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August 25, 2008
More Identity Struggles
(Filed under: Brand & Identity)Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the Echo conference in Dallas, Texas, with a few hundred church media artists. I presented a spoken version of my "Bastards With Bibles" series that I wrote about here.
The basic premise of my session was about identity and how we've got to figure out who we are, both as individuals and as organizations (i.e., church). It's a serious problem with serious implications which is why I get fired up about people figuring this stuff out.
My wife and I visited a church community this past Sunday and I ran into a friend who happens to be a regular attender and, ironically, was also a presenter at Echo the day before. He told me he started attending here because his previous church of 20+ years was in the midst of figuring out who they were ever since the original pastor departed five years ago. He said that many people had left the old church and come over to this one for the very same reason. Talk about identity crisis! I happen to know the church he is speaking about and indeed, they have been struggling with this big time.
In a related conversation, I was speaking with a mother of three who had left her kids with the grandparents to meet up with her husband and serve together for a few days at a conference. When asked how she was doing without the kiddos, she responded that she actually felt more human without them, as if she was able to be herself more fully. Could it be that her identity is more than just being a mom. Shocker.
Buried deep down inside us is who we really are. Our DNA is waiting to be uncovered, but unfortunately so many other things are competing with our ability to unleash it. It's time to figure out who you are!
Posted by Brad Abare at August 25, 2008 7:54 AM
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Comments
Wow! Thanks for this timely piece. My church is going through a severe identity crisis as well and has been for some time.
I guess the hard part is that many times people/churches either don't know how to find their true identity, or more truthfully, they are afraid to look.
Posted by: Greg Simmons at August 25, 2008 6:09 AM
I work with many start up churches and have found that many are unsure of their identity-even of their doctrinal statement. I, too, in my personal life struggle to find identity outside of wife, mom, professional. Thanks for making me feel like I'm not the only one!
www.churchnetusa.com/blog
Posted by: melanie at August 25, 2008 10:06 AM
What a timely article. I just started at a new church and they want to discover "who they are". Since you get fired up about this, can you recommend any resources to facilitate this discovery?
Posted by: Bill at August 25, 2008 1:24 PM
Interesting, thanks.
Posted by: Stephanie at August 25, 2008 6:34 PM
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