Richard Branson, Haagen-Dasz, And Jesus

Quick quiz question - what do Mike Oldfield and The Stereophonics have in common? I'll give you a clue with a little fact about Richard Branson. Most of his companies are branded with the name 'Virgin', but there are 3 that aren't. His bridal wear business isn't one of them; the ones that are are Mates condoms, Storm Models, and his record company. Yes, there is a record company called Virgin; but he doesn't own that one-he sold it. And then he decided he quite liked running a record company, so he started another one.
 
So, what does that say about anything? Simply that image is important. I remember once a talk which started off saying -I'm going to talk about evangelism now, so I know what you're all thinking; Haagen-Dasz. Apparently, it was a family of Polish immigrants to the States who started it. They got a small loan and bought a shop, and they were thinking about what would make people come. They figured that if they gave it a Polish name, and gave the impression it was a traditional recipe, people would be intrigued-and after a while, word would get around and people would come because of the quality. And if you've ever heard of them, you'll know that it worked. So, what does 'Haagen-Dasz' actually mean? Absolutely nothing, they made it up. Apparently, anyway. Again, image is important.

So, what does that have to do with evangelism? And why am I writing about evangelism, when anyone who knows me well knows it isn't a subject I'm particularly interested in? To answer the second question first, I've been thinking about evangelism because we've been going a teaching series at church, and that was the most recent subject. There was a talk on Sunday, which basically said everyone should go and talk to people about Jesus; and some DVD material we studied on Wednesday which was talking about loving and serving people. It almost seemed as if that was based on a different talk, their angles were so different.

Now, I don't think all Christians have a duty to go and tell everyone they know about Him; I've mentioned this in passing before. However, one sentence in particular struck me from the talk:-we are not called to be witnesses, we are witnesses. When someone knows we are Christians, or even begins to suspect, the way they think about God will be affected by the way they see us. So, as I said, image is important. But, more importantly, the other lesson we should take from the two examples I opened with are that what we are once past the image is, if anything, even more important. I'm sure you've heard of Haagen-Dasz and you know how good it is; and the 'Virgin' label is enough to tell investors that this business will work, but without that label, he had to work harder to establish those particular businesses. And, in both cases, they were successful because they had quality and hard work to back them up.

And so it should be with us. I'll leave the last words to a meme I found online earlier today.

*For those who were still wondering, they were the first two artists signed to each of his record labels.

Jojo's Big Day

And another weekend when I actually did something. My friends were having their youngest son christened and invited me along. Well, really, as it was at the church I go to anyway, it was just telling me, so I could make sure I was there at the morning service, as I don't always make it. Apparently, there was an actual invitatation, but I never saw that.

And so Sunday morning arrives, and I make the attempt to get up and get there in time. Thankfully, it was the night after the clocks go back, so I effectively had an extra hour to sleep-and I didn't try to push it by deliberately going to bed later. But somehow or other, I still manage to get there late. Not too late, I miss the start of the service, but I'm there for the actual baptism. Which was great. Jojo behaved himself really well, and when the minister asked him if he was excited to be baptised, he said 'yes'. Which was unexpected, but brilliant. And now it's my responsibility, along with everyone else there, to encourage him to grow in his Christian faith. So I will-as much as I can, given that I don't see him that much. However, I am confident in saying that his parents will do that job well.
Then Joseph and all the other children went off to Kidzchurch, and the service continued. The sermon, fittingly, was about evangelism, and was entitled 'You Can Do It'-the point being that God has called us all to evangelise, so He has gifted us all to do it. Well, maybe. I'm not sure I agree. I think that evangelism is a specialised task that He hasn't called everyone to. The church as a whole He has called to make disciples, and obviously evangelism is part of that-it has to be. But I don't think it makes sense that everyone has to do everything-and if there are some who are called to do just evangelism, then doesn't it make sense that there would be those at the other end of the scale as well. However, what He has called each of us to do is "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have" (1 Pe 3:14-16)-that is something to glorify Him. I could say more, but I won't just yet.

