permission to share it. So let’s take a look at what he has to say.
Seth Godin’s Acute Heptagram of Impact
According to Godin (who has initiated countless ventures and helps many more kick-start their dreams) all of these seven qualities must be present if a project is to succeed. The absence of even one can snuff out the light! I revised his Heptogram to make it make sense to me. The concepts crisscross as if you are drawing a star, but otherwise it is Seth’s.
Start at the top of the star. Godin says you can have a STRATEGY but if you do not define your TACTICS and if you lack the SKILLS to EXECUTE those tactics. the STRATEGY won’t matter. Your ability to garner support from sponsors or workers depends on your REPUTATION. Nothing mentioned so far matters if the DESIRE to succeed is not present and the individuals involved do not PERSIST. The biggest enemy of PERSISTENCE is FEAR. And with this, you return to STRATEGY, completing your seven-pointed star.
Each point on this Marketing Star applies to any Congregation engaged in forging a new mission.
The strategy to create a Mission Statement is the tip of this seven-pointed star.
Start to draw the star and you come to tactic. That is the Mission Statement!
Keep drawing. You now need tp decide what skills and assets you already have or need to help you execute your Mission Statement.
Cross over to reputation. If you have a problem with reputation, begin to address it immediately. It may take a while!
Work with your membership to foster desire. Chances are your leaders understand the need to evangelize better than other church members. Leaders must find a way to communicate their enthusiasm to the rest of the congregation.
Then you have to start working your plan. Chalk up some success. Address each failure (and you will have some).
Don’t let fear of failure or making mistakes keep you from trying.
Godin claims that when things aren’t working, one or more of these elements are amiss. Often, he says, none of them are quite right. The biggest danger, he suggests, is the concentration on tactics before the full scope of the project is understood.
And that’s a problem with concentrating so hard on the Mission Statement that we miss everything else!
We can’t do it all ourselves, but we live in a world where we like to think we can.
In the world of corporate marketing, the “brand” is sacred. Corporate branders would cringe to think of sending their customers to a competitor. They would take one of these approaches.
Convince the customer they are wrong for needing something they do not offer.
You like contemporary worship? Our liturgies are much richer and more meaningful! Take a seat and listen!
You are being bullied? We are so sorry, but our mission is more about feeding the hungry. Our food pantry is open on Tuesday and Friday afternoons! Stop by!
Promise an answer so far down the line that it is likely to be useless to the person in need today.
You want youth programming? Come back in two years. We’re training someone right now in exactly what you are looking for.
This type of thinking can affect how congregations interpret their Mission Statements. Governing boards can start to weigh every challenge by measuring it against their published Mission Statement and what they are prepared to provide—not the actual needs of the neighborhood. The Mission Statement then becomes an excuse to turn a blind eye to the changing needs.
Part of the decline of the neighborhood church is that the church as a whole is unprepared for change. Denominational leaders strive to find long-term pastors for stable (they call them “settled”) positions. When this becomes problematic, lay people tend to pay the price.
Let’s learn from this failure. Do not use your Mission Statement as a rigid gatekeeper in approving every congregational venture. Instead, use it as an indicator of how you need to change.
Also realize, that the approved Mission of your congregation may not resonate with each member. Similarly, visitors to your congregation may not care at all about your mission. Most people first attend church for personal reasons. They come to be healed. They come to have their needs met.
Don’t expect everyone to embrace your lofty words.
Make sure that all the good intentions in creating a Mission do not blind you to reality.
Seekers coming to your door may not seem to fit into your Mission.
Your sense of Mission must be flexible. Otherwise, you may be a congregation with a sense of mission but no one to serve.
This can happen at every level of Church life. A congregation can go to their Regional Body and ask for help with a challenge that their neighborhood has encountered. After all, when neighborhoods change, you can expect challenges to. But it is not uncommon for the response from leaders to be some form of “That’s not in our Mission.”
What they are saying is “We don’t know how to help you.” And that’s OK, but churches and denominations must be aware of the needs and be prepared to direct people to those who can help.
Today’s Mission needs are bigger than congregations of any size! It is inappropriate to turn seekers with problems away without hope. We have to start building networks for serving. We have to start thinking in terms of team.
If a need is beyond your ability to serve, help seekers find direction. Don’t just give them a phone number. Accompany them to the agency or office that can serve them. Personally introduce them to individuals with the expertise to help. Your personal attention will build your reputation in your changing neighborhood.By personally taking part in finding help, you will strengthen your own abilities.
