Your Church Deserves Its Reputation in the Community
by Bart L. Denny, Ph.D., Th.M. How does your community view your church? Do you even know? First, I ought to say that it’s easy to find out. Just go to the nearest grocery store and ask the cashier. Go to places nearby where there are people and ask them what they know. You’ll find out. Your church either has a good, bad or—perhaps most likely—no reputation. And let me be blunt: no matter your church’s reputation—good, bad, or none—you deserve it. It doesn’t matter if you argue the minor points where you think people have been unfair; you have given off an impression. Several months ago, I talked to a deacon chairman who shared that his church had a bad reputation in the community. I got the distinct sense that he thought the community had been unfair. First, I would say that it doesn’t matter whether such judgment is unjust or not. The reputation you have in the community is the reputation you have—that’s what you’ve got to work with. But had the community really been unfair? The