6 Signs that Your Church is Stuck in “Walmart Thinking”
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 ministry 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. This post is adapted from page 150 of Church Unique.
Funny for us since we meet in an old Wal-Mart!! I especially like #1, #2 and #4.
Will, very nice post! These challenges are certainly a result of our consumer-driven culture, we feel as though “just-in-time” programs, or “fast-food” will fill those gaps. Not only are we treating the church as Walmart, I don’t believe churches are casting a broad over-arching vision to it’s people (ironically something Walmart does really well). I’ve always struggled with the model of church instruction. Pastors and preachers stand up on stage once a week, instruct hundreds of people on the principles and fundamentals of the Christian life (which is a good thing by the way), but then we all walk away trying to figure out how we apply it in our lives. Once clarity on vision is achieved, there should be a clear picture as to how the each person can bring that vision to life in their own unique way, which is part Holy Spirit, part mentoring/guiding. IMHO…
When man tries to build the church, we do what man knows and that is marketing. When we let God build the church, we just do our part then watch a miracle take place! Good post!