We've dropped the ball when it comes to communication

We've dropped the ball when it comes to communication.

The “meme” above was posted on Facebook by an acquaintance of mine who describes himself as an atheist. In reality, pretty much all he ever posts about is religion, particularly Christianity, albeit negatively. In Jungian terms, he's a shadow Christian, maybe even a shadow Episcopalian. Sure, one can negate the Nicene Creed, but even so one is still thinking in terms of it.

Typically, when we think of church communication, I bet most of us think of the church bulletin or the emails we get because we're already on a mailing list, etc. Our communication essentially consists of forming an inward-facing circle-- within church walls-- and disseminating information to each other about programs, schedules, church news, and so on. If you're reading this, chances are you're inside church walls, not outside them. We are in many cases literally preaching to the choir. And by “literally,” I mean actually.

Of course we need internal communication, but we also desperately need to communicate who we are and what we are about to those who are outside church walls.

Some of the points brought up at our last meeting include:

• We need to plant seeds, which will develop over time.
• We need to unpack the language that we use, both inside and outside church walls.
• People often think in terms of an artificial dichotomy of the Church and the World, when in fact the Kingdom of God knows no boundaries.
• We perceive resistance outside church walls to a false perception of who we are and what we're about.
• Teaching is a process that takes time.
• The church exists for the world, not for God.
• People are discussing theodicy, but the church is not.
• There is a focus on superstition rather than faith.

The common strand I see tying all of these points together is that they are aggravated by our failure to communicate what we stand for.

There is a marketplace of ideas in our culture and we are not participating. How many of you see anti-church “memes” such as the one above, deriding or mocking extreme positions that are not representative of the church? These memes are based on ignorance, but the fact that they are ubiquitous suggests that people outside church walls are pondering, even if unconsciously, theological issues. While I'm not suggesting that we necessarily respond in terms of how someone else may have framed an issue, people outside church walls will listen and be influenced by the voices they hear. If we're not speaking up-- and out-- we're not participating in the theological debates taking place in society.

Ironically, we have much to communicate that would resonate with those outside church walls. For example, St. Paul's in Bellingham has a growing Alms Ministry that provides immediate one-time financial assistance to those in need, Trinity Parish in Seattle supports a food bank that feeds hundreds of people each week, and Episcopal Relief and Development responds to natural disasters without proselytizing. These are but three examples, but they are representative of what is going on in every parish in the church. I'll bet information about these programs would be very well received by those outside church walls if we'd only engage them where they are.

If we don't communicate outside church walls, we are expecting those outside church walls to read our minds, and that's crazy. Worse, if we don't speak for ourselves, others will. And when people get the wrong idea we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Brad