God is still speaking
05/10/25 02:07
In 2002, the United Church of Christ initiated what would become known as the Still Speaking Campaign. The national identity campaign was initially led by Ron Buford, who, in addition to being an inspirational preacher, possessed a deep understanding of the dynamics of a national identity campaign. His leadership resulted in a simple and memorable logo, dramatic and historic advertisements, and the simple slogan, “God is Still Speaking.” The slogan comes from a quote by Gracie Allen: “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.” The original quote came from a love letter that Gracie penned to her husband, George Burns, near the end of her life. The United Church of Christ's national identity campaign featured a simple black comma on a red background with the words "God is still speaking." The quote was implied in most of the campaign materials.
Now, more than twenty years later, many members of the United Church of Christ don’t remember the origins of the campaign or the dynamics it produced within the church. A significant part of the campaign involved substantial financial investment in advertising. In addition to print materials to be used by local congregations, the campaign used a national advertising agency to produce several television ads. The ads were designed to show a contrast between the radical hospitality of the United Church of Christ and the exclusivity practiced by some other churches. One of the advertisements featured bouncers at the door of a church turning aside people with disabilities, gay couples, and others. Another showed a church with ejector seats blasting out gay couples, people of color, and those with disabilities. The advertisements can still be found on YouTube.
As a pastor who served the United Church of Christ during the official campaign, I sought to use the materials developed by church leaders in liturgical ways. I know little about advertising. I was never a proponent of conventional advertising for the church, and I was skeptical about its impact. The congregations I served invested in newspaper advertising, and one congregation even ran a brief billboard campaign. However, for the most part, we relied on word of mouth as our primary means of getting our message to those outside the church. I did not embrace the Still Speaking Campaign as an advertising program.
I did, however, recognize an essential theological message in the materials we received from the national setting of our church. One phrase that resonated deeply was, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” I began incorporating the phrase into the church's weekly liturgy. I wasn’t the only pastor to catch on to that phrase. It is still a part of the weekly worship greeting at the congregation I belong to, as well as many other United Church of Christ congregations. However, the way we used it in the church I was serving was different from many other congregations. Like many other words of the liturgy, I wanted to give the phrase to the congregation. Instead of my speaking them from the pulpit, I wrote them into the liturgy as a congregational response. The tradition of having the people speak the exact words over and over again until they are memorized is a meaningful part of worship liturgy. The things we say together each time we gather have a profound theological impact on the way we live our lives. The primary example of this is the Lord’s Prayer. Songs like the doxology and gloria also belong to the people.
From a theological perspective, having the people own a set of words is only part of the process. The goal is not to get a congregation to say words of welcome, but rather to be a place of genuine welcome. It is one thing to say that everyone is welcome. It is another thing to have everyone who comes to a church feel welcome. That is why it was so crucial for me, as a worship leader, to have the phrase not be just something I said. I wanted it to become something the congregation lived. One way to have the congregation live welcome is for them to greet one another with words of welcome. “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
I am convinced that change comes to the church through worship. We worship our way into new ways of understanding our biases and history. We become connected to others by worshiping together.
Two decades of the Still Speaking Campaign have not resulted in growth in church membership. The United Church of Christ has lost members over the decades and, along with other mainline denominations, continues to shrink in size. If people expected the advertisements to result in more members, the campaign might be judged a failure. However, I don’t believe that faithfulness can be measured in numbers. The biggest crowds in churches are not necessarily the most faithful.
I remain deeply committed to radical hospitality. At the same time, I recognize that people are divided in their church choices. The style of music in a congregation can have a profound impact on who attends worship. I used to say, “If people pick their churches like they pick their radio stations, we’re the NPR of churches.” We had a definite bias towards classical and jazz music in our congregation. For some, being greeted at the door of the church by the sound of a pipe organ identified the place as different or strange.
