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Instruction, inspiration, and resources to help you understand and apply the Bible in your life.

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Verses on Servanthood

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Servant, bond-slave, one with no rights of our own, one whose purpose in life is to serve another—that is our core identity as church communicators. Just reading those words, how our human nature wants to fight it. We want to be recognized for our brilliance and creativity and sometimes we grouse in private that we “aren’t appreciated.”

We probably aren’t—not being appreciated is what being a servant means. We can’t change that reality, but when we stop fighting it, when we submit and serve, we find peace and satisfaction in our work.Continue Reading

You are an ambassador in enemy occupied territory; be prepared to be misunderstood

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All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared  a city for them. (Heb.  11:13-16)

We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20, KJV)

 I often feel sorry for the government spokesmen on the evening news. They are attempting to explain government policies and actions to a frequently hostile  audience.

Though often obviously uncomfortable and frustrated at their inability to communicate as well as they would like, the government spokesmen don’t condemn the press, or shout unkind judgments. With professionalism they explain their positions, answer questions, and offer sources for more  information.

We’re in a similar situation—spokesmen for a heavenly kingdom no one can see and many don’t believe  exists.

In communicating truth about this kingdom, if we feel out of place, if we feel our values have little to do with the values of the world around us, if we feel our perspective is wildly at odds with that of  our audience, there isn’t anything wrong with us. It is the proper assessment of reality. We are out of sync; we are out of place.

Like the old hymn says, “this world is not our home.” But just because it isn’t home doesn’t mean we don’t have a job to do in it.

As C.S. Lewis reminded us in Mere Christianity, “Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and  is calling us all to take part in a great  campaign of sabotage.”

Our sabotage work, as it is for any resistance army, is to create communications that let people know the rightful king is coming back and that this world will not always be under the present deteriorating management of sin and sadness. The early Christians were known as people whose faces were turned toward the dawn. Our communications should reflect that perspective as we look for  the public return of our   king.

As we speak and write for the “rightful king,” pray to do it as an ambassador worthy of his calling, someone with whom God is not ashamed to be called your  God.

 

Our communications should reflect the redeeming nature of our Lord, not condemnation

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For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)

What is the overall tone of our ministry—is it to condemn or to save?

Look at the ministry of Jesus. This verse is part of his talk with Nicodemus, the teacher of the Law who came to Jesus at night asking questions. I wonder if Nicodemus might not have left more confused than when he came. Here was a man people were calling a prophet, but he wasn’t like any prophet who went before him.

He didn’t call down fire from heaven; he turned water into wine at a wedding—good wine and quite a lot of it. He didn’t part the sea or send plagues; he played with children and set out picnics on the beach for his disciples.

When Nicodemus asked Jesus about his message, he didn’t retell all the shortcomings of the world he had come to straighten out. Instead he told him that God loved the world, and that he did not come to condemn but to save. He didn’t demand Nicodemus do penance for his sins; he invited him to be born again. He didn’t even chide Nicodemus for his cowardice in coming to Jesus at night. He graciously answered questions at a time and in a way this fearful leader needed.

Do our communications, in what we say, preach, and write reflect this redeeming nature of our Lord? How easy it is to take pen in hand (or today, mouse and keyboard) and to pile on guilt. Not that there is never a time to point out error, but for the most part we do well to remember it is the Holy Spirit’s  job to convict of sin (John 16:7-9). It is our job to share the good news of salvation and the joy and fulfillment of living for Jesus.

Most people today know they fall short. They aren’t sure quite what of, but a pervasive sense of guilt fills many lives. Alcohol, drugs, food in excess, unhealthy relationships, and overwork are some common attempts to medicate the pain.

People don’t need more bad news from the followers of Jesus. They need examples of hope and love. They need clear directions to events that can change their lives and clear communications on what they need to do. We need to pray for clarity in all we create. We need to pray that our tone (in ways we may not even be aware of) always reflects the welcoming, saving love of  Jesus.

May your communications be filled with messages of salvation, of the grace and love of your  Lord.

Pride: a temptation when we forget the real reasons for the success of our work

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These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. (Prov. 6:16-17 KJV)

Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Prov. 16:18 KJV)

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. (Jer. 9:23, 24, KJV)

Most of this book is filled with encouragements—but this entry is a caution. It is a warning about pride, which C.S. Lewis described as “the essential vice, the utmost evil.”

