In my feeble attempts to stay culturely relevant I often common upon some interesting websites. I came upon this blog whose purpose is to help churches promote themselves, or in a business sense - market themselves. The site has plenty of interesting articles with some pretty pragmatic advice.
The websites mission:
Our mission is to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ. Church Marketing Sucks is a part of the Center for Church Communication, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the church matter.Frustrate.Something's wrong with your church. Something's wrong with the Church. Church marketing efforts and communication in general suck. We've got the greatest story ever told, but no one's listening. The church has a problem
communicating, and it's time to change.Educate.We love the church, but it needs some help. Typos, cheesy logos, and bad clip art aren't helping the cause. But snazzy marketing won't save this ship, either. It's not about being perfect, but there's a better way to communicate. It's authentic, it's loving, and it knows how to spell.
Motivate.This isn't simply about putting butts in pews or selling glossy postcards. It's about helping the church be the Church, and seeing lives changed as a result. If helping the church communicate better allows one person to finally glimpse the Gospel, then our work has been worthwhile. It may be fuzzy math, but God can worry about that.
One thing the site makes clear is the it offends people, primarily because of their name. It seemed that no matter how much I surfed their site the name stuck out at me like a sore thumb - Church Marketing Sucks!
Before I knew it up, the name of the page became a stumbling block to me. All I could here were the words of a wise old sage (Ron Smith) who once told the "Zoo" on Johnson Hall (My residence in college) in reference to our language, "suck what?" Those words have haunted me since, and to this day I can not use it.
So, a question must be asked. What language is permissible for a minister of Jesus Christ? Should we conform our language to signs of the times to be cultural relevant? Are those who won't use the common vernacular or slang (i.e. suck) that is common with teens and college students just prudes?
Or is there an expectation to be "unique and peculiar" as one "who is called to live worthy of the calling?" Are there just certain ways that ministers or Christians for that matter don't talk? What do you think?
4 comments:
I think that once you start allowing your language to fade in with twenty-first century language, you cross the border of compromise. There are a couple of reasons that I would list for not using this language. One is the fact that it could cause a stumbling block to other brothers and sisters...especially the older generation, but you could run in to that with some more conservative younger people as well. Personally, I cringe at the sound of that word. Secondly, if we start compromising on the little things...like language...what will we start compromising on next? Homosexuality? Living sinful lives? No longer preaching the Word? Polygamy? The point is, one compromise lowers the standard, and lowering the standard leads to more compromise. I honestly believe that compromise has been one of the biggest problems of the church...not just the modern church, but ever since the very start of the church. How tolerant can we become? What will we allow, and where will the compromise finally end?
-Just some food for thought!
thanks for commenting. My sentiments as well.
You're welcome...I forgot to add who wrote it...it was me, Naomi. That was a very good topic, and very relevant. Thanks for posting it!
We are to be in the world not of the world. That goes for the language. While we try to blend in and talk like the world, we cannot use the words they do. That advertisement is an eye sore to me.
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