Branding the Church 

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

[With the reading of the scripture lesson, I pointed out that last verse, which reads "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints" could also be read, "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all. Amen."]

Branding is a marketing term. Helping potential customers become familiar with your brand and what it means.
Think about Tiger Woods. He has branded himself and marketed himself. His clients are other corporations that could use Tiger's image to help sell their products or services. Now, for a variety of reasons, Tiger's brand is not doing so well. 

In my day job, working with hospice, things have changed over the years. For many years we were essentially the only hospice in town. Others tried, but never really took hold. So we could talk in general about hospice care and have confidence that when a hospice was chosen it would be ours. Then competition began building. We developed the tag line, "Compassionate Care." Now another hospice advertises that they provide "Caring Compassion." Soon a new hospice will be in the area, the first for-profit hospice to make entry into our community. They will come with a bank role of money to hit the ground running. Suddenly, the need to protect and clarify our brand has become critical. We need to distinguish ourselves more clearly so when choices are made, people understand the choices they are making. It makes me a little queasy to think about marketing our work with people who are teminally ill, but that is a part of our reality today. It also makes me queasy to think about marketing the church.

So, what about branding the church? One thing I have learned: the old adage of, "If we build it, they will come" no longer holds water. Back in the 1950's, if you built a church in a location where it was reasonably visible, people would come and join. But things have changed. There are so many church buildings around, why should anyone pay attention to yours? Do they even know you are here, or do they know that you are the kind of congregation they may want to explore. Just because there is a building and a sign does not mean anyone pays attention to the sign or the building.   

Now here is another side of the branding: I heard, recently, about a college class where students were asked to identify a group that they feared, then make friends with someone from that group. The idea is to recognize that we all tend to stereotype, and when we get to know folks one-on-one the fears often fall away. One woman identified gays as the group she feared the most, and to her credit she made friends with some gay people and discovered that they are not so scary. What was even more telling, however, is that about 40 percent of her classmates identified one group that they feared most. They feared Christians.¹

Marcus Borg is a professor at Oregon State Unitiversity. As a footnote in his book The Heart of Christianity, he says that when he asks his un-churched university students to write a short essay about their impressions of Christianity, "they consistently use five adjectives: they think Chrisitans are literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted."²

The larger church has an image problem. The local church has a visibility problem. In both cases we have a branding problem.

With this context, let us take another look at the passage from the book of Revelation. 

Jesus: See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone's work. 

            I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

The angel: The Spirit and the bride say "Come."

                And let everyone who  hears say, "Come."

            (Here, the tone changes:)

                And let everone who is thirst come.

                Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

John/the church: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 

Closing words: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Here is the way I see it breaking down for us:

Our motivation is the promise that Jesus is coming soon.

Our work is to invite those who are thirsty, let all who desire take the water of life as a gift.
Our prayer: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"

Our blessing: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen."

Our Motivation: we could look at the promise that Jesus is coming soon in a couple of different ways. When times get difficult, people often are looking for an escape. When our world seems to be in crisis with economic meltdowns, or major wars, environmental disasters, people often turn to prophecies of the end-times. If Jesus would come in his glory and bring this world to an end, then the stresses and struggles we face would be over.

On the other hand, Jesus comes into our lives and into our community of faith every day, every moment. Jesus is a constant source of strength and guidance and grace.

Our Work: In a world that is increasingly divided and where people shout at each other instead of talking to each other, where politicians are motivated more by their fear of the opposition and their fear of losing, so that they have lost their way; WE see people who are thirsty and say to them, "Come, have something to drink." We see those who are thirsty for kindness and say, "Come;" people who are thirsty for justice and we say, "Come;" in an increasingly high-tech world, people are thirsty for human touch and we say, "Come."

Our prayer: The Church is increasingly divided. Our denomination is wrestling with "hot button issues." We cannot agree about these issues and in our disagreeing we find ourselves drawn into camps that become entrenched in our own rightness and the other's wrongness. For such a church we simply pray: Come, Lord Jesus. Be present in our midst, heal our brokeness, teach us that we are one even though we can be so different. 

Our Blessing: For those who pass by on the highway, and those passing by on the highway of life, speeding past the church not even noticing that we are here, we offer our blessings for them. For every person of every race, of every culture, of every life style, for every one who passes this church we offer our blessing: May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. 

Kenny announced this morning that Holly will be starting soon as your new Stated Supply. With Holly you will have new opportunities. Over the next year you have the challenge to brand yourselves within the community. What will you do that will cause the folks of Middleburg to recognize that this building along the highway houses a community of people who are seeking to be faithful? What one ministry will be your focus? You might initiate or adopt something new, or may refocus on something that you are already doing. Perhaps developing a ministry with veterans in the community might be your focus; or working with children who have special needs. Let your ministry to a group of folks in the community set you apart from other congregations in the area. Perhaps you might even begin by asking yourself the question asked of the college students: What group do you fear the most? How can you reach out to them with compassion?

When you pray "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus," will it be to ask Jesus to take you out of this world, to bring this experiment of humanity to an end, or will your prayer be one seeking Jesus as your strength, your guide, your inspiration, as you move into the world with new vision for being the Church of Jesus Christ?

As you share the good news, which is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, with those who are afraid of us Christians, you might just discover that same grace increasing in your own lives.

So I offer you this benediction: May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you, and through you May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. 

That could make a good tag line for branding the church. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

notes

¹ Dan Clendenin, "The Journey With Jesus: Notes to Myself;" www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/20100510jj.shtml, copyright 2001-2010 by Daniel B. Clendenin.

² Ibid.