Brand Ambassador or Christ’s Ambassador?

Is a pastor a brand ambassador? Christ calls every pastor to a specific work in a specific church. God calls him to minister to a local body, to serve as the shepherd to a definite membership roll.

In the apostolic era, the name of your church simply matched its geographical location. We have letters to the church in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, etc. In truth, each city would have had several churches due to the number of people meeting. But Paul referred to those churches as one.

Even in our day, there is only one church. There is only one church in McComb, one church in Summit, and one church in Magnolia. We meet in different facilities and have different labels on our signs, but we are, in truth, one. After all, there is only one Christ, only one baptism (of the Holy Spirit), and only one faith.

We refer to this doctrine as the church’s catholicity (please carefully note the lowercase “c” in that word) and affirm the Apostles’ Creed when it states, “We believe…in the holy, catholic church.” Here, “catholic” simply means “universal.”

The church growth movement, which spawned in the 80s and 90s, has done considerable damage to this precious doctrine. Shamefully, churches desperate to grow see themselves competing with the other churches in town.

The demand for growth has had other terrible consequences. It has diminished the importance of preaching, visiting, and praying. Churches no longer call ministers to be faithful shepherds. Instead, ministry is about personality, flash, and panache. Like shareholders at the annual meeting, church members want to know how the minister will grow the roll. Who cares if he is doctrinally sound or not?!

The net effect on ministers is a tendency to see themselves as brand ambassadors. Like corporate CEOs, the pastor feels the temptation to create brand differentiation and awareness in a niche market to obtain growth at the margin. What’s the ROI?!

The doctrine of catholicity doesn’t teach that all churches glorify Christ equally. And, some so-called “churches” are, in fact, “synagogues of Satan” (Revelation 2:9). But we ought to identify the unity we have with every church that preaches Christ and administers the sacraments faithfully.

What happens when we embrace catholicity? We remember that outreach is about helping people, not growing the church; preaching is about Scripture, not what the people want to hear; worship is about God’s glory and enjoyment, not attracting the unbeliever. When we embrace catholicity, we show the world we believe there is only one Christ, there is only one means of salvation, and all those he saves constitute his one, true bride!