The Generous Church

Building a Brand

When I was a kid, I lived next door to a friend who gave me a ride to school every morning in a Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle, also known as the Bug, was a great car to drive. It was more than a car, having been given a fun and playful personality that was a part of the Herbie films that came out between 1968 and 2005. Herbie, a VW Bug, was an energetic and loyal friend in those films. My neighbor felt the same about her Bug. She gave it a name and would talk to it as she drove, encouraging and cajoling it. As odd as it may sound, she and that car had a relationship.

Over the years I knew other people who had relationships with their Volkswagens. A neighbor with free-range hair owned a VW Camper Van that had large flower stickers in the windows. It was the ultimate hippie van, a vehicle that held little communities of people who enjoyed nature and were at peace with the universe. Another friend owned a VW Rabbit. During the gas shortage of the 1980s, he would brag about how little gas his Rabbit used as he drove to school and work. Unlike the majority of drivers, who ambled around town in large gas-guzzlers before waiting in lines at the service station, his efficient and economical Rabbit was a part of the solution to the fuel shortage.

During those years, Volkswagen built a brand and attracted new generations of drivers not only in the United States but around the globe. In the 1990s, Volkswagen ads captured the essence of their brand with the word fahrvergnügen, which meant "driving pleasure." This German company became a leader in Europe and abroad, buying other car manufacturers and adding more brands until, by 2015, they were the number-two car company in the world.

Brands are hard to create. They take time and are built through a string of consistent decisions, when product after product delivers a promised experience in new and better ways as the decades unfold. Volkswagen's brand was built on the idea that you can have a relationship with your vehicle, that driving can be fun, and that cars do not have to despoil the environment. VW drivers had special feelings about their cars and a sense of community with each other. In an odd but powerful way, the VW brand reflected their personalities and values.

What's Your Brand?

Here is a question that church leaders would be wise to consider: What brand are you building in your church? Just as the VW brand has certain values that buyers identify with, your church has values that are communicated and put into practice every day. What are those values? Is generosity among them?

You may resist the idea of a church having a "brand." The word smacks of business and marketing and seems out of place in a conversation about the theology and values of a church. But the exercise is valuable as a way to think about what you are doing as a local congregation.

One way to identify a brand is to state the central values being expressed through its services or products. A church might consider verses from Jesus' teachings that sum up the life of their Christian community. It is helpful to identify verses that sum up what a particular congregation finds essential in their life together.

Imagine a group of church leaders on a retreat who decide to identify four key verses from the Gospels that will guide their ministry. The verses, once selected, will be placed across the top of the four sanctuary walls, to remind the congregation of its identity each time they gather for worship or congregational meetings. The leaders spend time reviewing the Gospels. Many verses are offered for consideration. After a great deal of discussion, the list is narrowed to the following five, and the group finds it almost impossible to delete one more:

"All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them." (Mark 8:35)

"I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me."

(Matthew 25:35-36)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

(Luke 4:18-19)

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit." (John 15:5a)

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

Looking at these and other verses that were set aside, it occurs to one church member that the underlying quality that Jesus calls for in every aspect of Christian discipleship is generosity. God is initially generous to us, creating us. Then God shares love, forgiveness, and other forms of grace in our lives. Like branches grafted to a vine, we draw our strength and resources from God.

As the church leaders consider God's generous nature, it is hard for them to ignore another key verse that had not been listed.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life." (John 3:16)

If you were to go through a similar process in your church, the results would be a bit different, but at some point it's likely you would identify generosity as an underlying principle of Christian faith.

Through faith in Christ, we find new life and salvation. God is generous with us from our inception to the moment we are offered the Resurrection. As a result, the calling of Christ upon our lives is not arduous but a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. Christ followers are called to be generous in return, sharing the love of Christ that now resides in their lives. They share their resources with others, caring for the sick and poor. Jesus' disciples are generous with those who have no faith in God and are willing to talk about what they believe and how Christ has transformed them.

The teaching ministry of the church is a way that believers help each other go deeper, learn the meaning of the Bible, explore doctrine, and share stories about heroes of the faith. Church members care for one another through acts of kindness and compassion. They are a light to the world in the distinct fellowship they experience, as they celebrate each other's accomplishments and bear each other's burdens.

It does not take long to realize that the Christian life is a generous life. It is generous in love, forgiveness, compassion, kindness, hospitality, healing, faith, and so many other ways. In our story above, the group of church leaders realizes that if they can demonstrate the generosity of their church ministry in these ways, many people will want to join them. Who does not want to enjoy a generous...