Church at the Car Dealership

A friend of mine is a video producer and gets the opportunity to tell a lot of stories. Recently he got to tell the story of an automotive company but this story had nothing to do with cars. There was a young man who worked at the company who found out, unexpectedly, that his girlfriend was pregnant. The two of them were young, scared, and felt completely at a loss as to what to do next.

But this company had something they called the “helping fund,” an account of money they set aside to help the people that work there.  Specifically, this fund helped them buy diapers, formula and other necessities to support this new family. But even more, the young man found a mentor at work, an older gentleman who, along with the financial resource, became a relational resource to the new father. He was this supportive source of wisdom and care for someone going through a hugely disruptive time in his life.

What was interesting to me was what the video producer said about each of the interviews.  The older gentleman was genuinely grateful to be able to help. He was supportive and caring, yet, felt like the job wasn’t quite finished until he met his goal. “I haven’t quite gotten him to come to church yet,” he said, with a smile.  The younger man, in his interview, was dumbfounded by the way a group of people could share their resources to care for him, but even more so, how someone would invest such time and care into his support, without needing anything in return.

I’d say that the younger man was already experiencing the church. I’m curious why that might not be “enough” for the older man.

I have been exploring the “12 frontiers of change” for the church, recognizing that the church of the future must evolve beyond its current form. These specific shifts in the religious landscape invite us to new ways of thinking, experimenting, and changing. While change can feel threatening, signaling a "death" to the old, I believe embracing these changes will actually usher in a surprising and exciting vibrancy for the church.

One of those frontiers of change is a shift in how the church thinks about its goal. It’s a shift from a Sunday-centric orientation to a seven-day discipleship strategy of ministry.

It’s not new to say, “we should count other things aside from attendance” as a measure of success. But what I’m suggesting isn’t just a new metric, it’s a new way of understanding the role and the purpose of the church. It’s a way of understanding the work of the church as disciples at work in the world, rather than worrying about “getting them to church” as the finish line.

There’s some practical reasons behind this shift, namely, church attendance just doesn’t look like it used to. I’ve heard author Tod Bolsinger say, “there used to be a day when, if you missed church on Sunday, you’d hear about it from your boss on Monday.” Church attendance used to be far more normalized in our culture than it is today, but the expectations of most church goers is to keep fighting that shift. We wring our hands and say, “if they would only show up a little more often.” 

Of course, I’ve got no problem with wanting the weekly worship experience to be central in the lives of people. I’m not saying going to church on Sunday doesn’t matter. Rather, I’m afraid we’re actually asking the culture to solve the church’s problem (empty pews) than the church meeting the needs that exist today.

I recently did a visioning workshop with a church and their children’s ministry. I’ve done lots of these and the chief complaint in the room is often the same: Soccer. To be fair, it’s not always specifically soccer, but it’s usually some version of youth sports. The refrain often sounds like, “kids are all just at soccer games or sports tournaments on the weekends and won’t come to church.” The implied solution here is, “if we could just get them to stop playing sports then they would come to church.”

What if we shifted our focus? Instead of asking the culture to solve the church's problems, we could seek to understand and meet the needs of the community. Consider the families missing Sunday services for youth sports; they are often stressed by demanding work weeks and overloaded, unpredictable weekend travel schedules. Many of these parents likely value faith but are sidelined by their calendars. Meeting their needs might mean offering worship opportunities throughout the week, even daily. This shift would radically transform how we think about our worship services, but it would certainly build a unique bridge to the community by meeting people exactly where they are.

That’s just one example, I’m sure there are dozens of ways to build that bridge and think differently about who’s problems we are finding solutions for. The mental shift, however, is the first step for this kind of church change. It’s a relocation of the finish line where we move the goal from Sunday mornings, to daily discipleship out in the real world.

The young man, working at an automotive company, being discipled by an older follower of Jesus is, without a doubt, experiencing the Church on a daily basis. It might not be his experience that needs to change, but our expectations.

I created this short workbook to help make that shift from Sunday-centric ministry to seven-day discipleship by building a bridge between the Church and the needs of the community.