Shedding Our Image

Last night we had a discussion during the men's class about how the negative perception of the churches of Christ can have a huge effect on our evangelism efforts. The church has long had a bad reputation among people and in most cases it has been the churches fault. We haven't always been very accepting of other denominations and have been quick to place judgement on them because of their theology.

Having said that, I believe we are quickly growing out of that here in West Point at the OAR. I am not nieve enough to think that it has already completely happened, and sometimes find myself needing to work on my perception of other denominations, and learning to love and accept them where they are. Unfortunately, as they say, "perception is reality", and some people will never change the way they have always felt about the churches of Christ. Maybe it's the same way for some of you reading this, if you are a COCer.

We have a loving, caring, and compassionate church family here and the people who know us from the outside know that. Unfortunately there are many people who probably drive by the building, think how great our message on the sign is, and continue on thinking they are probably not welcome here, because of what someone told them, or a bad experience they had in the past. Sometimes we will always be associated with things like that.

So what do we do? I'm really not sure, outside of living the caring, loving, accepting lifestyle (which is very, very important) in our individual lives. Some have suggested shedding the Church of Christ name on our sign. Maybe we should just put a big sign out front that says, "We are not like most churches of Christ, it's okay, you can come in". Once again, I just don't know.

But I do believe that instead of thinking that we will be rejected in our ministries, both as a church family and in our individual lives, we need to evangelize regardless. We need to get out of our comfort zones. We are great at loving each other and those that come and visit, but how good are we at sharing our faith with those people we work with, see at the grocery store, the gym, school, etc. It's something I, personally, need to work on for sure. I hope you will join me in sharing with the community that there is hope and that there is acceptance within the body of Christ. Let's make a difference, let's not focus too hard on ourselves, because there are a lot of misguided and lost, hurting souls within our own town that need our love and need the Jesus that we proclaim to each other on Sundays and Wednesdays. Live it and share it! God Bless!