Words count

One of the staples of any collection of church jokes are mistakes from the notice sheet, such as “The carol service will be followed by coffee and mice pies”, or, even better, “At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is Hell?’. Come early and listen to our choir practice.”

Why do people remember the times we get things wrong? There are millions of error-free notice-sheets printed and distributed every weekend in churches up and down the country, but they’re ignored. Why? Well, they aren’t funny for a start…

Words move us. If they make us laugh, we retell them; if they make us think, we ponder them; if they hurt us, then we remember them; if they make us seethe with anger, then we use them as justification for saying something equally devastating in turn.

Words made flesh

Our words can both heal and harm, sometimes in the same sentence. Maybe that is why the Psalmist prays, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Psalm 141, verse 3)

Jesus only had to tell off a storm and it died away. How many Christian leaders on Bible camps have wished their words had the same power? But Jesus also had the power to unleash the full fury of an angelic army on his persecutors, yet chose not to. If our words are powerful, maybe this is part of the image of God within us, part of the Saviour that is within us by his spirit, the Word made flesh. And perhaps, like Him, we need to show restraint in how we use that power.

Without getting into the realm of ‘prosperity theology’ It’s true tosay that the words we use do end up defining reality. I don’t believe we should be dishonest and say that everything’s great when it’s not. But we do need to be careful. If someone is constantly told that their new idea ‘won’t work’, or ‘can’t be done’, then the likelihood is that it won’t happen.

Repeatedly stating that the church is out-of-touch and irrelevant leads to people believing the negative stereotype. Emphasising the downside of church life creates apathetic, lukewarm attitudes and the critic will, of course, be proved right.

The need to believe

John Wesley was advised to preach the gospel until he believed the gospel and then preach the gospel because he believed the gospel. Maybe there is something in this that we should take to heart. Because unless we believe ourselves that church still has a point, a mission, a calling, why would anyone else believe it?

This isn’t about positive mental attitudes, or deceiving ourselves with hyperbole and untruths. It’s about speaking out what God says to be true, and acting upon our word until it is true, and our faith becomes sight.

Our words have creative power. They can make something out of nothing. We need to start talking the language of success, not failure and regard our churches as significant, important, and crucial to the well-being of society. We should speak health and wholeness, emphasising the positive aspects of whatever situation we’re in. If you’re a small church, then rejoice in the closeness that smallness brings, if you’re a large church, value the opportunities for ministry that come your way because you’re big enough to do it.

I believe that the church has a key role to play in the well-being and healing of our society’s ills. And, maybe if we stop apologising for what we believe and start living it out there in the big wide world, people will begin to sit up and take notice.

Last Updated 30 November 2010