I don't know about you, but Taco Bell is not the first fast-food restaurant that comes to my mind when I crave a chicken sandwich. In fact, it never comes to mind unless I want - oh, I don't know - tacos! But the Taco Bell that I pass every morning on the way to church is advertising their new 99-cent chicken sandwich. I thought it must have been a joke at first, but it has been on the sign now for several days (I included the picture just to prove it).I know, I know, so many things can be said about this image. There is the obvious irony of Taco Bell advertising a chicken sandwich (can you imagine Chick-fil-A advertising a taco?). There is the seemingly difficult time Taco Bell must be having that has caused them to resort to neglecting their "bread and butter" (or shell and sauce, I guess I should say). And there is the apparent loss of their identity as a restaurant that specializes and focuses on tacos.
But as I laughed to myself about Taco Bell's loss of identity, I was reminded of how many churches resort to this same strategy. They forget what they are ultimately about, and so they begin to trust in gimmicks rather than in the gospel. They lose sight of who they are and what they're called to be. They neglect the very things that God has commanded in His Word in favor of whatever they assume the world must be craving. And how often must a watching world be laughing (like I did at Taco Bell) when they see churches trying to do things that churches have no business doing or that God has not called us to do. When we do that, we reveal our own crisis of identity. We're like a Taco Bell trying to sell chicken sandwiches!