You Mission must be active and flexible and ideally linked to other Christians and neighborhood organizations that can help.
Whew! We got the Mission Statement out of the way!
Now what?
Now the work begins. The Mission Statement is an accomplishment. But if you want it to be effective in your ministry, you must start using it.
The Mission Statement is always in danger of becoming trite or taken for granted. You must keep the Mission Statement alive.
Start using the Statement immediately!
Publish it on the website,
Recite it in worship,
Print it on stationery,
Have a temple talk about it,
Read or recite it before every governing meeting.
A press release should be written and sent to local papers. Write about the process, quote the people involved. Have them answer questions such as, “How do you think the mission statement will affect your ministry?, How does it reflect your history?, How will it make a difference?”
Make a video montage of your members discussing their mission and post it on YouTube, linking it to your website. Break them into short videos and post them on Facebook. (Videos attract traffic more than any other type of post.)
Make a greeting card with the mission statement. Set the words in nice type and use a photo of your church or sanctuary. Send it with a welcome note to visitors.
(Use a service like sendoutcards.com, which allows you to use your own photos to create professional quality, custom cards. You can register with 2×2’s vendor number 85519. Call or email us and we’ll walk you through the process the first time. It’s easy and inexpensive!)
Sounds like a lot of work! But the work is just beginning.
The Mission Statement must be APPLIED to your ministry.
This might seem like a boring proposition. “How long are we going to dwell on this?” But it can bring your ministry alive!
Mix it up! Plan special sub-emphases and celebrate them on a monthly, quarterly, or seasonal basis (calendar or liturgical).
Examine your statement. How does it affect the various emphases of parish life?
worship
witness
education
evangelism
social ministry
fellowship and
stewardship
You can add biblical concepts to this list
Our mission and faith.
Our mission and justice.
Our mission and reconciliation.
Our mission and our community.
Emphasize one of these for the period of time you’ve decided on. Rotate the topics.
Make one Sunday each month Mission Sunday and choose hymns and prayers that complement your Mission as it relates to the special emphasis.
Ask each committee of your congregation to plan an activity or event around the emphasis.
Preach about it.
Create content for your web site or newsletter that addresses the special emphasis.
Adopt a service project that complements the emphasis.
Have the congregation memorize a hymn which complements the emphasis.
Hang banners in the narthex, sanctuary and over the main door that point everyone’s attention to the special emphasis.
Every time the emphasis changes, celebrate it. Write a press release. Keep your mission in your community’s consciousness.
The Mission Statement begins to define your mission.It creates a structure that motivates your congregation and shapes your ministry. The Mission Statement becomes a working document, a blueprint for your ministry — exactly what it is meant to do!
Denominations are well aware that the structure of the church faces challenges. As you work on branding your ministry consider these realities. Your mission/branding efforts have the best chance for success when all leaders are on the same page.
This is not always the case and lay members are often the last to know. Leadership in changing this is likely to come from lay Christians.
Church leaders know:
the church is playing a smaller role in community life.
the traditional membership base of the Church is dwindling.
for the first time in history the neighborhood demographics are shifting every ten years or less.
the mission of the Church is to embrace all populations.
Knowing all this, church leaders are dedicated to the existing structure. Until recently, it has supported them reasonably well. Mission strategy was simple: replicate the same ministry in neighborhood after neighborhood.
Today, many of the solutions they present to their congregations are both destined and designed to fail.
Church professionals come to congregations and point out that if they think they are going to reach more people like them, they are mistaken. They elaborate on what is obvious to the people living in the neighborhoods: their neighborhoods are changing. They preach a future of gloom and act surprised when people don’t jump on board.
Meanwhile, congregations see opportunity. They live and work every day in their changing neighborhoods. Their children play and attend school with the new neighborhood children. They recognize that they need leaders with different training. Help is hard to find.
The Church as a whole has been caught unprepared. Changing an institution is more difficult than changing a congregation. The Church diverts attention from its own shortcomings by concentrating on the failings of lay people.
The temptation for denominational leaders is to facilitate failure.
Finding and training leaders for congregations facing modern changes is their job/mission, but it is difficult. It is often easier to just give up on congregations that are dealing with the toughest demographic changes.
They are squandering legacy — which has enormous value!
