Looking Outwards

Popularity at any price?

We try hard in our church to be visitor-friendly. Some time ago we agreed on what we call ‘the seven habits of highly effective welcoming’ and printed them on a bookmark for everyone. We want people to discover the church as a friendly, open and relevant place. We recently built a new church centre and one of our aims is for it to become the hub of the local community. The building is modern, light and attractive (and the coffee shop in the foyer serves delicious Paninis!). People seem to enjoy coming into the building for all kinds of activities.

The underlying motive for this is to make sure we don’t put anyone off experiencing the love of God and hearing the word of God through the members and ministries of the church. Church as a ‘brand’ has become unpopular and we want to make it popular again, on the principle that if people don’t like the church they are unlikely to be drawn to the message of Jesus that we celebrate and preach.

The only problem is, popularity as an end in itself is dangerous. Jesus said this: ‘Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets’ (Luke 6:26). We have seen that worked out this week in the life of Jeremiah. The popularity seekers were the prophets under God’s judgement. The singularly unpopular Jeremiah was the bringer of God’s word.