Before I came into my current position as The Queen of Awesomeness (also known as Stay at Home Mom; hey, if I don't get paid, at least I can give myself title promotions), I was the personal assistant to the head and founder of a particular organization that shall remain nameless. My boss was a bit bi-polar in his office demeanor, one day perfectly amiable and fun to work for, the next day spitting nails over a single hair being out of place.

The physical appearance of his employess was of particular importance to him; in addition to the normal business attire dress code you find in offics, he was very particular that the ladies all wore makeup-- especially lipstick. Lip gloss was not acceptable; it had to be lipstick. I often wondered if there were specific office-approved lipstick colors, but I never asked as I knew I wouldn't be able to do so and still keep a straight face.

I have no problem with make-up. I tend to wear it most days, and don't usually leave the house without some on. However, I am not fond of lipstick. It's always smearing, getting on my coffee cups, fading, and needing to be reapplied. Those "last all day" kinds? Crapola. They don't work. They just crack and make it look like you have the lips of an 80-year-old. It really isn't an attractive look.

So, while most days I applied lipstick before leaving for work, I usually didn't take the trouble to reapply it every 10 minutes. That is, unless my boss was having one of his "shoot anything insight" kind of days. On one of those particular days, I was feverishly working to finish up some time-sensitive projects and did not check my make-up before he came in the office. Shortly after he arrived, he called me into his office. Looking at me, he said, very sternly, "I have told you time and time again to keep your lipstick on. This is your last warning. If I have to tell you again, you will be done here."

This, I should tell you, was the only issue about my performance at work for at least 6 months. In fact, he had many times complemented me on my stellar work and how I was "indespensible" to him. Apparently that was only true if I was wearing lipstick.

This story is one of my personal favorites to tell from my time working for that particular organization. Even at the time that it happened, I ended up laughing to myself because of the sheer absurdity of it. I should also mention that a couple weeks later I showed up to the office without a stitch of lipstick on, with nary a comment or pink slip. Bluff called.

My bosses' obsession with lipstick didn't end there, either. We held weekly meetings at our organization for leaders and the general community, however the building we occupied was a large warehouse in need of some serious renovation to use it. Not having the funds to do a complete remodel, he told us to "slap a little lipstick on it". That is, he wanted us to distract from the flaws with a cheap veneer.

I don't tell you this anecdote to rail on my former boss. While I am very happy to no longer work for the man and disagree with him on some fundamental issues, I honestly believe he is a good man who honestly tries to help people. Rahter, I think this story highlights an issue that used to be an issue mainly in the culture at large, but is now pervasive in churches and ministries today: an obsession with image.

Branding and marketing, formerly reserved for businesses and products, has now become a frontline tool for ministries and churches seeking to be culturally relevant, better able to "market" the church to their communities, or maybe just plain cool. Church names now border on the bizarre, often sounding more like clothing stores or Etsy shops than churches. Woship teams, or house bands if you are in a more "relevant" church, may even use smoke machines or crazy light shows during the worship service. Even church buildings have been "coolified", with many new churches popping up in refurbished storefronts, warehouses, or even movie theaters, often looking more like a club or concert arena than a church.

Please don't mistake me; I do not think that all of this is inheritantly bad. I think there can be a place for it, even in the context of churches an. However, the danger is giving it too much focus. The image of the church building, or worship style, or witness method (if you want to consider marketing a witnessing method), should not supercede being bearers of the image of Christ. The Church should not need to tart itself up with gaudy lipstick to woo suitors. It is a cheap veneer, masking The Churches true beauty, current flaws and all.

  


<em>Photo Credit: Sabbath Photography</em>

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