Denominational leaders are actually taught to neglect certain parishes and allow them to die. Using Church jargon, they assign “caretaker” pastors who, unbeknownst to the congregations, are expected to do nothing but hold the hands of the faithful until they quit, move or die.
Conflict results when the faithful do not cooperate with this undisclosed agenda. Suddenly, they are “the enemy.” The only way to spread the Gospel under this “mission plan” is to destroy the existing faith community and start fresh. This buys the denomination time. They do not have to provide ANY services while they work on a mission plan. Church doors are locked for a while (weeks, months or years) until the community forgets that a church was there. This, too, is part of the plan.
The problem with this approach, outside of it being wholly unChristian, is that it is fairly easy for the people making up the new demographic to see the Church behaving at its worse.
They can see the disregard for the lay efforts of their neighbors who talked to them with pride about their church.
They can imagine where their own commitment to any “new” church might find them in 20 years or less.
They will sense that they are of value to the church only as long as they can contribute.
This must be recognized. The Church which was in serious decline before the recent recession is now in severe crisis. The lure of small congregations’ endowment funds and property values is tough to pass up. It has created predatory practices that are thinly disguised as “mission.”
The hierarchy has no confidence in its own message.
Predators soon turn to questionable, selfish strategies.
The people who have sacrificed for ministry are expendable. If they don’t leave on their own, displace them. If they resist, sue them.
We now have enough experience to know this approach is not working. Church members, during peaceful times, are taught to believe and trust in God. It is difficult to teach allegiance to God and suddenly demand allegiance to man.
Your pastor is the first person you must convince to embrace your plan. You must appeal to the passion (which may be dormant) that led him or her to seminary in the first place.
Make sure your pastor knows what your leaders envision and what you expect from leadership.
If your pastor thinks he or she may need more training, try to set up an “internship” for a week or two with a mentor that is practicing the type of ministry you now need. You may have to go outside your denomination or region.
Stress that mission is the goal. Do not let any differences become personal. If you do, your regional office will have a very long memory for any resulting problems.
Let your pastor know that lay representatives are expected to accompany him or her on any visits with the regional office. You want to be seen as a team.
Congregations have personalities. It may not be obvious to you but it is to every visitor.
Often congregations think that their congregation’s personality is an extension of their pastor’s personal charisma. Sometimes that’s true, but no church can rely on this for long.
If your visitors sit through a worship service led by one or two leaders who never stray from the script (so to speak), they will sense that the congregation’s attitude is one of submission—a place where the only way to fit in is to follow.
If your worship leaders open the experience to each person in attendance, visitors are far more likely to envision themselves as participants in community.
It’s a matter of attitude. That’s part of branding.
Apple makes a great product but it’s branding is all attitude. Advertisements do little to list product features. Instead, the classic Mac/PC television ads pit the stodgy office worker named PC to the casual, likable, without being know-it-all, Mac.
That same difference can be sensed in church by worship visitors.
A lot of this has to do with self-confidence. Are people afraid to speak up in worship? Are they timid to greet visitors and engage in conversation with strangers?. You can’t evangelize without this. But it’s rarer than you might think. Redeemer’s Ambassadors have visited 50 congregations and only about a third of them have made any attempt to talk with us—and very few of those who did were pastors.
As you start to develop your branding/mission campaign, work with your people to help them break from their comfort zone. It can work magic.
This week on the television reality show X Factor, the judges set out to eliminate all but 24 from a field of about 60. The talent level is high and the process was difficult. After grueling debate four judges chose 24 relieved contestants to move forward in the competition.
Judges’ remorse set in quickly. They called about 15 eliminated contestants back. All but two of them had entered the competition as solo artists. The judges put that aside and gave them one more chance, but this time they would perform as members of a group.
This exercise changed the competition’s playing field. These contestants suddenly had to switch from trying to best each other, to trying to complement one another. When they performed together for the first time four days later, they had been transformed. Each contestant had discovered something new about themselves. The collective performance out-shined their individual efforts.
Find ways to mix things up a bit in your congregation.
Make an effort to talk to different people at fellowship.
Ask people who don’t usually work together to take a leadership role together in a short-term project.
Hold a pot luck dinner but ask people to sit together by birth month or season or just have them pull a table number from a bowl. Give each table a skit, song, or activity to perform together at an impromptu talent show after the meal. This is an icebreaker and it encourages them to work together in a fun setting.
Have a progressive dinner at holiday time, where you visit each other’s homes.
