March 2005

What is your congregational image?

“Churches compete in a spiritual marketplace,” says Pete Ward in his challenging book Liquid Church. “Church shopping”, a form of consumerism, is alive and well and we in the church cannot ignore it.

“Diminishing congregations risk slowly turning the minister into a curator,” Ward continues.

What is your congregation’s image and is there a gap between how you see yourself and the public’s view of the church as a whole?

Clearly, participants in the many Vision Development Workshops I have run so far know that change is constantly happening around us. We can identify so many changes, yet we are so often paralysed to do anything to survive.

Our image is critically affecting our place in the spiritual marketplace. Ward says our society is constructed around flows: flows of capital, flows of information, flows of technology, and flows of images, sounds and symbols and that “the mutation of solid church into heritage, refuge and nostalgic communities has seriously decreased its ability to engage in genuine mission in liquid modernity”.

Workshop participants know that our image needs overhauling. Some recommend radical surgery because, as Ward reminds us, “social change has left many churches in a cultural time warp”. No-one can stand still. A cure is needed.
Australia is not a Christian country by United Nations standards. Churches are no longer the centre of community life. We live in a multi-faith community where we must understand and practise harmony and accept diversity.

Yet, instead of being known for our own unique contribution, we are seen by many as irrelevant. Thanks to the media and our own behaviour, churches are often easy knocking material. The church’s poor image is not helped by the discrepancy between what is reported about the church and what is actually happening. And the misconduct of past and present church leaders fuels the negative story-telling.

We in the Uniting Church do not enjoy the same respect in some circles as the “moral police” and, consequently, our public voice has diminished.

But people are still looking for answers to personal issues and crises. And we have the greatest God-given message to help the community: the power of God’s love in a troubled world.

Jesus is the answer. The solution is in our hands.

We have many superb stories of community service, of pastoral care, of influencing change, and leading tolerance in divided communities. We should be telling others and not keeping our stories to ourselves.

The issue, says Ward, is “how can Christ be communicated”. He argues that “Changes in contemporary culture have led many people to feel that church must again go through a period of innovation and change … This is a another kind of reformation.”

Ward also recognises that “in the United Kingdom, people may be more willing to become Christians than they have ever been (but) they appear to be increasingly reluctant to join our institutions. They might have met Jesus, but they have still to meet the congregation.”

Is your congregation networking in the community, intentionally giving the church a strong and positive image such that our relevance can be regained?
It is time to get:
• Passionate about God as we network;
• Consistent with our conduct, generosity and concern as God’s people;
• Dirty and gutsy as we take on the challenges of public behaviour and attitudes, including governments, as they have a poor record too;
• Excited about faith, keenly working for justice and inclusive of all races, cultures, and show how to live in harmony, despite our diversity; and
• Relational within the community so people can see us as Christian reflectors of love.

The church is the best option in a time-pressured community life. What will your congregation’s image be in 20 years time? A tombstone? A photographic record of the past? Or the inspirational, throbbing lifeblood to a community that knows Jesus and has a passion to know Jesus better?