ARTICULATION
I've always been one who's suspicious of church slogans and great "vision statements". I've never always been able to explain why. I connect a lot with Gordon Atkinson, who blogs at Real Live Preacher, and his thoughts on church marketing and slogans. I think his point that "Sunday words are no more than ad copy to comfort and assure ourselves that we belong to the demographic column of people who identify with Christianity" is very true and thought provoking. This year our Elders and I feel that we (as a community) need to begin to articulate what's important to us and who we are (and therefore aren't). How do we articulate our passions and what binds us together without it becoming trite sloganeering; what Gordon calls "Sunday words"? Yes it's true that it's our actions and not our slogans that witness to God, but even that is a belief that can be articulated isn't it? What passions bind us together? James McClendon, a Baptist guy I'm studying at the moment, says that churches are convictional communities. What convictions do we gather around as a community, and can we articulate who we are and what we're passionate about without it being hollow "Sunday words"? Any thoughts?