Ask members in what way they’d like to participate in worship, Don’t give them a list of things you want them to do (although there is a place for this, too). For this purpose, you want to find out what’s on their minds and how they, if given the chance, would shape the worship experience.
Ask two or three people to do the job usually done by just one.
Such activities build community. This will help your congregation’s personality to develop and shine. Your mission will radiate with every kind work, act or smile.
Soon your church will be a church with attitude — and that can be a good thing. Attitudes give mission definition. People want to know there is something behind the words.
We’ve discussed the need to look over your shoulder and include your denomination’s regional offices and other congregations.
We’ve discussed how branding helps your members understand their mission.
Now you are ready for outreach to your community.
A typical starting point in any branding campaign is to craft a mission statement.
The mission of every church is defined in the Bible.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. —Matthew 28:19-20
There are other verses you can focus on, but this one encompasses a great deal.
The task of each congregation is to refine this directive in a way that will keep your people on a chosen track of implementation.
We all know how easy it is to become distracted from our mission. This is a special challenge for small congregations. We small churches are so busy putting out fires that it is easy for us to lose our way!
There is a tendency to measure all congregations against some standard that, frankly, isn’t very well-defined. It may be a typical suburban church or a church with a well-known pastor. It is never the small church — although we outnumber larger churches!
This can be a shock to a small congregation’s self-confidence. There the driving force is often a dedicated and changing staff of lay people, who juggle uncompensated mission and ministry with work lives.
In defining your mission be true to yourself. If you are a family church, concentrate on the values of a family church—the warmth, the intimacy, the ability for newcomers to assimilate quickly. If you are a pastoral church you might have an emphasis that is a “trademark” of your leadership. That might be reaching a particular ethnic group or operating a daycare program. Your mission should express whatever binds you together as a people.
How will your group of people—with all the things you have going for you (taking into account your limitations)—fulfill Christ’s directive? In short:
How do you reach, how do you preach, and how do you teach?
You might start by asking each member this question. Their answers should help shape the “official” mission statement. Having been included in the process, they will own the mission.
Once a mission statement is adopted put it to work.
Feature it on your web site, on your stationery, and on your signage.
Hold a service to celebrate the adoption of a mission statement.
Invite several people to speak to the mission. Do this regularly!
Have a pin made or give out refrigerator magnets featuring your statement.
Make a congregational T-shirt featuring your mission. Declare T-shirt events (service projects, for example) when members should come in “uniform.”
Hang a banner over your door. (Outside where people can see it.)
Begin every service or meeting by reciting your mission together.
Write a press release and send it to local papers.
Keep your mission front and center.
But remember, your mission can change. Review it every few years to make sure you can still live up to its directive, and that, in focusing on it, you are not ignoring new opportunities. Actually, we live in such a fast-changing world that proclaiming a special mission emphasis each year might not be a bad idea. (Next post!)
In this series on branding, we’ve talked about the benefits of considering your regional body and denomination in your branding efforts. We are about to discuss branding your congregation for outreach.
But before we do, let’s talk about the benefits of branding your congregation and its mission for your own members.
People join churches for many reasons. Often they are selfish!
They want to be comforted.
They are looking for peace.
They are looking for companionship or like-minded friends.
They need help with their marriage or with raising their children.
They just want to feel better about themselves and their relationship with God.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these reasons.
Nevertheless, the Bible is pretty clear that more is expected of us. The role of church leaders is to accept people as they are and nurture their faith so that they reach beyond their personal spiritual needs and become a force which helps others find reconciliation with God and His people.
The branding strategies that you create for outreach will help your members bond in mission. It is worth the effort for no other reason.
Branding is about perception and how your members perceive themselves influences their ability to minister.
2×2 has adopted a mission to visit other congregations and learn from them. One small church we visited, clearly a family-sized church, was practicing branding. Every week they stood as one people and recited their mission statement. It had become part of their liturgy and part of the fabric of their corporate life. They didn’t have a flashy logo, grand advertising or signage, but among themselves they knew who they were and what they were about. Their self-confidence showed in their ability to welcome visitors.
Take time to work with your people to understand their expectations. This is not a 30-minute exercise. It’s takes some time to reach below the surface of people’s thinking.
This is a failing of professional church evaluators. They come to a congregation and schedule a meeting or two. They talk with the people who will show up for such a meeting, and may have an axe to grind. This is often not a representative group. The outside evaluator doesn’t know that! Their reports quote the observations of these few people. They often come out looking selfish to outsiders. If the evaluator had taken the time to get to know the speakers, they might realize there were serious life challenges that justified a selfish outlook.