People often think it was Martin Luther King who first said that 11 a.m. on Sunday is the most segregated hour in Christian America.” MLK did use that phrase, but it had previously been used by James Baldwin and Malcom X. Whoever first said it, it continues to be true. In the church, we often speak about inclusivity, but we tend to remain exclusive organizations. We are on a journey, but far from reaching our goal. That is why it is so essential to understand the Still Speaking Campaign as far more than advertising. What will remain of the campaign as the decades pass is the theology and, hopefully, the liturgy.
Now, more than twenty years later, many members of the United Church of Christ don’t remember the origins of the campaign or the dynamics it produced within the church. A significant part of the campaign involved substantial financial investment in advertising. In addition to print materials to be used by local congregations, the campaign used a national advertising agency to produce several television ads. The ads were designed to show a contrast between the radical hospitality of the United Church of Christ and the exclusivity practiced by some other churches. One of the advertisements featured bouncers at the door of a church turning aside people with disabilities, gay couples, and others. Another showed a church with ejector seats blasting out gay couples, people of color, and those with disabilities. The advertisements can still be found on YouTube.
As a pastor who served the United Church of Christ during the official campaign, I sought to use the materials developed by church leaders in liturgical ways. I know little about advertising. I was never a proponent of conventional advertising for the church, and I was skeptical about its impact. The congregations I served invested in newspaper advertising, and one congregation even ran a brief billboard campaign. However, for the most part, we relied on word of mouth as our primary means of getting our message to those outside the church. I did not embrace the Still Speaking Campaign as an advertising program.
I did, however, recognize an essential theological message in the materials we received from the national setting of our church. One phrase that resonated deeply was, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” I began incorporating the phrase into the church's weekly liturgy. I wasn’t the only pastor to catch on to that phrase. It is still a part of the weekly worship greeting at the congregation I belong to, as well as many other United Church of Christ congregations. However, the way we used it in the church I was serving was different from many other congregations. Like many other words of the liturgy, I wanted to give the phrase to the congregation. Instead of my speaking them from the pulpit, I wrote them into the liturgy as a congregational response. The tradition of having the people speak the exact words over and over again until they are memorized is a meaningful part of worship liturgy. The things we say together each time we gather have a profound theological impact on the way we live our lives. The primary example of this is the Lord’s Prayer. Songs like the doxology and gloria also belong to the people.
From a theological perspective, having the people own a set of words is only part of the process. The goal is not to get a congregation to say words of welcome, but rather to be a place of genuine welcome. It is one thing to say that everyone is welcome. It is another thing to have everyone who comes to a church feel welcome. That is why it was so crucial for me, as a worship leader, to have the phrase not be just something I said. I wanted it to become something the congregation lived. One way to have the congregation live welcome is for them to greet one another with words of welcome. “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
I am convinced that change comes to the church through worship. We worship our way into new ways of understanding our biases and history. We become connected to others by worshiping together.
Two decades of the Still Speaking Campaign have not resulted in growth in church membership. The United Church of Christ has lost members over the decades and, along with other mainline denominations, continues to shrink in size. If people expected the advertisements to result in more members, the campaign might be judged a failure. However, I don’t believe that faithfulness can be measured in numbers. The biggest crowds in churches are not necessarily the most faithful.
I remain deeply committed to radical hospitality. At the same time, I recognize that people are divided in their church choices. The style of music in a congregation can have a profound impact on who attends worship. I used to say, “If people pick their churches like they pick their radio stations, we’re the NPR of churches.” We had a definite bias towards classical and jazz music in our congregation. For some, being greeted at the door of the church by the sound of a pipe organ identified the place as different or strange.
People often think it was Martin Luther King who first said that 11 a.m. on Sunday is the most segregated hour in Christian America.” MLK did use that phrase, but it had previously been used by James Baldwin and Malcom X. Whoever first said it, it continues to be true. In the church, we often speak about inclusivity, but we tend to remain exclusive organizations. We are on a journey, but far from reaching our goal. That is why it is so essential to understand the Still Speaking Campaign as far more than advertising. What will remain of the campaign as the decades pass is the theology and, hopefully, the liturgy.
