This Isn't Walmart, This is a Church!

My wife Laurel has a story she tells that I just love.  It is about growing up in Beechview, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and working at Wendy’s when it first opened.  Yes, we are old.  In any event, when she started working there, the manager told them enthusiastically about Wendy’s, what Wendy’s was about, what their mission or strategy was.  They weren’t going to be just like the other fast food restaurants, they were going to focus on a few simple areas.  They would sell hamburgers, chili, French Fries and Frosty’s.  That was it, they would concentrate on their niche, and do it really well, and leave the variety to the other fast food restaurants.  If you wanted one of those four items, great, if not, that was OK, you could go somewhere else.

Of course, if you go into Wendy’s today, you can see that this philosophy has changed dramatically.  Gone are the days of only selling these four specialty products, now you can get virtually any food group at a Wendy’s, it has morphed into any other fast food restaurant. 

As the war wages on for customers and cash, virtually all companies are selling and providing whatever product and service they can provide to win business.  Starbucks is test marketing selling alcohol, movie theaters are serving meals and alcohol (I think I see a pattern here), and Walmart sells anything and everything to gain more revenue and market share. 

Laurel and I tried to think of companies who stick to what they are good at and don’t veer from that course.  We thought of Waffle House, which we thought was completely crazy, but think about it.  They have greasy eggs, greasy ham/sausage/bacon, greasy hash browns, and even greasy waffles, but that is the basics of their breakfast offering (you can tell I really like Waffle House).  Five Guys for the most part offers cheeseburgers and fries, and a few other minor options.  I’m sure there are some others but so many companies will do anything for a buck, they find their niche, they find what they are good at, but then they determine they need to offer more and more, sell more and more, to increase market share, increase earnings, increase their presence to improve their return on investment.  Nothing wrong with that, we all have to make money, but is this the best way?

I remember the old story of four people discussing where they wanted to go to dinner.  One wanted steak, one wanted seafood, one wanted Italian food, and one wanted Mexican food.  Since they couldn’t decide, they went to a buffet, so they all could get what they wanted.  Instead of going somewhere where you could get a good meal, where it was someone’s specialty, everyone got what they wanted, but it was crappy (my apologies to all of the buffets out there).

Now, let’s take this a step further to modern day religion and churches.  We have invoked the Walmart mentality on our worship.  We give everyone a litany of options, a virtual cafeteria or buffet of decisions for people on what or how they want to worship.  I can just imagine in the near future a little checklist we can fill out on what we believe or how we want to believe.  Would you like the Bible as a part of your worship experience?  Virgin birth?  Jesus as the Son of God?  God as man, woman, neither?  Do you like Paul’s writings?  If not, we can just leave them out.  Old Testament?  Too harsh?  We can leave that out too.

Of course we have given everyone a plethora of ways to worship.  As an example, the church I attend has a traditional service mainly geared to the “old people” (I’m real close to this, not quite ready for this service yet!), a traditional service for the middle aged, a contemporary service for the middle aged, a contemporary service for the young adults and a contemporary service for the youth.  We have splintered the church off into various segments, trying to gear the service and the sermon to the appropriate audience, trying to reach everyone in the way we believe they want to be reached.  We also have the children off somewhere else worshipping and getting lessons geared to their age bracket.  The problem I have with this is, are we a church or many pockets of mini-churches within the church?  I never see children anymore, I never see young people, I rarely see young adults, I see a few older people, I only see those people who fit into my proper age category, 35-60 years old.  I talk to friends from church, and I hear about their children, but it’s been years since I’ve seen any of them.  If they walked up to me on the street, I don’t think I’d know who they were. 

Bear with me for a moment as I reminisce, but I think back to a few stories from my earlier years in the church:

•  I remember sitting in the back of the church, I was ushering that Sunday, and I looked at the church bulletin, and when I saw the date, I just thought out loud, “Wow, time is flying by”.  Sitting next to me was this old, white-haired gentleman, Larry Hadlock, one of the nicest guys you would find, and he said, “Tell me about it”.  He was probably 80 at the time, and I’m sure time had flown by for him.
•  I remember a service near Christmas, it was when Megan was little, she was probably three or four years old, and I remember holding the hymnal for her, and inching my finger along the page, helping her see the music, see the notes.  She was too young to understand, but that’s how children learn, by watching us in worship.  As a side note, I remember picking her up at the end of the service, and she wrapped her legs around me, and unfortunately, I had one of those musical Christmas ties on.  Just as the church went silent for the closing prayer, you could hear “Jingle Bells” coming from my chest.  Those things don’t shut off either.
•  I remember the Youth Services from past years when the seniors from high school would give the sermon before going off to college.  I remember watching kids like Alan Dyer or Breanna Shell giving the sermon and wondering when did they grow up?  How did they go from that child I watched in the nursery or taught Sunday School or watched worship in the sanctuary with their parents into a mature young adult so quickly?

As noted, we are trying to gear our services to the proper demographics so much anymore, we lose the family in Church Family.  Gone are the days of reminiscing with the older generation, gone are the days of watching young families grow together in the church, gone are the days of watching children grow up in the church.  Just like the secular world, we have to give everyone what they want, the way they want it, even in a church setting. 

I do understand that churches, just like the secular world, are competing for dollars.  They need money to keep the doors open, I get that.  But should we be competing for people’s souls?  Wouldn’t it be better if we all said, this is what we believe, and this is how we are going to worship?  I know a lot of people criticize the Catholic church for being too stodgy, but they have held true to what they believe and how their worship services are structured.  You know what you will get when you go into virtually any Catholic church.  And by the way, they are one of the few denominations that is growing. 

I think back to the old movie, “Miracle on 34^th Street”, and the scene where the department store Santa Claus (who of course is the real Santa Claus) tells shoppers where they can get toys cheaper down the street.  While the store manager was furious, what he found was it built customer loyalty.  What if we referred people to other churches that met their needs, instead of trying to morph into something we’re not and stray from our niche, or what we’re good at?  Better yet, what if we helped them find that church that met their needs, what if we connected them with the pastor of that church?  Isn’t that our mission as Christians, to bring people to God, not to bring them to our church?  You want liberal theology?  There’s a great church down the street that is much more liberal than ours, let me contact the pastor there for you.  You want a really energetic contemporary service?  You have to try Grace, it’s phenomenal.  I’ll contact the pastor for you.

OK, I know I’m crazy, this type of scenario only lives in my fantasy world.  But think about it again, we’re talking about people’s souls.  Should this be a competition?  Shouldn’t our goal be their salvation, no matter what?  This isn't Walmart.