Hot, Hot, Hot (Part 5)

How do you keep your people’s passion for those who are far from God white hot? How can you tell how hot it is? We’re taking some posts to think through those issues. So how you feeling? (Hot, hot, hot).

Another way to turn up the heat in your church is through the metaphors you use. Have you heard the golden rule re-mix, “Whoever owns the gold makes the rules.” Well, I think, “Whoever owns the metaphors makes the rules.” Metaphors shape culture. So what metaphors do you share, and how are they shaping your culture?

I have several metaphors that I’ve tried to tell often enough that they’ve become a part of the fabric of our church. For instance, I say that our church is like a steak restaurant for P.E.T.A. activists, or a hair product company for bald men. We are a church for people who don’t like church. We have chosen to go after the one group of people we know are not interested in what we have to offer. And so that impacts the way we do everything. And using those metaphors helps people to understand the nature of who we are.

I also share (often) how the people who make up Forefront are like the rescue workers who searched for people in the rubble after 9-11. This is an image that people can vividly remember. It stirs emotions. And it helps people to understand: The people in our community are buried under the rubble of life. Our role is to go out and dig, to reach down and grab a hand and help pull them out to a place where they can breathe and move again. (And how do you say no to that?!?)

What metaphors do you use? Whoever owns the metaphors makes the rules.

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