Peter chapter 2:
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,"
8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...
The church is called to be a powerful force in this world, and as members of His body, we can live each day with the expectation of Christ's empowerment. If our lives and our churches are built on that firm foundation, on Christ, our chief cornerstone, then we can be effective ambassadors for Him, sharing His love and communicating His truth. So, our challenge is to be reliant on Him and depend on His Spirit to live through us as we yield to Him.
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Paul gives this admonition to Timothy in 1st Timothy 3, which includes a glimpse into how God
views His church:
14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly;
15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: Godwas manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
I don't know if you've given a whole lot of thought about who controls those suffixes at the end of Internet addresses; you know, the .com, .org, .net, and a growing number of others, such as .church.
Well, this is controlled apparently by an organization that is known by the acronym ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. According to Christianity Today, last year, it released a list of applications for nearly 2,000 possible new "after-the-dot" endings to website URLs. From .aaa to .zulu, the list contains a number of possible endings. For a cool $185,000 application fee, you too can be considered for a domain name.
Well, two entities applied for the .church suffix: Donuts Inc., which applied for 307 top-level domains, and what was until recently known as LifeChurch.tv. Donuts spokesman Mason Cole said, "We intend to be inclusive," adding, "We're not going to have a by-invitation-only section of the Internet."
Bobby Gruenewald of LifeChurch, said applying for the .church domain fit with the church's mission of helping ministries use new resources. LifeChurch.tv has created several technology products useful to pastors and churches, including the YouVersion Bible app. Gruenewald said, "We're definitely in the business of wanting to leverage technology and do it in a way that we feel benefits the capital-C Church."
Well, a recent Christianity Today story points out that LifeChurch lost its endeavor to own the domain extension to the Donuts people, but they'll be able to use it anyway. Donuts won the auction for that one extension, and it now offers 183 extensions - and as of mid-October, around 13,000 churches were using the .church domain extension, including LifeChurch.tv, which bought an extension from them. It is now Life.Church.
In a statement, Gruenewald said, “We believe the transition to Life.Church creates the opportunity to share and talk about the church in a natural way,” adding, “Plus, it’s a more effective way for people to find and identify us as a church, too.” What is now Life.Church has some 24,000 worshipers in 24 campuses in 7 states.
It's quite mindboggling to think that a multi-site church was willing to pay $185,000 to secure a domain extension, but, it's indicative for the dedication of Life.Church to utilize technology to spread the gospel and the equip the church as a whole. CT reports that the YouVersion Bible app has been downloaded over 150 million times and has more than 1,000 different translations. The church has certainly been effective is spreading its content.
Some takeaways from this story:
I think there is an obvious truth that we can glean here: words matter. And, while branding may be a marketing concept, I think it can work in the realm of our being ambassadors for Christ. How we as churches and individual Christians communicate can help determine how effective we are for the sake of the gospel.
So, we can ask the question: What message are you sending about your church? When people think of your church, what is the perception? Are you known for your adherence to God's Word? Are you recognized for a welcoming and hospitable spirit? Is the image you're projecting publicly consistent with what God is doing in your church?
And, how about your own individual life? How are you being perceived? Without being people pleasers, we can certainly be cognizant of how people view us. We want to make sure that in all we say and do, people are seeing the image of Christ in us. Not going through a set of motions, but living for Christ from the heart.
And, how about your own individual life? How are you being perceived? Without being people pleasers, we can certainly be cognizant of how people view us. We want to make sure that in all we say and do, people are seeing the image of Christ in us. Not going through a set of motions, but living for Christ from the heart.
Finally, as Life.Church can remind us, technology provides powerful tools. And, we can be aware of and relish the opportunities we have to communicate truth through these resources we have available to us. Obviously, this church felt that the domain extension was important. Maybe you're OK with your web address, but how about your use of social media? Are there ways you can be spreading the word in a more effective manner - to connect people with truth and draw people into a relationship with our Savior?
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