Tuesday, July 11, 2006

oh, and...

It occurs to me I didn't really draw a conclusion in that last post. See, this is how I fall apart under such working conditions as this... really, I need to get more sleep!
My point is this- if the Church wants to reach this next generation of young people, they need to face this fact- if you want to serve consumers, you need to make their experience of Church "worth their money", so to speak.
And, we DO want to serve the young people, don't we?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Young, Tweens, Teens, Gen Xers, Soccer Mom's, Baby Boomers, AARP - no matter who you want to serve - as was previoulsy posted, you have to GO to meet them where they are (be it Geographically or emotionally). Too often I feel the church (more accurately, individuals in the church)expect that people should come to us instead of us going to them. Too often we who are seeking to serve others don't know where they are (just because somebody is physically in your view doesn't mean you know where they are menatlly, emotionally, spiritually). Too often these people know what they want and mistake it for what they need. We will never reach them if we don't go and find where they are and what they want, so then we could show them where they should be and how to get what they need (good marketing and PR people find out who you are and what you want, and then find a way to convince you that what they have to sell is not only what you want, but what you need). So I agree with you - the Church should treat all in attendance as honored guests that we are grateful to humbly serve (not as ungrateful folks who need to be lectured). Beyond that, the church MUST (if it hopes to survive) go, search, find, understand, have compassion for, teach, love, serve all disconnected people. We don't have to go far - simply start by scrolling down the "inactive parishoner" list. Marketing people would pay big bucks for that list of potential customers.