Church Communication Filter – aka “For” or “Against”

Short little diddy here on the words we communicate individually and corporately as the Church.  Have really enjoyed reading “UnChristian” and “They Like Jesus, But Not the Church” in the past few months.  Lots of great commentary on the perceptions held of the Church by those outside it.  Basically, I think their opinions of the Church are almost perfectly accurate.  What saddens me most is that these perceptions don’t at all reflect the character of God or Jesus.

What’s the problem?  Easy, it’s us.  We darn humans keep messing it up.  One of the biggest ways we do this is constantly railing “against” things.  We’re so fixated on cleaning up everyone’s behavior that we just keep falling into the trap of “better stop that”, “God hates that”, “we’d welcome you, but not until you change that”.

Here’s my one-liner: Too many people don’t know God is for them, because the Church always seems to be against them.

Next time you open your mouth to represent your church or your beliefs, ask yourself, “Are my words going to bring life to this person?”  Adults don’t listen when you start talking against their behaviors.  It’s the reason we all started rebelling and pulling away from our parents as teenagers. And it’s so often the same reason adults stay away from the Church.  As I said in the “About” section when I started this blog, we have the best message in the world, but have consistently used some of the worst communication methods ever to demonstrate it.

Start your own individual revolution, be about what God wants for people.  After all, it was a taste of “life to the fullest” that captured you to begin with.

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