Outside consultants, especially when they are working for the denomination, not the congregation, do not take the time to do more than scratch the surface of congregational life. It is up to your congregation’s leaders, both professional and lay, to lead your congregation in self-examination.
Only then can you write your mission statement, design a logo, create an evangelism strategy or implement branding for outreach.
We’ve spent some time discussing the politics of church relations and how they related to a congregation’s branding or sense of mission.
In the business world branding and advertising go hand in hand. What can the church learn from this?
Advertising is getting the word out. Evangelism is getting the Word out.
Congregations must learn to tell their story.
We have identified that the audience is not just the current members and the unchurched in your community. A primary audience for a congregation’s branding effort is its regional body, including the regional office, its officials and governing councils and every other congregation in your denominational territory.
Why is this important? Each congregation is vying for the same professional resources. Remember a primary task of your regional body is to fit clergy pegs into congregational holes. Making your ministry known to your regional body is an investment in making sure the peg that is placed in your congregation will move you forward.
Fact: a small church’s ability to serve—or even exist—depends on its relationship with its denomination. This runs counter to how congregations think. Church members will strategize for hours, weeks and years about how to reach and serve their communities. The regional body is out of sight and mind.
Here is a rarely discussed reality. All pastors are not created equal. Your regional body must find places for poor pastors along with the great. They will place poor pastors in the churches that are of the least perceived value to the regional body. You want them to know why your ministry, however small, matters.
Small churches must take extraordinary steps to attract the talent needed to serve members and fashion a ministry that will sustain a presence in the community. (That means meet the budget.)
This is great failing of the hierarchical church. Most communication between a congregation and the regional body is among clergy. It is usually prompted by sudden need or conflict.
Regional offices notice the big things. They will notice:
If your church burns down.
If the treasurer embezzled a few thousand.
If the congregation receives a major bequest.
If the pastor is unhappy or in trouble.
If a congregation stops sending benevolence (They won’t ask why! They will assume you are in dire straits! You must tell them!).
Regional bodies won’t take special note:
When your congregation rallies to help a family with a seriously ill child.
When your congregation supports a local charity fundraiser.
Votes to supplement a staff salary package during a trying time.
Teaches art and music to neighborhood children in an after-school program.
Does any number of small initiatives to improve the faith lives of their members and reach out to the community.
Ironic! These actions are the heart and soul of ministry.
Congregations must regularly communicate these things no matter how mundane or obvious they seem. An added challenge—so much of a congregation’s work must be done anonymously. All the more reason to be intentional about what you can share—and it’s all part of branding.
A Few Action Steps
Make sure your regional leaders and any staff assigned to your region are on your newsletter mailing list. Send it in a large envelope with a cover letter pointing to your most outstanding news. Even if you’ve gone internet with your parish communications, print a few and mail them to your regional office. Don’t rely on them looking up your newsletter or website!
Send invitations to events to church leaders and the pastors and church councils of neighboring congregations. Even if they don’t come, they will be impressed. They might start talking about you in a positive way! (It’s called buzz marketing).
Schedule events worthy of attention beyond your membership. In the past, hierarchies initiated events worthy of broad interest. That doesn’t exclude congregations from taking the lead. Consider a topic. Choose a format: guest speaker, workshop, panel discussion or webinars. Such initiatives will brand your church as thought leaders regardless of size. Does this seem impossible for your small family church? Think about a presentation on the value of the family church!
Use photos. When you hold a successful events, follow up with a card with a photo to every participant and your regional office. Personal greeting cards are great communication tools that are underused.
Insist that lay leaders be included in dialog with the regional office. It is absolutely critical that regional leaders come to know lay leaders. This will take some doing. Regional offices like to expedite all meetings. They will attempt to deal with the leaders that make their goals easy to achieve. Make sure your pastor understands that you expect your elected lay leaders to be included in the dialog.
Encountering Resistance
You may encounter resistance among your professional leadership, but it should be easy to point out that such efforts boost their image with the regional office along with the congregation’s.
The biggest obstacle is that the time and energy spent on this activity are not part of the usual pastoral routine.
But then, the “usual” doesn’t seem to be working very well these days!
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
Print or Kindle copies are available on Amazon.com.
For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
2×2 Sections
Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