Why, you may wonder, would I be talking about the sin of pride to church communicators? Outside the reality that all of us are capable of any sin at any time, in most instances, in the church, especially small and medium size churches, I’ve seldom seen pride as a danger in church communications. For an overworked church secretary or administrative assistant, for the pastor of a church too small or poor to afford paid help, for the volunteer putting together a flyer or Facebook site for the youth group at the end of a long day—most often these valiant workers are so aware of their limitations in communication production that pride is seldom a temptation.Continue Reading

Often the only thanks we get for our communications work comes from the Lord

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The LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.” (Numbers 18: 20)

A church secretary recently shared with me that she had spent great effort redoing her church bulletin, which she showed me. It looked fantastic. It was much easier to read; her choices in typography and layout were clear and professional-looking. But, she said, almost nobody noticed or commented on the changes.

Though it didn’t seem like it, her experience was actually a great compliment. As the experts in design and typography continuously affirm, the best graphic design and typography should be invisible. The best designed bulletin, newsletter, website, or church communication in any form, should never cause our audience to say at first: “What a beautiful design!” Or “What an unusual typeface.” The first response should be a clear understanding of the message and a proper response to it.

It is often an over-designed piece that gets noticed. Sometimes a piece might be beautiful to look at but if the text was printed over complex graphics, the actual message can be very hard to read. If something is hard to read, people might comment on how good it looks but put it aside and never read the message. A website might have an unusual interface that is entertaining to look at, but if you want to know what time the church picnic is and where the beach baptism service is taking place, a simple, standard interface may serve better.

It isn’t that we shouldn’t work hard to make our communications artistically pleasing and the very best in design and beauty, but those considerations must always be secondary to choosing type, layout, and graphics that work best to communicate the message and that make it easy for the reader to access the message.

Simple and functional doesn’t always get a lot of complements, yet simple and functional are often the best ways to communicate a message. When your church communications in print and online are functioning best, no one will notice and no one will thank you—but your church will grow and lives will be changed.

At those times, like the priests in the Old Testament, the Lord himself and his favor is often our only reward. Like the old hymn says, we are “channels only.” In our work, not only will our audience often not notice work well done, but even if they do, they won’t even know who did the work, because much of what we produce will be unsigned.

But our Lord knows. And like the priests of old, he is our inheritance. And it is in his approval we find “the path of life” and “fullness of joy.”

You are the Great Ones and far more than important than you may realize

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Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Dan. 12:3)

Often when I ask someone who has come to one of my church communication seminars what they do in the church, they often respond by saying something like: “Oh, I’m just the church secretary” or “Oh, I just help work on the church newsletter” and similar self-deprecating statements.

My heart is broken when I hear that because the person who says it (and you may have thought similar things about yourself) has no idea of their true worth. Let me explain what I mean by sharing a story from a scene in C. S. Lewis’ book, The Great Divorce. In this scene the main character is escorted around heaven. He sees a woman coming toward him magnificently clothed and attended to by a great procession. The book goes on:

“Is it?…is it?” I whispered to my guide.

“Not at all,” said he, “It’s someone ye’ll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”

“She seems to be . . . well, a person of particular importance?”

“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”

I often think of this passage as I teach my seminars and meet many of you who work day after day, week after week getting out the bulletin, preparing the flyers for the youth programs, putting together the newsletter one more time, updating the website.

Those of you doing church communications are the great ones of the kingdom of God. This book is dedicated to you and the work of eternal glory you do each day.

That bulletin you faithfully create may be the first and only piece of Christian literature a visitor has ever seen. Your care in layout, your welcome in it, your explanation of how to find the nursery, and an invitation to coffee, might cause her to listen a bit more openly to the sermon and find Jesus in it.

That flyer for the youth program may be shared with a teenager living with his single mom. He might not have anybody to talk to, to struggle with through the questions and temptations all teenagers face. But that flyer might bring him to an event where he can meet a church family who cares, a youth leader who will listen, and be introduced to a Father who will never leave.

That newsletter or updated website that you stayed late to put out might contain a devotion that helps a shut-in manage through another day of pain. Or it might have a schedule that brings a newly single person to a potluck and helps ease the hurt of a recent divorce.

Lives are changed for time and eternity because of what you are doing today—with that contrary computer, a crushing work load, and those impossible deadlines.

The Lord took dust and made humanity. You follow in his image as you take words and type, images and clip art and form them into messages that come alive and minister in the world in which he’s placed you.

Sit tall, smile, work encouraged today—you are one of the Great Ones in the kingdom of heaven.