Keep Guests Away from Your Church
Posted by nathan on 14 May 2007 | Tagged as: Communications, churches on the ball.
One Step Jackpot: Adopt a Slogan like “Give ‘Til Feels Good”
Once you’ve done that, people will do the rest for you. You’ll likely never reach anyone who isn’t already a Christian, because you’ve just reinforced one of the chiefest complaints of those who aren’t following Christ–the Church is only after my money.
Balance: Yes, there is truth to that statement, and it’s certainly true for the core people of your church. And while there is truth, there is a benefit to understanding the mindset of those who aren’t attending a church. You can’t treat them just like you want to be treated! They are spiritually immature, and can’t grasp a concept like “Give ‘Til Feels Good” (They hear “We Want All Your Money!”)
3 Comments »
on 15 May 2007 at 12:05 am 1.
Tara Lilly said …
Here’s my first thought: Everything Jesus said to people was the type of thing that would send them packing if they weren’t ready to hear it. Sell all you have and follow me. Walk away from all you know to follow me. Give up even your own family and work responsibilities to follow me. The way I see it, the Bible is a scary, offensive document to our fallen sensibilities. Aren’t we just here to give the message, even to those that aren’t ready or spiritually mature enough to see it? Isn’t it the Holy Spirit’s job to prepare the heart and remove spiritual blinders? What happens if we dilute the Gospel so much that once a person actually starts reading the Bible it scares them to death? (What is this ‘take up your cross’ bit about? You mean Christians are supposed to suffer for their faith? Nevermind!) Just offering another angle; I’m not attacking you and hopefully I won’t get attacked here, I’m just looking to stir up some discussion because this is pretty interesting stuff to me, and maybe there are some questions we should be asking ourselves.
on 15 May 2007 at 7:38 am 2.
nathan said …
Tara,
Good points. I hadn’t considered that…
I see it as a bit different, as in our context, people already are aware of Christianity, so it is fundamentally different than speaking to one who isn’t aware.
People already know about churches, they know about Christians. They believe churches want their money, and Christians are all hypocrites.
What i was getting at is we need to break through the walls they have up, not expect people to break out of it on their own.
You do bring up interesting points…
on 16 May 2007 at 7:59 am 3.
Todd Helmkamp said …
Yes, very good points. Both of you.
But, to me, this sign is more than a poor representation of Christianity because of its financial overtones (which I disagree with COMPLETELY). The grammar is terrible.