The Monopoly Mindset - Part 2b

Wow, this is a horrible way to read a book... but I will try to pull it together as well as I can :). I was last talking about signs that suggest that American churches are pursuing a Monopoly status. The first was a push for Control instead of Competition. The second is In-fighting and confusing Cannibalism for growth.

In-Fighting and Cannibalism. There was a series of commercials in which Coca-Cola was attempting to sue Coke Zero for patent infringement. The basic tenet was that the two tasted so alike that Coke Zero must have stolen the secret formula. The humor comes both from the ridiculous lawsuit as well as the fact that the lawyers have no idea it is a joke. Though I found those commercials funny, I also thought they provided a sad commentary on the modern Christian market. When we see ourselves as the only viable religious option, then we begin to compete with ourselves. Our marketing is driven to attract those already within the market, making it meaningless (at best) to those outside. At worst it actually drives away those outside of the market; just as the Coke vs. Coke Zero commercials would if they were not satire.

This has led to a situation in which the church thinks it is healthy when in reality it is dying. We have basically been cannibalizing ourselves for the last 15-20 years. Some churches will grow while others die. Overall the numbers look the same, or even "up" in given years. During that time there has been no real increase. For Southern Baptists in particular, the reality over the last 20 years is that for every 1 person we have baptized, 1.1 people have stopped attending our churches. This is true even though there are hundreds of examples of growing churches in the SBC. What that tells us is that the growing churches are not growing as fast as the dying churches are dying; or that the growing churches are growing because they are moving people from the dying churches. In business terms, we are losing market share. And, I believe the name of the game is market share when it comes to God's design for His church; more important than Net Worth, Political Power, or Social Influence. That is because market share is measured in people, the very people that He died for.