For the next couple of days I’m going to be counting down the top 10 posts from 2014 here on Helping Churches Make Vision Real. These are the posts that generated the most traffic, comments, and were the most shared on social media. The most popular topics this year had to do with strategic planning, insider focused churches, leadership, church growth, teams, and even pastors wives. We start off with a post that I wrote just a week ago but has quickly gained traction and shot into the top 10 posts of the year (that was fast…if only all of my posts were that good).
For the last month we’ve been getting ready for Christmas at my house and that means multiple trips to Home Depot. The first trip to pick up the Christmas tree and then back again to get more lights because the ones from last year don’t work this year. Then yet another trip for a new Christmas tree stand because the stand from last year doesn’t work. Oh, and I need a new pack of staples for the staple gun to put up the Christmas lights. And so on. You get the idea.
After spending half of the holiday season in the local Home Depot, I started thinking about how different Home Depot is from the majority of churches I’ve visited over the years, and what it would look like if Home Depot functioned like most churches in America.
- Instead of everyone in the store wearing an orange Home Depot apron, each department would have it’s own uniquely colored apron.
- Instead of having a hardware department and an appliance department, they would have really cool names like Ignite, Epic, and J.A.M. that are completely confusing to new customers.
- Of course each department would have it’s own logo instead of using the one that’s already on the outside of the store.
- Instead of having clear way finding and signage that easily directs you to what you’re looking for you’d have to aimlessly wander around hoping to find the power tools or stop a complete stranger and ask for directions.
- Instead of picking up one flyer at the entrance of the store that has all the sale adds in it, you’d have to pick up printed material at each unique department and of course they would all have their own logos on them and look like they came from different stores.
- The store would only be open on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights.
- Customers would be able to vote on who the store manager was going to be and then appoint a board made up of the best customers who then get to tell the store manager what to do.
- This special board made up of the best customers would also get to decide what products the store sold and what kinds of other customers were allowed to shop at the store.
- If you were in the electric department and had a question about plumbing, the electric department employee would have no idea how to help you because electricity and plumbing have nothing to do with each other.
While we all know that the Church is not a business, I hope this post challenges some of your thinking about the Church. And I hope you got a good laugh at this tongue in cheek approach to the conversation.
What else would you add to the list?
Photo Credit: JeepersMedia via Compfight cc
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