On its corporate website, Internet giant Yahoo Inc. is described as the “only place anyone needs to go to find anything, communicate with anyone or buy anything.” They go on to explain their incredible claim by listing all of the services that they have to offer, making them the most recognizable name brand in the world. While their claim might be a little far fetched, they have done everything they can to back it up. They offer more services and programs in more fields than anyone else that I’m aware of, other than possibly Google. They capitalize on the fact that they are what they claim to be.
Reading about Yahoo Inc. made me think about the church (I know, I’m weird that way…). In Jesus Christ we have the greatest opportunity to offer the world of any that has, or will ever be offered. We have the message of grace, forgiveness, security, hope, love, eternal life, and all the other myriad of blessings that God offers to His creation. In fact, if God doesn’t offer it, it isn’t needed!
We could say that our brand is Jesus, and our product is all the blessings that come with a relationship with Him. The question is, are we capitalizing on our brand? Are we in the church, like Yahoo, offering people THE solution to their problems? I’m afraid that we are too busy soft selling the faith, when what we need to do is make bold statements and then BACK THEM UP.
For instance, instead of telling people, “Hey, Jesus is a great guy who will love you and accept you just as you are” we should be saying, “Jesus is God in the flesh, who came to this planet from heaven. If you accept Him as the leader of your life He will forgive you of all your sins, empower you for this life, equip you to deal with every situation, and will grant you permission to live forever in heaven with Him.”
But telling them isn’t enough! We then begin to live like people who have accepted Jesus as our leader, have had all our sins forgiven, are empowered personally by the Holy Spirit, are equipped to deal with everything life throws at us, and that we are eagerly looking forward to our eternal life in heaven. We boldly state who we are and what we believe, offer the blessings that come from our belief system, and then live like people who believe that what we are offering is true!
As someone once said, “The greatest evidence for Christianity is Christian people and the worst evidence for Christianity is Christian people.” The difference between the two depends on who is really living out the faith they’ve been branded by, and who isn’t. I hope you and your church will join me in being dedicated to reproducing the kind of people who truly live for Christ and reproduce their own faith in other people.
Now, let’s go out and start capitalizing on our brand!
In Christ,
Barry
http://www.pastorshelper.com
bajanpoet said,
October 10, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I LOVE THIS.
Lord, help me to make bold statements as the early church did – and flow through me to back them up!
AMEN