Imagine getting a resume that announced from the bold-typed first line:
William Jones, BUMS
(Note: BUMS is the academic acronym for Bachelor of Unani Medicine and 
Surgery. It’s a real degree.)
My twenty-something son whose ink has been covered up for assorted job interviews teaches high school kids that you can’t show up for a summer job interview wearing bathing suit shorts unless you hope to be a life guard.
If your business holds a press conference on a new venture for women and the three employees at the mikes are all men, somebody will notice. And not take your seriously.
Optics are obviously huge. And in Church World, optics are sometimes overlooked to the detriment of our ministry.
- Who is staffing your refreshments table after worship? Is it the person who best represents the hospitality of your congregation?
- Do you self-describe as open and inclusive but your artwork, your website, and your Up Front People reflect only one race/ethnicity/sexual orientation/gender?
- Do you say you value children in church but the nursery toys are all broken?
Consider paying a few strangers $20 each to do a walk through of your church building, digital presence, and worship experience for an Optics Review. We might be surprised by what strangers notice.
Image of a window in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. There are plans to remove the window according to this.