So, let's skip the rest of the service, which, you know, went pretty much as you might imagine, and cut straight to the afternoon celebration. After I finally got there-I had to make my own way there, but that's good, as I'll be going there the next couple of weekends, so now I'm confident I can find it-I met up with some friends I hadn't seen for a while. All sorts of friends, from people who moved away years ago who we still keep in touch with, to a guy who recently left to go to train to be a vicar, to Joseph's parents (who I don't get to see that often) and their parents. It was a really nice mix of people, and I did know a fair few of them-most of whom commented that I had long hair last time they saw me, so that's at least 3 years ago. And all sorts of interesting conversations-it's really good catching up with people and finding out what's been going on in their lives. Which was amazingly varied.
And, then, all too soon, it was all over. People were leaving, and going off to their various places in various parts of the country. Which was a shame. But it had to happen-celebrations happen, and then life goes on. And then we tidied up, and I went back to Jojo's house with his parents-which was literally just down the road. Which was nice. As I said, I don't get to see them that often, so that was good. A mixture of TV and chatting happened, and then the children went to bed, after Joseph's older brother reading me the story of the Jews escaping through the Red Sea from his children's Bible-and then telling me what happens next. But I won't spoil it for you. And then we carried on chatting for a bit, and then I got a lift home-with a short detour to take some stuff back. And I don't know about everyone else, but I can definitely say that it was a great day for me, and Jojo certainly seemed to enjoy it too. ;).

Odd Shaped or God Shaped

After getting back from D-Fest, I've been thinking seriously about mission and what and how it could (and should?) be. There is one particular issue that's been on my mind in various forms, and is simply this:-how do we reach those who don't fit? I'll explain in a bit, but the background is that most of the talk I've heard about mission/evangelism over the years has been based on basically one premise. We have a community that we are part of, which we call 'church', and at some point, the idea is that people will become part of 'our' community. This often involves going to 'them' first and developing some sort of relationship, but, eventually, we expect/hope that 'they' will join 'us' in 'our' community-and become part of 'us'. Leaving aside for now the point about us all being one church (a different issue, and for practical reasons, not really relevant to this post), I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. It works for a lot of people, to the extent that we do have genuine community; and the more we work on that, the better it will get. However, what I've been thinking about, as I said, is those who don't fit. I'm not talking about those whose behaviour is not really conducive to the growth of commmunity (all of us?), but those who for one reason or another can't fit into our version of community.

There are lots of them, for one reason or another, and some of them the church (this time I mean all of us) is better at reaching out to than others. The most obvious are students, those in jail, and people serving in the military in some capacity. It's fairly obvious that each of those groups 'don't fit' in the sense that their lifestyle doesn't allow or encourage them to be part of a local Christian community. Strictly speaking, students can-there is nothing physically stopping them-but they would tend to live in a way that sets them apart from non-students. Now, there are official church chaplains for all of those groups, and other forms of Christian outreach for at least two of them; Christians who are there with them, living alongside (or, at least, visiting often), and who build a community there from a postition of understanding. However, there are many other groups and individuals, who for one reason or another or another 'don't fit'. What about travellers or circus performers, for instance? Or people who work at holiday camps, like Butlins, who live onsite? (After going to Spring Harvest for 3 years in a row and seeing several of the same staff, I did start to wonder what their life is like). People in care homes of one sort or another-or hospices? Or even long term patients in hospitals, especially those whose family can't or don't visit? Now, in some ways, I recognise this is somewhat unfair, as most of these people simply cannot leave their situations easily; so, anyone wishing to take Jesus to them would have to be committed to it for the long haul. It's not something you can really do half heartedly.

So, what about those who could physically join a local Christian community, but live in a way that they are unlikely to come across anyone who might want to introduce them to Him? I mean, for instance, those who mainly work at festivals (as cleaning staff, security, stallholders, etc). Or, on a somewhat subtler level, how about those who work in local nightclubs or music venues:- owners, bar staff, AV guys, even DJs and bands? I'm not saying that they wouldn't ever come across Christians (most of us do believe we're allowed out now and again), but that when they do, they probably wouldn't notice. With probably hundreds of people passing by them every week, how are any of them going to stand out? The only answer I can think of is the answer Jesus modelled, and what He told us to do, indirectly; and that is to build relationships with them. On an ongoing basis. For as long as it takes. In whatever way we can. Which for some of us may mean becoming bar staff, or even a DJ/musician. But not, repeat not, in order to 'reach out'. The only way we can 'reach out' and earn the opportunity to share Jesus is to live. With integrity and living a full life, the life He promised. So, if He has given you a gift of music, then use it and enjoy it to the best of your ability. But, if you just happen to be someone going along to the pub or club on a fairly regular basis, you can do so without leaving Jesus behind when you go. And then maybe, you may end up leaving Jesus with someone when you leave there.

These are just some thoughts, some questions, maybe some answers. Let me know what you think. . .