Branding our churches, ministries, and even personalities in Christian, vocational service is a thing. Really. And it is an important thing. If you want to publish a book, Christian publishing companies want to know how many friends you have on social media. How many subscribers your blog has. How many likes and shares your posts receive. They want to know other things as well – and yes, the content has to be solid and edifying. But name recognition is a huge thing in today’s world. It was also a huge thing in the ancient world. And this fact led me to a rather qualmy thought yesterday afternoon while reading an old sermon from one of my favorite nineteenth century Anglican clergymen (everyone should have one of those). In a sermon Edward Pusey preached from the familiar text “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” he offered a simple yet profound illustration from Genesis 11-12:
“What became of those who said, ‘Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth.’? What, but that they brought upon them what they feared? ‘The LORD scattered them abroad from thence,’ from the very place of their might, ‘upon the face of all the earth.’ And who of those times is loved and reverenced yet, not among Christians and Jews only, but among those alien to the faith, as ‘the friend of God,’ who but that lonely wanderer, an outcast from his home, who left his country and his kindred, and his father’s house, and went out, not knowing whither he went, only that he followed the call of God?”[1]
In those much, much older days, men sought to make a great name for themselves. They desired two things: (1) not to be scattered, and (2) to be remembered. And yet from what Pusey called “the very place of their might,” they were in fact scattered – and we don’t remember anything about them except their folly. This is the record of Genesis chapter eleven.
But turn the page of scripture, and in Genesis chapter twelve we are introduced to a man named Abram. And God has called Abram to do the exact opposite of what his culture thought would accomplish fame! Abram is asked to leave everything and everyone he knows – he is asked to live as a transient on his way to an unknown destination. And God tells him, “I will make your name great.” (Genesis 12:2).
This text, the “call of Abram,” is a foundational text for God’s people. There are principles embedded in this text that must inform every generation of believers as God continues to unfold his purposes in human history. And it must be noted that the ‘recipe’ for the success that God promises Abram is obtained in precisely the opposite manner endorsed by the world of his day. They would build a city? You must live in a tent. They would gather together? You must wander away. At this constitutional moment in the history of God’s people, God is signaling that His ways are not our ways. And our ways are not His ways.
And yet we chase the world. We imitate the ways of Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and now even Broadway. The secular formulas concerning money, advertising, and entertainment values have saturated our thinking about church growth – and even church health. I would dare to say that we have never in the history of the church had as many professional resources available for facilitating church growth according to these principles. Yet, as is often noted, sixty to eighty percent of U.S. churches are not growing! And most of those that grow are simply attracting Christians from other churches. Statistically, that includes the church I pastor. Thus the qualmy thought.
When we pursue spiritual ‘greatness’ using the world’s ‘best practices,’ are we necessarily following God? Is it possible that he has revealed his intent, from the very beginning, that we embrace a counter-cultural pursuit of a great name that only He will give us – that can only ever be attributed to his grace and favor? Is it possible that God would have us perform the culturally equivalent acts of scattering about and living in tents? And if so, what might those cultural equivalents be today?
We all want a great name. We want to be recognized and remembered. This is not only human nature – but in some ways sanctified human nature. We have a God-given drive to ‘do,’ to create, to establish, to perform… And God does not offer Abram an ungodly blessing when he says that he will make Abram’s name great! It is not a bad thing to desire to be remembered often and fondly – perhaps that topic will be another blog post.
The critical question is “How will we pursue the kind of name recognition that we believe will honor God and enable us to bless others?” Will we strive after tall towers and the big gatherings of the world? Or will we venture out in faith, perhaps even in the opposite direction?
Your Pastor,
Bob Bjerkaas
[1] Edward Bouverie Pusey, “Seek God First,” Selections from the Writings of E.B. Pusey (New York: E. and J. B. Young and Company, 1883), p. 97.