Are we answering the right questions?
I’ve been reading through Phil Cooke’s new book titled, “Branding Faith”. I feel like I know him. We’ve had this conversation many times before, even though I’ve only met him in person once. The book challenges the Church to learn to “brand” themselves in a postmodern culture. What does that mean? Branding is simply “the art of surrounding a product, organization, or person with a powerful and compelling story”.
It used to be that the Church was the dominate influence on culture. Today, Corporate brand is shaping our ideals and consciousness. Statistics show that on average 10% of a two year old’s vocabulary will consist of a corporate brand. Amazing! The most recongnizable character for most young children has red hair, wears big long shoes and has red lipstick. Ronald McDonald is more famous than the guy who came to save the world.
Is this not sobering? Will we as believers take notice and at least consider doing something different? Are we too far gone to listen to the lost voices calling out for clarity in a world full of thousands of noisy and meaningless messages each day?
Here’s one place to start. Are we answering the right questions? I love this quote that Phil includes in his book from Billy Graham. It absolutely captures the heart of the issue.
“A generation ago, the question was, “What is truth?” Today, the question is, “What’s the point?” BILLY GRAHAM