October is CP month.
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Your church fellowship is a caring fellowship, I am sure. But how would you communicate that to someone who is considering joining your church?
Would you tell them how many hospital visits the pastor averages each week? Would you tell them about the prayer board in the church office that lists all those in the hospital or with special prayer needs? Perhaps you would tell them how the church is organized into care groups and that everyone receives a quarterly checkup from the care group leader.
All of these are important facts about your caring church, but few people are convinced by facts in today’s world.
Today more people make decisions based on story than any other form of communication, researchers contend.
Perhaps they always have. Story creates a shared experience. It touches our emotions. People identify with a story at different points.
A story is remembered long after facts are forgotten. And while people can argue over facts, there is little room for arguing about a story — about one’s personal account. A story helps build community, not conflict. A story captures the imagination. It inspires and forces us to interact.
Perhaps that is why Jesus used storytelling for much of his ministry. One author contends that Jesus taught through stories more than one-third of the time.
A personal story
Telling a single story about how you or another church member were cared for during an illness or crisis may communicate more about your church’s caring fellowship than all the facts one could muster.
Your church’s story is worth telling. Your church is unique. No other church has the same history, the same experiences, the same personalities. No other church has the same victories or the same heartaches.
Don’t be shy or embarrassed by your church’s story. God has been at work in your congregation for a long time, and what He has done and what He is doing is worth telling. Sometimes we just have to open our eyes and see all that God is about.
Tell your unique story as best you can. Tell people about worship services that inspire people for Christian living. Tell them about Bible studies that anchor the heart in the word of God. Tell them about events that fortify children and youth with Christian courage. Tell them about your church’s compassion illustrated by ministry and service.
People will remember the stories because stories touch the heart. They will remember many of the facts because the facts are woven into the flow of the story.
Make sure the stories convey an accurate impression of your congregation. Sometimes it can be tempting to shade stories to make one’s church what we want it to be rather than what it is. But false stories told with good intentions are still false stories. Jesus said truth is what sets us free (John 8:32), not some form of manipulative propaganda.
Telling stories is not limited to a particular medium of communications. Stories work equally well with legacy mediums like print or with the latest digital media.
Even the church’s logo should tell a story, for branding is just another way to get people to identify with the story that is represented by the logo.
Also make sure you tell all of the church’s story. Your story is more than what happens in your local church or community. Your story is more than the missions trip the youth took or the volunteers who work with the disaster relief unit.
Your church’s story reaches across Alabama and around the world.
Your church’s story includes helping hundreds of children memorize large portions of the Bible through Bible Drill competitions. It includes helping to lead more than 1,600 college students to Christ through campus ministry on Alabama campuses. Your church played a part in 170 children finding care and Christian nurture at Alabama Baptist-sponsored group homes. Your church helped 10 of those children go to college.
Your church’s story includes helping to start more than 1,000 churches in underserved areas of the United States during the past year. It includes helping to resettle refugees and help for other internationals assimilating into American culture.
Your church’s story includes helping to share the gospel with 872 different people groups around the world through more than 3,500 international missionaries.
There is so much more that is a part of your church’s story. You help educate those called into vocational Christian service. You help feed the hungry and care for the elderly. You help take the gospel to the public square so people know what the Bible says about moral and ethical issues.
The CP story
If someone asks how a church like yours can do all of this, tell them the story of the Cooperative Program (CP). Tell them how Baptists in Alabama and across the nation give to missions and ministries beyond themselves so the gospel’s impact can be felt in Alabama, the nation and the world.
Tell them how half of all funds given to missions through the CP goes beyond the state’s borders and half of that goes to international missions. Tell them how Baptists have learned it is better to do things together than it is to be concerned just about “my church.”
So tell your church’s story. Tell it as best you can to as many people as you can. And be sure to tell all your church’s story including how you are ministering to the ends of the earth through the CP.
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