Thursday, March 25, 2010

"Walmart Thinking" in the Church

On page 150 of his book "Church Unique", Will Mancini makes a connection between Walmart and "Seven-Days-A-Week" churches:


"It happens every week. I talk to church leaders who think the answer to reaching more people with the gospel and growing more people toward Christ-like maturity  is adding more minitry stuff.  You name it: more staff, more programs, more events, more buildings, more, more, more. 

I call it “Walmart thinking” because the basic strategy is to put more stuff on the shelf in hoping to attract more people. 

The good news is that when the “7-day-a-week-church” strategy that worked in the 80s rolls around again, your church will be ready! 

Here are the six signs that your church is suffering from this “more is more” deception:

#1 The church is stuck thinking that more programs translates to more life change

#2 The church is deceived by the myth that people want more choices

#3  The church inadvertently thinks that time at church equals spiritual maturity

#4 The church can’t say no to their peoples’ ideas even when the ideas are ineffective

#5 The church allows immature, knowledge-centered spirituality to dictate program offerings

#6 The church contains more religious consumers than growing followers of Jesus

Never forget the cardinal rule of being the church on mission: Programs don’t attract people, people attract people. Most likely your church doesn’t need more things to do. It needs a few things it must do, defined by a clear, simple strategy."

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