Pride can be a sneaky temptation, especially for church communicators who might forget the true source of their success. In this episode, I discuss the dangers of pride and how it can creep into our work, particularly as we navigate the evolving landscape of church communications. Drawing from several powerful biblical passages, I'll highlight the importance of humility and the need to focus on the mission rather than the medium. We often get caught up in the aesthetics of our communications, but what truly matters is whether they lead people to know Jesus and grow in their faith. Join me as we explore how to keep our hearts aligned with God’s purpose in our work, reminding ourselves that it’s not about our skills or tools, but about reaching and serving those in need.

Takeaways:

1. Pride is a subtle temptation that can undermine the real purpose of church communications, which is to connect people with God.
2. The quality of church communication should be measured by its impact on spiritual growth, not just by aesthetic appeal or professional design.
3. In church communications, meeting the needs of the congregation is paramount, regardless of the quality of design or production.
4. Even simple communications can lead to significant spiritual impact when they focus on bringing people closer to Jesus.
5. It's essential for church communicators to remember that their effectiveness is rooted in humility and service, not in pride or superior skills.

Good morning. I'm Yvon Prehn and I'd like to welcome you to Monday Devotions for Church Communicators.

This podcast will start your week with prayer and a challenge from God's Word. Our topic for today is Pride, a Temptation when we forget the real reasons for the success of our work.

I have three passages that support this topic and I'm going to read them to you now.

The first One is Proverbs 6:16 and 17 where it says "Six things the Lord hates.

Yes, seven are an abomination to him, a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.

And then the last passage is Jeremiah 9:23-24 where it says, "Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight, says the Lord."

Most of my devotions are filled with encouragements, but this one is a caution. It's a warning about pride, which C.S.Lewis described as the essential vice, the utmost evil.

Why, you may wonder, would I be talking about the sin of pride to church communicators outside the reality that all of us are capable of any sin at any time in most instances in the church, especially small and medium sized churches?

I've seldom seen pride as a danger in church communications for an overworked church secretary or administrative assistant or for the pastor of a church too small or poor to afford paid help for the volunteer putting together a flyer or Facebook site for the youth group at the end of a long day. Most often these valiant workers are so aware of their limitations in communication that pride is seldom a temptation.

But a new type of church communicator creates new dangers.

With the advent of the computer, the growth in skills and tools available for creating church communications, and the development of larger churches, these have all worked together to create a new type of church communicator. "The Professional"

Sometimes the professional works at the church. Sometimes it's a person hired at an outside design firm or a design or PR professional who volunteers as a consultant. Though many wonderful people work in these positions, I've often found this is a person who is most in danger of what C.S.Lewis describes as the heart of the matter of pride, where he says pride in essentially competitive pride that gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having something more than the next man.

Those in the danger of pride in the work of church communications are those who seem to believe that because of their professional or technical expertise, their computer savvy or the kind of computer they have and that I'm looking at you Mac users. I've got one too. I have both, but hey, I understand, but I'm sorry I got distracted. But anyway, I've seen it many times in my seminars.

This superior look, this knowing smile, the patronizing dismissal of any suggestion that does not involve high-end software or advanced graphic arts techniques. When I see that, it always saddens me.

Usually that look is followed at the break by the bestowing upon me of some admittedly gorgeous samples.

But what really matters in church communications? That the samples look great from an earthly design standard isn't the question. But when I ask, how are people responding? I often get a blank stare.

I repeat, I'm not asking if your audience thinks these pieces are beautiful or not. Obviously you've got that covered.

But there are only two criteria that count in church communications, and they are Number One, are people coming to know Jesus as Savior? And Number Two, are they growing in their Christian lives?

Again I ask, are these two essential purposes of church communications being accomplished in your work? Often these questions are answered by silence. It does not take extravagant design or production to make significant spiritual impact.

A simple postcard sent out regularly and with repeated email to remind young Christians to come to a discipleship Bible study, perhaps with one or two simple graphics and a verse added for encouragement can accomplish measurable, eternal results.

So can a gorgeous bulletin if it moves people to the next step of coming to know Jesus as Savior or Christian maturity. It's the response, not only the look, that matters most in church communications.

As I've often said in my seminars, I've never heard anyone, when giving their testimony of how they got saved, say something like it was the typeface that drew me to Jesus, or their use of white space was so impressive I knew their God had to be fantastic. Great graphic design is a good thing. Please don't misunderstand me, but it's not the most important thing.

Meeting needs is what makes the most effective church communications. People respond to church communications that meet needs.

Meeting people's needs is always the most important thing, not how great something looks or what it costs to produce a piece. Often in the church, we don't have the time or money to always create gorgeous, perfect publications.

Things go out with typos because there wasn't anybody around to prove it and if we didn't get it out, they people wouldn't know about an event.

Sometimes a volunteer might create a flyer that is flat out ugly to a professional designer, but if it's the only thing the church has time to produce, and if it gets lonely, fearful people to know that the church loves them and offers programs that meet their needs, we need to learn to be thankful for the volunteer and put aside our pride on the quote unquote quality we wish we could always produce.

The bottom line is we have no reason for pride in our church communication products, no matter how they look or don't look, because it is only by the gracious hand of our Lord, not by our impressive software or our graphic design quality that lives are changed. Remember, he who could at any time command the stones to praise him can use anything to accomplish his messages.

Publisher, Adobe Creative Suite, PCs, Macs, AI, whatever it is that you're using, he can use it all because it's never our tools but our heart that is the most important to Jesus in accomplishing his work. If he graciously allows us to be in the ministry of church communications, pride can never be part of that work.

The Message puts it this way, "It's not what you do for God, but what God does for you. That's the agenda for rejoicing."

And with that, let me pray for you this week.

Lord, I pray for all the church communicators out there that you would help us to realize that the only thing that we can glory in is that we belong to you and that you've given us a job to do.

Lord, I pray that we would be in tune with your heart, that we would work on communications that meet the needs of your people, that we would heal hurts, that we would make the lonely feel welcomed, that we would reach out in a way that isn't confusing but clear. Lord, thank you for loving us and be with us today and always as we serve you. In Jesus name, Amen.

For links to lots more materials to encourage you and help you be a better church communicator, go to the website www.effectivechurchcom.com. The book that the devotions are from is available on Amazon and it is entitled Devotions for Church Communicators.

Hopefully that's kind of easy to remember. And I would encourage you to keep listening each week for more encouragement and prayers for you as you do your incredibly important work.