I've had this thread bouncing around in my head for a while now. Several years, to be honest. For those of you who don't know, I've spent the past 15 years of life working in the service/food/bar industry. 13 years of that has been spent in a supervisory capacity of some form or another. This includes an 8 year stretch as a general manager or assistant general manager with a variety of concepts. (Volunteer pastoral spots and good intentions don't put food on one's table during college and seminary!)
I won't bore you with all the details of all the seminars and courses I've ever sat, but, suffice it to say, there were A LOT of leadership, management, and business lectures in those years. When I began my seminary journey, I took a course called "Reading Congregations in Context." This course was, in many ways, a ministerial approach to what the business world might call "change management and leadership." This similarity started the wheels in my head spinning. "I wonder what other elements of over-lap there are between the two worlds," I thought. As I've learned more and more about the church corporate and been able to observe the lives and actions of a number of congregations -on both sides of the Atlantic- I've come to realise the answer to my question. The fact is, there's a significant amount of over-lap between the worlds of corporate America and the Christian church.
So, as I've gotten rolling with this blog thing, I figured I might as well start a series with some observations about church and business. Before some of you have an unholy fit, let me assure you: I'm not saying the church should run as a business or that a business should run as a church. Instead, I just want to draw some parallels which I've noticed and, maybe, might be of interest or help to others.
So, with all that said, part 1:
"Worship, Waitresses, and Menu Items"
To begin, if the church were a business, like a restaurant, it wouldn't have such a hang-up about change. It would understand that society, its market of interest, changes with time and so should it. Relevancy is all critical in the business world. Be up to date, be accessible, and be real....or prepare to fade away. Thus there are no hang-ups about new types of building, new styles of service, new items to be tried, or new methods of supervision being tried. In parallel, one doesn't dare mention the "c" word (change) within a church without being prepared for a 5-alarm nuclear event. Perhaps, were the church more like a business, it would understand that everything must always be placed within a realm of constant modernisation and growth to keep it applicable and desirable, to society.
At the same time, the church, like any good restaurant, should identify its core items and maximise their impact and placement within any new changes. Think about this: You can go to any McDonalds, worldwide, and find a huge variety of options to choose from. Locale flairs, promotional items, and even beer appear in McDonalds as experimental items. However, you'll always be able to get a Big Mac, fries, and a milk-shake. No questions.
What, were this actually practised, look like within a church? This church would have no qualms with trying new, different, and inventive things from time to time. These might be limited time offerings, or based on feedback, be things which became common and constant. However, the church would never sacrifice or impede the things which made it what it was and established its place in society.
What does that mean for your church? I don't know, you tell me!
Oh....and about waiters and waitresses......
It's generally considered the height of rudeness and tastelessness to run a server, in a restaurant, like a ragged dog and then stiff them on a tip. Sure, there are varying levels of serving and service and we pay and tip accordingly for those. However, the maxim is generally that we take care of those who take care of us. Now ask yourself, what if your waiter or waitress was a pastor and your restaurant was a church? How equitable would the pay to demand ratio be? "Pastor could you? Pastor we need you to.... Pastor you should...." Church folk, as a group, are pretty good of asking for things from their ministers, but how good are we about reciprocally giving back to our ministers? Sure, ministers get paid a salary, though, if you look at the work to pay ratio for most ministers it's rather paltry. I'm not saying ministers should get a huge raise, but have you ever thought about what you might do to ask less of your minister and allow he or she to enjoy their life AND work a bit more?
Ministers, lest you think you get off easy, I'll explain it to you like I used to explain it to my service teams: "Every person who walks through the door is a person who is paying your light bill, your water bill, your phone bill, etc. So treat them accordingly." Now, I'm not advocating that we strictly see our congregants as dollar signs, though, they do pay the wages which pay our bills. No, instead, I advocate that we see them as the people who will be our spiritual funding. The people who will lead us down spiritual journeys, as we walk beside them and on our own, to places and things we never thought we'd see or experience. These are the people who lead us closer to the Infinite, just as we lead them.
Finally, if the church were a business, you'd never see anyone haggle over a bill of service. "Oh, that costs £20? Well, I've only got a fiver on me, so that's all I can give this week. Sorry, God." Try that approach the next time you go into a McDonalds, let me know how it works for you.....
Be Blessed....
