Your church is...

How would people in your community finish this phrase?

Is the message you think you are sending the same message your audience is hearing? Our intended message isn't always what is heard. Many times our best attempt at being culturally relevant sends "our" message with an outcome that falls short of what we had hoped. I am a student of how people view the "Church" and the local church; even more specifically, my church. Pop Goes the Church has a chapter in it titled Molly Your Church Sucks. How many times has this phrase been used? Probably too often...

I love the collision that happens when God's timeless truth is communicated through culture. It is a life's goal of mine to do the best I can to arrange these collisions and celebrate what God does as real people encounter God in a real way.

There are plenty of ways to get your community buzzing about your church. I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that we all desire that the buzz is positive, but there are times it doesn't go too well. So far the buzz on this one isn't so positive. Negative buzz is so hard to recover from. I'd really be interested in understanding the intention behind this church sign.

"We meant that as a loving warning to teens. … The Scriptures tell us that you should not do what the song tells you to do. The Scriptures are not ambiguous on this issue." - a church in Ohio

There is an intended message and then there is the message that is being heard.















How can we influence a positive buzz? Can't we do better?
Thanks to places like this that help make a positive buzz.