I was making my way to Glide one morning, and when I stopped off BART at the Powell Street station, I looked around and saw that the station had been plastered with "RETHINK" ads. I was excited to see this that The United Methodist "Rethink Church" campaign had invested to much in marketing in San Francisco. Rethink Church is a four-year marketing strategy "to invite the church and those unchurched who seek spiritual fulfillment, to become more outwardly focused and engaged in the world."
Well, imagine my surprise when I saw that these RETHINK ads had nothing to do with the church. They were for Bare Escentuals, a make-up company!
I began to think about these two RETHINK campaigns. The church is experiencing an aging membership, empty pews, and the inability to sustain mission and ministry due to decreased donations.
I believe that the church possesses a life-giving message of transformation and liberation, so needed in our day and age! But too many of our churches have become museums and historical relics of a by-gone era. Instead of looking unflinchingly at the world and seeing where faithful witness is needed, the church has turned inward. Instead of engaging as bold disciples and offering the world ministries of compassion and justice, the church has too often turned its back on the cries of God's children.
I am glad The United Methodist Church is calling us to RETHINK the church...my only hope is that it is not a slick make-over job or a glossy cover-up.
