We Can't Be "We Are That, Too"

If you've ever sat in a group of people who were asked a series of questions you've probably heard someone say something like "I am/liked/thought that too". You may have been the person in a group that said it. I have. It generally stems from a person that is either not satisfied with their answer, forgot to say it when they had the opportunity, or is trying to be like that person so they don't look bad.

Distinction is about creating a clear direction and being unified about that direction. No matter what your involvement is with a group, you need to make sure this is clear among the people.

Specifically focusing on church related settings, in order to create some distinction, we need to have a sense of clarity in our direction. If we're not all on board, then we're going to be going in several different directions.

If you were to be a part of a group of churchgoers, all from different denominations, who was being interviewed from someone who was "shopping" for a church, and the question "Why should I come to your church" was presented for you to answer, what types of things might you be inclined to say? Now that you have your answer, would you be tempted to piggy-back off of someone else's answer and say "we do/are that, too"? If you didn't, I would bet that someone would.

We don't understand distinction, enough, in that type of setting. We would worry about making ourselves look so good that we would forget to make ourselves distinct, in a positive way.

We may think that, as a church, we are going to be everything to everyone. However, as much as we would like to think that, we are not going to be. We may try to dabble a bit into various realms, but we are not going to succeed in being everything to everyone. Wal-Mart, with all its variety is not able to succeed in being everything to everyone. You can't buy a tuxedo there. You can't buy several things there. Even with all the variety they have available at every store, they still have a select amount of things one can buy.

As a church we must keep that in mind. We must create a clear distinction about what we are and for everyone to get on board with that so that we can have a good direction. We may offer a wide range of products, but we're not going to meet everyone's needs or be able to make a place for people to receive certain things.

As the future continues, we need to make sure there is clarity and that clarity is expressed to the people, so that we can all get on board with our direction.

Let's not focus on worrying if "we are that, too" but, rather, focus on what we our for others and get excited about it and see what God will do when we create clarity.