Today’s object can be the photo of this historic painting of Napoleon crowning Josephine or it can be a crown of your own manufacture (a Burger King crown is fine!) and a fashioned crown of thorns or an image of crown of thorns. See below!
You might find room in your bulletin for these photos.
Today’s Gospel talks about hierarchy. Where it doesn’t exist, mankind has a way of creating it!
You can point to this painting of Napoleon. Everything that concerned James and John in this week’s lesson is depicted here. Focus on the hats. You have crowns, mitres, skull caps, plumes and feathers, jewels and finery. Hats were really important in that day. They announced your standing in society. Crowns and mitres make you appear that much taller than everyone else. Jewels make you more valuable. And look at the gals in the viewing box in the upper left. They have seats of honor almost among the clergy and royalty. One woman sits on a throne and is flanked on the left and right by people in somewhat smaller seats. You’d have to do some research to figure out who they are today, but back then everyone knew!
People like to feel important.
James and John were seeking similar status. They were young and ambitious. After all, they had dropped everything to follow Jesus. They were loyal and hard-working. They deserved some compensation for their sacrifices. And Jesus had this troubling way of approaching all kinds of people, any one of whom might take their place in Jesus’ affection, if they let their guard down. Best to claim a reservation now!
Jesus tries to realign the disciples’ priorities. It’s not his first attempt! Maybe it will “take” this time as he talks more and more of the coming passion. Talk about this for a while.
Then turn to the headware worn by Jesus—the crown of thorns. This humiliation awaits Jesus and the disciples. The only place of honor they can expect is the honor of service and sacrifice. The lowest shall achieve the greatest reward in the Kingdom of Heaven.
It’s a concept that we still wrestle with today. Church leaders talk in terms of service, politicians talk in terms of public service. But they, too, face the temptation to elevate their status above that of those they serve.
Look again at the Napoleon painting. Does anyone see anyone in this painting that is accepting a servant role? Josephine kneels—but only to accept the crown. Two gals are arranging her train, but they don’t appear to be particularly lowly. The clergy aren’t out in full force as a show of humility! They are flaunting their status with their symbolic staffs, jewelry and finery.
It’s not in our nature to humble ourselves. But it is required. The sooner we, like the disciples, learn this the better.
Here are the above image in grayscale and an image of Jesus wearing His crown. Use the credit below for the Napoleon photo, please. You can find a higher resolution version of this by typing Napoleon Crowning Josephine into the search box at photopin.com.
One ambassador made a return trip to Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion in Center City, Philadelphia. She was looking for help with our very serious situation in East Falls and the prospect of 11 of our members losing their homes so the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod can secure the clear title to our church property.
She had attended services in this church for many years and sang in their choir. She was happy to participate in a Baptism but was struck by the few in attendance over all—really not much higher than a service at Redeemer. She enjoyed the solo, “Deep River.”
She was recognized by one member who asked how she was. She responded that she is incredibly sad at the situation in East Falls. She received the answer we hear commonly. “I don’t know anything about that.”
A second typical answer we hear, usually from clergy, is “There is nothing I can do to help.”
This, of course, is nonsense. Clergy are in the best position to raise questions and demand answers. What they mean is “There is nothing I can do to help without it affecting my standing in SEPA Synod and perhaps endangering my congregation in a similar way.” This is sad. It is also enabling!
An article in Holy Communion’s bulletin addresses an upcoming discussion on Lutherans and their historic discomfort with “works righteousness.” There is not much to worry about, if Lutheran leaders are afraid of righteous works!
Our lone Ambassador put two notes in the offering plate—one to Bishop Burkat, who holds membership at Holy Communion, and one to the pastor.
Redeemer has long sought peace, writing a letter a month to Bishop Burkat in 2008, hoping to avert all the problems of the last almost five years. All were ignored while the bishop makes false public claims suggesting she tried to work with us to no avail.
Our hopes are not high that anything has changed, but we are still trying!
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.
All mission should stem from some understanding of the scripture.
Here are some verses that have a specific emphasis or directive. Most are from NIV.
And while you are at it, remember: God is love.
Genesis 12:1-3 The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Exodus 19:5, 6
Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.
Psalm 9:11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
Psalm 100:1-3 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness:
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?
I said: Here I am. Send me.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Matthew 24:14
This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.
Luke 24:46-48
This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.
John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Romans 12 (practically ever verse!) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b] faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
\Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Philippians 4:4-5a Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for His possession,
so that you may proclaim the praises
of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.
Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:13-16 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to him, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 22:37 ; Luke 10:27; Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your mind and with all your strength.
John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.
Ephesians 4:12-13 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!
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.
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.
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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
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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
