Olive Branch Newsletter For July 2001
EVANGELISM
Just thinking . . . avoid the old "bait and switch"
"Bait and switch" was a term I first learned in journalism school. It was something to be avoided, my favorite professor told me. Example: you don’t use a big name star’s picture to attract people to a totally unrelated article on brain surgery; or promise an in-depth interview about world hunger, and deliver a lightweight piece about a hot rock star who simply wrote a song about world hunger.
The same principle applies as we launch "Igniting Ministry," the national multimedia campaign designed to attract unchurched "seekers" to United Methodist congregations. The television and radio spots, fliers and billboards portray a church that is open to people from all races, places and circumstances. United Methodists are depicted as caring, joyous in worship, mission-minded and welcoming.
So what a blow it would be too a seeker to see a commercial, get fired up, walk into her local United Methodist congregation, and find the people distant, closed, stuffy and self-absorbed. Talk about bait and switch!
This is more than a time to spruce up our manners and churches for company. It’s a God-given moment for taking stock of ourselves. Can we invite and embrace the stranger as a sister or brother child of God? Are we engaged in mission and outreach beyond our backyard? Do the walls of the sanctuary ring with singing, preaching, praying, dancing and shouting to the glory of God?
September is "Open House Month," the start of the national campaign. We’re inviting people to consider joining The United Methodist Church. We’re inviting them to become part of a vibrant, open, Christ-is-alive, glory-hallelujah Christian community. May we live up to their expectations-and, most important, to God’s.
On to perfection!
--Garlinda Burton, Editor of the Interpreter (pg. 4, Interpreter, July-August 2001)
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