Unapologetic Church Advertising...

[Rychian]

Hey all,
I thought I would throw this out there to the throngs of loyal Reds fans. As you may or may not know I just graduated from Ashland Theological Seminary in June. Since January I have been running after my calling which is planting a church. We are small but mighty right now, where total attendance between groups and sunday morning reaches around 20. Which is not bad for a 6 month old church...

If anyone is in the area and wants to check us out here is the address:
1843 Graham Rd. Stow OH 44224 --> Dangerously close to cleveland i know!
We also accept and appreciate prayers for this new venture
Anywho, we are trying some different things and some new ads are being printed today so maybe youll see them out there. If you want to catch a hint of what we are about one of our ads is a simple post card with this statement on the front:

Church doesn't have to suck...

Thank you all

Tom Asbury

[Chip R]

Good luck, Tom.

[traderumor]

Tom,

With all due respect, I may be an old codger (40) and a bit on the legalistic side, and I cherish my freedom in Christ as much as any other believer, but I hope you're kidding with putting "suck" in advertising promoting your church. I know throughout the culture it has become a synonym for "stinks" or "that's awful," or so they say (even though I think many use the word who don't normally use swear words and feel like they're getting away with something) and I am guilty of throwing it out there myself at times, but it is still a word associated with oral sex where I come from.

That will be all from the Reformed Legalist from Newark

[zombie-a-go-go]

Tom,

With all due respect, I may be an old codger (40) and a bit on the legalistic side, and I cherish my freedom in Christ as much as any other believer, but I hope you're kidding with putting "suck" in advertising promoting your church. I know throughout the culture it has become a synonym for "stinks" or "that's awful," or so they say (even though I think many use the word who don't normally use swear words and feel like they're getting away with something) and I am guilty of throwing it out there myself at times, but it is still a word associated with oral sex where I come from.

That will be all from the Reformed Legalist from Newark

Wow... they don't drink out of straws in Newark?

[traderumor]

Wow... they don't drink out of straws in Newark?

Or use vaccuums

[zombie-a-go-go]

Or use vaccuums

[Rychian]

I know, I know..
But with all due respect many churches do suck. We are using it as a shocking phrase to catch attention and tell people that church doesnt have to be a groan on sundays. So far it is working and we are catching folks who gave up on the church a long time ago.
PS --> Im a pretty conservative guy, but i am willing to use a taboo word if it means people get to know christ.

Tom.

OH and there are much worse words in the Bible --> Skubala being one of them. Check out philippians 3:8. The NIV makes the word more delicate and calls it rubbish. It is actually dung/feces and the word picture is the crap you got on your shoes as you walked the streets before sanitation. Yummy.

[traderumor]

I know, I know..
But with all due respect many churches do suck. We are using it as a shocking phrase to catch attention and tell people that church doesnt have to be a groan on sundays. So far it is working and we are catching folks who gave up on the church a long time ago.
PS --> Im a pretty conservative guy, but i am willing to use a taboo word if it means people get to know christ.

Tom.

OH and there are much worse words in the Bible --> Skubala being one of them. Check out philippians 3:8. The NIV makes the word more delicate and calls it rubbish. It is actually dung/feces and the word picture is the crap you got on your shoes as you walked the streets before sanitation. Yummy.

Definately a difference in ministry philosophy there, Tom. What is your scriptural support for such a method, or do you see that as a necessity when it comes to evangelism?

[Rychian]

My ministry philosophy is simple. Matthew 23 & Alcoholics Anonymous

Christ didn't hold himself as being above those he was ministering to. The meal with matthew and various prostitutes, lepers also can make this claim. He also berated the pharisees and sadducees for placing rules and doctrine above the kingdom of God.

Bringing that forward to today, we christians should never hold ourselves as higher or better than those we are trying to reach. Christ worked through meals, stories and practical life matters when trying to show people the kingdom of God. It is my calling (being the horrifically postmodern that I am) to show people that church is not the place of suits, thys, thous and perfection that we have said it to be for the past 300 + years.

The Bible was written in the street language of the day. Mark could barely write good greek, and his word choices werent the greatest. Paul uses the equivalent of our word crap in his letters. The church should not be a lofty place of holiness, but instead it should be a mash unit where peopel come to be healed.

I grew up atheist and now i have been given this blessing to tell everyone. I went to many a church that for the lack of a better term sucked. Our philosophy is to simply love those we come into contact with and share with them the gospel. Plain and simple, It's all that Jesus Christ did.

Anyways, Thats sort of our church. Yeah we are different, but since the church in America is declining so rapidly that missionaries are starting to come here, maybe different isnt a bad thing.

Tom

[RFS62]

Good luck, Tom. I love your attitude.

[Johnny Footstool]

It sounds like you're reaching out to those who need guidance and direction in their lives instead of the holier-than-thou crowd. Always a good thing, IMO.

[KronoRed]

Amen Rychian.

Good luck

[traderumor]

I do not understand a ministry philosophy that would come out of Matthew 23. Many of the other comments sound like you may be very familiar with the Purpose Driven model? Have you considered a work by Mark Dever called "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church?" I think it is an excellent tool for church planters to help them get a solid foundation from the start.

All of the things churches do to get folks to their meetings is all well and good, but then I would hope that once they get to your church they are hearing the gospel of God, which since you are familiar with bad churches, all say they preach the gospel (see I Cor 15:3-4), few actually do. I hope that you are preaching expositionally , preferably but not necessarily, through a book of the Bible at a time. If you have those two things as the focus, all else seems to take care of itself.

And thanks for not taking offense to my complaint.

[Rychian]

No Prob,
Ive learned not to get offended a long time ago. Though my thoughts and ideas are sometimes offensive to church folk.
I havent read warrens purpose driven ___________ though many churches are jumping on the idea which is great. Also, just to have some fun, i dont preach a book of the bible at a time, and lectionaries are the worst thing to ever happen to a good preacher.

Just thought id throw it out there. The bible is preached, though more topically and less expository. I find that if people dont even know the words that you are using to describe the mode of preaching you use the less likely they will even know what your talking about on sundays.

Peace.
Tom.

[traderumor]

It sounds like you're reaching out to those who need guidance and direction in their lives instead of the holier-than-thou crowd. Always a good thing, IMO.

The holier than thou crowd are lost and need guidance and direction, too and Jesus reached out to them also. If the gospel is preached at a church, the "holier-than-thou crowd" is reached out to every week. Wasn't the rebuke Tom referenced in Matt 23 reaching out to them? Didn't he draw Nicodemus to himself? Levi/Matthew? Peter? Paul, the holierest of the holier than thou crowd?

Christ saves sinners--religious ones, pagan ones, and everything in between. The gospel isn't just for the "unchurched." The gospel is for Christians and professing but not possessing Christians too. The key is to preach the gospel, not look for target audiences.