One Spirit Resources

Resources for religious ministry

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:4

Where Is Our Focus?

Young adults who are raised in the church leave it at about a rate of 60%. It isn't because they lose interest in religion or spirituality - they don't. Part of it is natural as they search for meaning and purpose in their lives. We all have to explore, expand, and grow. Part of it is probably that they move and find other priorities, and another part is that they don't really understand the value of a church as a community. But whatever the reasons, they don't come back, and then their children never come. Others outside the church are not attracted to the church. The younger generation just doesn't "buy it."

"Buy it" is a metaphor, but the phrase aptly states that something has no value and is not worth an investment of time, energy, or money. I have a strong background in the business world. I never wanted to be any part of business - I was happily content being in a non-competitive world of providing essential services. Well, even today those services are competitive. Anyway, characteristically when I became part of the business world, I delved in deeply to understand it and make it work. Today I have my own communications business.

Competition isn't comfortable. It makes you search for answers and innovate. And a church is not a business, after all - it isn't as if we are "selling" something. As you can see, I'm cautious about metaphors. The have their limit. But in the business world, as in the church world, for something to appeal to the market, or our community, people have to see value in it.

One of the problems is focus. I have seen this all through my church life. We come to church to get refreshed, or even entertained, and then we go about the business of living. The church focuses most of its time and energy on the "worship services and Christian education." We tend to be an internally focused organization. We are focused on the comfortable aspect of serving our own needs. To some extent, we must.

Here is the problem seen widely in the business world. Sooner or later every business has to deal with this. Companies tend to get focused on making a product that they think is better, and will enhance their bottom line. Soon the entire organization gets driven like slaves to produce that product in a way that is competitive. It doesn't work, and is a major problem of focus.

For example, Boeing, the world's largest maker of airplanes with 60% of the market, in the late 1990s had become that kind of company. Their product quality began to slip because of their misplaced focus and haste, and consumers lost confidence in them. They almost lost the company.

After looking at themselves, Boeing made several changes. The most important was, they began talking to their customers about what they actually needed, and the result was the 787 passenger plane. It was more fuel efficient. It carried the amount of passengers for most of the routes the airline companies flew. It required less maintenance. All were features the airlines asked for. Boeing beat their competition who was moving toward larger planes that the airlines didn't want. So instead of pushing for a supersonic passenger plane, or a larger jumbo jet - all things that make sense to internal company thinking and needs, they built what the people wanted and as a result kept the company regained market share.

I have seen this story more than once, from one of the oldest and largest companies in the US that I once worked for, to famous stories of some of the entrepreneurs trying to get off the ground. It is fundamental to business. 

I think that in the back of our minds is that we present "the Bible" to people. It is "God's Word." Therefore, we know what people need to hear and what services they need. It is a very authoritarian approach that says, "We know what is best for you," and often doesn't look beyond that. We fear that catering to people's needs is pandering to less worthy pursuits. We look around shrug and say we are doing God's work, and doing it the same way we have always done it. It becomes a mystery why it doesn't work and we keep looking internally for answers that aren't there, and can't be there.

We are looking for answers in the wrong place. A company can look internally forever and never find an answer to why their product doesn't compete. Companies can try thousands of variations on their products and will probably go out of business before finding the one that is key to the market. But ask the people what they want, and you zero in on the exact thing that brings success. Success in serving needs means success in business.

It is the same in a church. If we begin to talk to our communities and young adult congregations about what their needs are, we can find the right answers.

My study of God tells me that God draws us to Himself first, and then redirects our attention toward others - especially how we treat others. Instead of a one-stop, "worship me," it is a transforming experience that God leads us into toward others that becomes an attitude of "service." We need to approach others with an attitude of service. "How can we best serve you?" Christ met people where they were, not where he wanted them to be, and served them. Instead of measuring church success in terms of how many people we get in the door, we need to measure church success in terms of how well we are serving our communities. If we are making the right airplane, we will deliver a lot of 787s.

If you need to survey your community about needs and worship preferences through focus groups or directly, I can provide this kind of material, but it isn't free. Contact me: Author, Webmaster, publisher

Yours in Christ,

- Dorian Scott Cole

The mention of Boeing is not intended in any way as an endorsement of this site or article, and the Boeing story is my version of their CEO's comments in a public forum. "...in general, Boeing does not allow its name or trademarks to be used in an implicit or explicit endorsement of another company's products or services, including suppliers."   

Distribution notice:

You are welcome to make standard size quotations from this article with proper attribution (Dorian Scott Cole). This material is not public domain and may not be sold, mass distributed, published, or made electronically available in any form, without permission from Dorian Scott Cole.